It’s fair to say I have a fascination with whiteout tires. They’re steeped in an interesting mix of history and style, and I’m definitely in the minority when it comes to this opinion, but to me, nothing looks better on an off-roader than a set of whiteout tires. All the LEDs, graphics, and “blingy” wheels in the world can’t hold a candle to something as simple and elegant as this–a black rubber circle with contrast-colored text. And yes, I’m quite serious about this.

Back in the good old days, natural rubber tires had zinc oxide that turned them white.

Recall a time with me, if you will: the early 20th century. Cars were fitted with the barest of essentials, and guys like Henry Ford were not about letting owners express individuality with statements like, “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants, so long as it is black.” Tire manufacturers used natural rubber back mixed with zinc oxide to aid grip, which had the side effect of making the tire completely white.

Once carbon black was introduced, however, it set about turning those white tires into black tires, and the rest was history. In an interesting twist, the blackouts were the more premium option compared to whiteouts, since the carbon black layer had to be thicker and the tire itself did not require as much maintenance.

Whitewall tires were in vogue for much the early 20th century, but began to die out after the 1950s.

Nevertheless, people still liked having white attributes on their cars’ footwear. Whitewalls of the ’20s, ’30s, and ’40s could be ordered from the factory and lent an air of glitz and glamor to an automobile. The trend all but died out by the ’80s, to the point where now only a select few tire manufacturers (like Coker, for example) offer whitewall tires.

These days, the trend far outweighs black-on-black over white-on-black style options. When it comes to units meant for use on off-road vehicles, the vast majority of manufacturers–with the exception of select BF Goodrich, Mickey Thompson, or Cooper models–will offer only outlined white letters, or OWL for short, to grace the flipside of the black-on-black sidewalls. So what’s a guy to do about wanting a little extra flair for his rig?

Thinner and thinner: a whitewall tire on a 1980s Jeep Grand Wagoneer shows how narrow the white stripe got as time went on.

One Man’s Opinion

Ivan “Ironman” Stewart’s unlimited truck, circa 1998.

When I was just a wee bairn, I was watching off-road racing in the living room TV with my dad. Early on, I gravitated toward the legend surrounding Ivan “Ironman” Stewart, whose exploits in the PPI Motorsports-built, Toyota-powered unlimited truck were undeniably amazing. Clips and videos of the man cutting through the deserts of Baja and Mojave in that red-orange-yellow-white truck made my hair stand on end; all the more so when my dad would tell me, “You know he’s going about 110 through there, right?”

That kind of stuff was just mind-blowing to a little kid. And it wasn’t lost on me that the truck itself was an eye-catcher, on a visual par with the liveries of Rough Riders and Walker Evans Racing. And any photo you find of the vehicle will show you right away that, yep, the Ironman ran his truck with whiteout lettering. Big, beautiful, white text curved around the wheel, and depending on the era and event, said “BF Goodrich Baja T/A”, “BF Goodrich Radial All-Terrain T/A”, or “BF Goodrich Radial Mud-Terrain T/A”.

I was always enthralled thereafter with the look of whiteout lettering on a vehicle. Those of BF Goodrich in particular for their trademark raised white lettering (RWL) on such models as the All-Terrain KO, Mud-Terrain KM and KM2, Radial T/A, and others never failed to catch my eye as I drive around town these days. The final impetus came to me as I picked up a new car a year ago, a 2000 Toyota 4Runner SR5, and wanted the right set of tires to go with it.

While only a two-wheel-drive SUV, I was glad to be back in the Toyota fold after having spent a miserable two years behind the wheel of a loveless 1992 Isuzu Rodeo (my first car was a 1992 4Runner). A buddy of mine pointed me in the direction of BFGs because they were, in his mind, the “best on the market.” I was interested in other options out there, but finally pulled the trigger on the KOs because they had top-tier features, glowing reviews, long treadlife, and last but not least, the much-adored RWL option.

I’m just one man and I know relatively few in the off-road community share my views on white versus black (tire sidewalls, that is). They are one more step to handle during car washes, and I sense that one day I’ll get into too much trail trouble and accidentally scrape the sidewall very badly. Until that day, however, I’m happy just to ride around and feel like despite the spray-painted hood, missing fog lamp, and numerous scratches and swirls in the paint, this car just looks “fresh”…you know?