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Tire lettering is the practice of putting, or drawing visible letters on the sidewall of an automobile's tires. In modern usage, the lettering is often big car brands or tire brands names, with custom lettering being a much smaller niche of that. It can also refer to other after market customizations to the side wall of the tire, such as the "
white wall tire Whitewall tires or white sidewall (WSW) tires are tires having a stripe or entire sidewall of white rubber. These tires were most commonly used from the early 1900s to around the mid 1980s. Background The use of whitewall rubber for tire has be ...
" look, but any color of the spectrum is available now, including "rainbow wall tires".


Overview

(British)/ (American) can be traced back as far as 1922, when
Firestone Tire and Rubber Company Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is a tire company founded by Harvey Firestone (1868–1938) in 1900 initially to supply solid rubber side-wire tires for fire apparatus, and later, pneumatic tires for wagons, buggies, and other forms of wheeled ...
launched its balloon tires on April 5, 1922., stenciling the Firestone brand name onto the tire. In 1940, Alfred B. Poschel invented a rubber transfer method that could apply lettering to tires; however, the decal method failed to gain mass acceptance. The stenciling method of tire lettering became popular with
auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...
teams in the 1950s as a way to display the tire manufacturer on the car's tires. Tire lettering made its way to production tires in the mid-to-late 1960s in the form of raised white letter tires and gained popularity with American
muscle cars Muscle car is a description according to '' Merriam-Webster Dictionary'' that came to use in 1966 for "a group of American-made two-door sports coupes with powerful engines designed for high-performance driving." The '' Britannica Dictionary'' ...
in the 1970s and 1980s until tire manufacturers stopped producing raised white letter tires on a mass scale. Many attempted to create decals that could be applied to tires, but it wasn't until the late 2000s tire lettering came roaring back with the advent of tire decals, US-based company Tire Stickers.


Raised white letter tires in the 1960s and 1970s

While tire lettering was previously drawn or painted onto the tires, in the late 1960s, tire manufacturers began producing white letter tires that were part of the tire. Early automobile tires were made of pure
natural rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...
with various chemicals mixed into the tread compounds to make them wear better The best of these was zinc oxide, a pure white substance that increased traction and also made the entire tire white. However, the white rubber did not offer sufficient endurance, so
carbon black Carbon black (subtypes are acetylene black, channel black, furnace black, lamp black and thermal black) is a material produced by the incomplete combustion of coal and coal tar, vegetable matter, or petroleum products, including fuel oil, fluid ...
was added to the rubber to greatly increase tread life. Using carbon black only in the tread produced tires with inner and outer sidewalls of white rubber, which is where
whitewall tires Whitewall tires or white sidewall (WSW) tires are tires having a stripe or entire sidewall of white rubber. These tires were most commonly used from the early 1900s to around the mid 1980s. Background The use of whitewall rubber for tire has b ...
came from. Later, entirely black tires became available with white sidewalls being covered with a somewhat thin, black colored layer of rubber. By compressing the white rubber through the letter cutouts in the black outer layer, it gave the effect of raised white letter tires. Mickey Thompson claims the first raised white letter tires in 1970, but many manufacturers put out similar raised white letter tires in the late 1960s and early 1970s, including Goodyear and Firestone.


Tire lettering resurgence with tire decals

With tire manufacturers no longer producing raised white letter tires on a mass scale, the advent of tire decals came about. Initially, it was the tire manufacturers themselves who made the first serious attempts with both Goodyear and Firestone inventing versions, in 1987 and 1990, respectively, that added a significant processing difficulty and expense, halting their production. Independent companies tried all sorts of different materials and methods to produce a durable and effective decal, including laminate and adhesive layers to the tire sidewall prior to thermal transfer of thick, cured rubber articles cut, but nothing gained mass-market acceptance. Then, a company called Tire Stickers emerged, producing patented tire decals for the general public, filling the void left by tire manufacturers with both ink-based and rubber-based decals that lasted longer than the age-old method of drawing or stenciling letters onto tires. Since the tire manufacturers themselves were not producing tire decals, this development led to an explosion of custom tire decals, used by custom shops like
West Coast Customs West Coast Customs (abbreviated by the company as WCC) is an automobile repair shop focusing on the customization of vehicles. It was started by co-founders Ryan Friedlinghaus and Quinton Dodson in 1993. According to Friedlinghaus, he began the ...
and with major tire brands like
BF Goodrich BFGoodrich is an American tire company. Originally part of the industrial conglomerate Goodrich Corporation, it was acquired in 1990 (along with Uniroyal, then The Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company) by the French tire maker Michelin. BFGoodrich w ...
collaborating with Tire Stickers.


References

{{cite web, last1=DeTrano, first1=Mario, title=Pneumatic tire having a decorative applique and a method for applying a decorative applique to a tire, url=http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=5,300,164.PN.&OS=PN/5,300,164&RS=PN/5,300,164, website=US Patent & Trademark Office, Patent Full Text and Image Database, accessdate=13 February 2017 Tires Vehicle modifications Writing media