Ep. 33 White Stripes: The History of the Whitewall Tire

A classic car connaisseur tells the history of the deluxe tire, the whitewall! When and where did it originate? And why don't cars have no whitewall tires anymore?

Remember to like, subscribe and share if you want more of this!

You can always email me at:

Enjoy!

[sterlinsilver]

I LOVE whitewall tires, but another thing that I think is lost is how the wheel covers used to be color coded to match your paint job, so you could get a powder blue convertible and have matching powder blue accented hubcaps and I think it really completed the look

[TheRealBrook]

In the 1980s, most tires were still whitewalls but the mechanic would ask if you wanted the whitewall or black side mounted towards the outside.

[RaptorJesus]

That L.A Noire anecdote was genuinely one of the coolest things I'd ever heard. Some gamer showing his grandpa a video game based on his life? Not his specific life, obviously, but what he used to do? That's cool as all hell. A great way for video games to bring people together, no matter the age-gap. And I love the fact he was still sharp enough to say "Yeah, this is pretty right...but we didn't have no fancy whitewall tires".

[valengreymoon]

There are also "porta-walls". An aftermarket whitewall "insert" that is installed over the regular sidewall, and usually held in place by the bead of the tire and rim.

[trekkie]

I sure do miss the old whitewalls and the fender skirts, they gave cars character.

[BokBarber]

I think the modern day whitewall equivalent is the super low profile tire, right down to the association with pimp-mobiles. I prefer the whitewalls.

[forfluf]

When I first got stripes on my new set of tires I was thrilled because the stripes were blue!
I was then told "No! That is just a coating that is blue to protect the white wall from getting scuffed during transportation and installation." Oh.

[informationstream]

A small correction: Vulcanization has little to nothing to do with carbon black... Its pretty much heating rubber with sulphur and was invented before pneumatic tires... So in the context of car tires it was not "a new process". Its an important process in creating solid rubber and all tires including white ones were vulcanized from the beginning. And it leaves the rubber white... Black rubber is pretty much created by adding carbon to vulcanized rubber to increase durability.

[primeoetgrunn]

I once Photoshopped a 2019 Dodge Challenger and added some 1958 Plymouth features onto it: the chrome side trim, fins and of course the whitewalls. I thought it looked pretty cool.
Then I decided to do the same thing with my current Ford Focus MK3 station wagon and a '59 Fairlane. I can honestly say the whitewalls make such an ordinary car look special, not in a bad way.

[jetsons]

Ed, you can go off topic whenever you want as it just makes the video more fun to watch. When I was real young people could buy "fake" whitewalls, I think they would stretch around the rim and the outer dimeter would be glued to the blackwall tire. Funny thing people can still buy them today. Thanks for your time and work

[rcoony]

Once having had whitewalls on a '97 Buick LeSabre, one thing I discovered quickly is that whitewalls and disc brakes don't go well together. That car had disc brakes in the front, and drum brakes in the back, and the front whitewalls were always dirty. I could get them all clean and shiny, but as soon as a drove through a puddle, all that brake grime would instantly splatter all over the the whitewalls again. The whitewalls in the rear stayed cleaner much longer.

[dazaspc]

Keep in mind ALL tires are made by laying strips of rubber over each other then vulcanized.
Very early white walls were made to cut cost because the black rubber was more expensive and would be a waste to use it on the sidewalls. The shift to all black was an indicator of a better tire as they had a two layer construction. Early whites even had red rubber inside. The red was used in the earliest days and then abandoned due to it having trouble with UV light. The original white/red tires would only last 200 ~500 miles before the casings would fall apart. It wasn't uncommon early on to build a white tire and fit pucks of black rubber around the outside then vulcanize for tread.
White walls made the wheels look bigger even when the tires and wheels were small. The cars were huge and needed something to proportion the appearance properly. This was important in the 50's. As the wheels got bigger the white wall shrank. As cars got better proportioned the white wall fell out of favor except on luxury cars as the small wheels that they had fitted for a comfortable ride could still use a narrow stripe.
White lettering became a thing to emulate drag racers and their painted on branding of their tires.

[nathankim]

The Hankook tire company is one of the last reputable tire companies that offer thin whitewalls at an affordable price.

I believe the specific model is the Hankook Optimo tire, offered in both all black or white stripe.

[franeklada]

YES
i’ve never thought that someone’s gonna cover one of my favourite car features of the past in a separate video
since i’m one of the firsts, Your movies are pure joy and please keep on with em

[floydblandston]

Automotive designers/stylists will tell you- whitewalls increase the perceived visual diameter of the wheel-tire combination. A visually 'large' wheel fills the wheel well space in a more pleasing way, a difficult thing to do before low profile sidewall tires allowed for large diameter rims. True story!

[hurricanefury]

the morgan aero actually looks pretty nice with whitewalls
probably because it's already kind of a throwback to vintage styling, .
in fact really any car with retro styling actually does look better with whitewalls because it helps complete the vintage theme
even a PT cruiser looks far more presentable with a set whitewalls

[Trendyflute]

I love how you delve into these topics that interest me but I never think about, and you end up answering basically all the questions I didn't know I had.

[peterk]

I love that cute Italian intro with the latin lover cinquecento😍

[davidpistek]

I think part of the appeal of whitewall tires is the way it fills the wheel wells, modern cars all have larger wheels and the same status affect is had from plus size wheels, cars had 14 or 15 inches then and had room to show off the tire, this channel is great

[perryelyod]

There was a period in the mid 1960's to early 1970's of whitewall tires in dual stripes, tri stripes, blocks, and other patterns. My father bought a new Mercury every year back then, and the tires varied from year to year in the whitewall design.