Raised White Letters on Tires

[kalrith]

I bought a new set of Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 tires (tirerack product link) for my '92 Mercury Cougar. I've always been a fan of raised white letters on tires, but the guys at the tire shop were ribbing me for it. I stood my ground for what I liked, not their preferences, but I was curious as to what AT's opinion on raised white letters.

I don't have a picture of them on my car, but here's a pic of the tires themselves with the raised white letters. The other side is just a blah black that looks like every other tire out there.

 

[dainthomas]

Originally posted by: kalrith
I bought a new set of Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 tires for my '92 Mercury Cougar. I've always been a fan of raised white letters on tires, but the guys at the tire shop were ribbing me for it. I stood my ground for what I liked, not their preferences, but I was curious as to what AT's opinion on raised white letters.

I don't have a picture of them on my car, but here's a pic of the tires themselves with the raised white letters. The other side is just a blah black that looks like every other tire out there.

Looks fine to me. The tire shop guys sound like d-bags.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Depends on the car and the wheels. For yours, black will probably look better.

 

[Kirby]

I think it looks better on trucks.

 

[MikeMike]

most have white on one side and black on the other, so you can always flip them around, but you would have to get them remounted

 

[Howard]

Honestly, who cares? Whatever floats your boat is what I like.

^ within reason

 

[BigSmooth]

I think white lettering looks a lot better on a tall profile tire, which would usually mean on a truck. However, I also think you should do whatever you like on your car. :beer:

 

[sandorski]

That's so 1970's. Jack up the rear end and install a giant hoodscoop to complete the Look.

 

[BW86]

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth
Depends on the car and the wheels. For yours, black will probably look better.

+1 I only like it on muscle cars

 

[Kadarin]

It depends on the car. Older muscle cars and trucks can look good with that, whereas newer cars might look silly.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Nothing says redneck like raised white lettering on your tires. You get bonus redneck points if they are paired up with Cragar wheels.

 

[spidey07]

I think it can look really good depending on the tire.

 

[shortylickens]

Dislike. I dont want my tires to look like anything from the outside. If you get in close and look at the front and back you should see tread, but from the side they should just be plain. I also dont care for most of the stupid rims I see these days.

 

[ElFenix]

high rider trucks or muscle cars only.

 

[Ronstang]

It is a personal preference thing. I do not like them because to me a nice looking car is a piece of art and the raised white letters look "too busy" and detract from the over all look of the car and the rims. But that is simply my opinion.

 

[alkalinetaupehat]

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth
Depends on the car and the wheels. For yours, black will probably look better.

+1
Looked good on a '71 Cut Supreme, alright on a F-250 with a liftkit, crappy on some early 90's passenger cars.

 

[Pacfanweb]

Love 'em. Dislike black walls, for the most part.

 

[geno]

Depends on the car. I think it looks the nuts on trucks / "heavier" looking cars

 

[DivideBYZero]

Here's an example of a Cougar with White lettering on the Tyres.

Not my cup of tea, but not as bad as most riced out horse crap that stabs me in the eyes.

 

[Insomniator]

It costs 7 dollar more per tire to get black lettering instead of white on my dad's Subaru. Just another way to nickel and dime you... basically an automatic extra 28 bucks from every owner of a black car.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Originally posted by: Insomniator
It costs 7 dollar more per tire to get black lettering instead of white on my dad's Subaru. Just another way to nickel and dime you... basically an automatic extra 28 bucks from every owner of a black car.

Odd, all the tires that I've gotten for my truck have raised white letters on one side and black on the opposite.

 

[kalrith]

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth

Originally posted by: Insomniator
It costs 7 dollar more per tire to get black lettering instead of white on my dad's Subaru. Just another way to nickel and dime you... basically an automatic extra 28 bucks from every owner of a black car.

Odd, all the tires that I've gotten for my truck have raised white letters on one side and black on the opposite.

Yeah, that's how mine are too.

Thanks for all the responses. It sounds a lot like a personal preference thing. I really like the raised white letters on my '01 Mazda Tribute (with 235/70-16), and I figured I'd stick with the same thing on my Cougar (with 215/65-15). I will admit that they look better on the higher-profile tires of the Tribute, but I still like them on my car.

My Cougar looks a lot like the one DivideBYZero linked, but it's all white with a black fabric top over the rear-passenger area (not sure what that's called). I'd say it's a heavier-looking (3800 lbs.) car with some muscle (5.0L) behind it. I don't think I'd put white letters on an Escort or anything like that.

I'll post some pics once I can get my car washed. My trunk decided to stop latching two days ago, so I have to fix that before washing it. Nothing says redneck like a trunk held shut with a bungee cord .

 

[69Mach1]

It really depends on the car, the color, the rims, and the tires themselves. The overall look of the finished project, if you will. I have put them on one way, decided they don't look so hot and had them changed. That is kind of expensive, so now I take the new tires and put them by the car so you can see what they look like before you call it.

 

[franksta]

It depends on the car. I'll keep the black letters on my Grand Marquis but might go to white letters on my truck.

 

[kalrith]

Originally posted by: 69Mach1
It really depends on the car, the color, the rims, and the tires themselves. The overall look of the finished project, if you will. I have put them on one way, decided they don't look so hot and had them changed. That is kind of expensive, so now I take the new tires and put them by the car so you can see what they look like before you call it.

That's a good idea. I'll have to do that next time. This time it was more of a guess of whether it would look good, and I'd say I'm still a little torn on how much I like them, but I can't really say until I clean it up really well.