Why Were Early Tires White?

[MochetVelo]

I've never read why early tires were white. I realize they were made of natural rubber, but a tint would seem practical to hide dirt. Also, isn't natural rubber is a sort of light tan color, and not pure white? Did they add something to the rubber to get that white tint?

Phil

natural rubber

Edited March 20, 2011 by MochetVelo (see edit history)

[MCHinson]

Not sure exactly how much to trust the source, but here is one explanation:

Whitewall tire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Layden B]

Natural rubber needed some kind of additive for wear resistance and structural strength. Zinc oxide ( yes the stuff that gets put on noses as sunscreen) was used and it made the tires almost white, really still a bit off white gray light tan. Iron ozide ( rust) was used too and those tires and tubes are dark pinkish red. Next came carbon, it is still used because it worked well and was the cheapest. In old time black and white pictures the red tires can be mistaken for white or black. There were many color combinations, black tires with red walls for instance!

[MochetVelo]

I never knew they had red tires. That would look nice. Coker still sells gray tires, which I assume use less carbon black.

[Guest bkazmer]

there was a brief foray in colored tires later for cosmetic reasons, but as stated carbon black is cheap and reinforcing. Most of the tire stopped being natural rubber long ago because it doesn't wear well in the tread area.

[Rusty_OToole]

An old timer who worked in garages in the twenties told me those "white" tires started out light gray when they were new and gradually got whiter. The explanation above makes sense.

Red tires were fairly common on horse drawn buggies in the 1890s and early 1900s. These were made of solid rubber, not pumped up.

Around 1915 Goodyear made red streak and blue streak tires with red and blue sidewalls respectively. In the late sixties they revived the red stripe tire.