It's a common misconception that tyres are just rubber and nothing else. In reality though they are composed of almost 12 materials in different combinations that give us the wide variety of tyres that we see today. One of these materials in fact is the answer to the question asked above and is called Carbon Black. Yes, tyres have carbon too and it's this carbon that is responsible for the black appearance of tyres. Natural rubber that is almost 19% of passenger car tyres manufactured today is actually off-white in colour.
Why is carbon black used?
The first tyres that were manufactured were mostly of vulcanised rubber and were whitish in appearance. However, vulcanised rubber was too soft and the longevity and tread life it offered was not even close to what we see in tyres today. So it was no surprise that people tried to experiment and mix some materials into the tyres to see if anything could make them better.
The first material to be successful was zinc oxide which gave the tyres a characteristic bright white colour. However, zinc oxide was soon replaced with carbon black as carbon was found to be much better than zinc oxide and was cheaper and more readily available. Carbon was found to have an amazing ability to conduct heat away from the parts of the tyre that get extremely hot, thus reducing the amount of degradation. Two of these areas were the tread and the belt areas. It could also protect tyres from ozone and UV degradation.
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Do tyres of other colours exist?
The first attempt to produce different coloured tyres dates back to the 1960s when Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company invited US media reps to a presentation to introduce a "never-before-seen technology that would change the industry forever." The presentation was about Neothane tyres which were very different from the tyres that existed at that time. However, the most startling revelation in the presentation was the range of different colours in which Goodyear would offer its Neothane tyres. There was also talk about tyres that glowed!
These tyres, as expected, failed the very first round of testing as they lost traction at high speeds and were below par in wet weather performance and heat management.
However, the hype behind coloured tyres was reborn when Pirelli launched its P Zero coloured edition tyres to satisfy an increasing demand for personalisation from its prestigious and premium clients. The extra demand for personalisation was confirmed by Pirelli's constant monitoring of consumer trends, as well as through market research.
The base colours for the coloured Pirelli P Zero tyres will be red, yellow, white, and silver. Along with these base colours, options are also available for every other colour on request.
The breakthrough by Pirelli is special for two reasons -
- The ability to colour the tyre sidewalls in different colours while retaining the original ability and performance of the tyres.
- The variety of durable and long-lasting colours they offer.
Pirelli was able to harness its experience and expertise from Formula 1 where colour coded tyres have been used for long and were able to enhance and use the technology in the labelling system to design a coloured sidewall. In fact, a new compound had been formulated that was able to maintain the brilliance of the colour and avoid fading caused by time and use, without affecting the performance of the tyre.
The very first coloured-edition P Zero tyres have already made their debuts as concepts with Pagani, Lamborghini and McLaren, while they are also expected to be available soon for brands such as Ferrari, Aston Martin, Porsche and Bentley. The supply of coloured edition Pirellis will then be expanded to premium models from other top manufacturers of the world.
