Tire Appearance Enhancement
Modern tire aesthetics must balance visual design with manufacturing constraints and performance requirements. Sidewall patterns, raised lettering, and surface treatments must maintain structural integrity under dynamic loads while meeting strict quality control standards - even minor surface irregularities can impact both appearance and aerodynamics at high speeds.
The fundamental challenge lies in creating distinctive visual elements that remain clearly visible across varying light conditions without compromising the tire's primary mechanical functions.
This page brings together solutions from recent research—including micro-projection techniques for enhanced marking visibility, concentric ridge patterns that mask manufacturing artifacts, and graduated surface treatments that create three-dimensional effects. These and other approaches demonstrate how manufacturers are achieving premium aesthetics while maintaining the strict tolerances required for high-performance tires.
1. Single Carcass Ply Tire with Hybrid Reinforcer Element Comprising Twisted Aromatic Polyamide and Polyester Strands
COMPAGNIE GENERALE DES ETABLISSEMENTS MICHELIN, 2025
A tire design that reduces weight and eliminates unsightly deformations in the sidewalls while maintaining adequate strength. The tire has a single carcass ply with a hybrid reinforcer element made of aromatic polyamide or aromatic co-polyamide strands twisted with polyester strands. This reduces weight compared to using two carcass plies. The single ply with hybrid element allows flexibility to prevent deep sidewall deformations after running-in, which are initially present but diminish. The tire has a sidewall height over 110mm and load index over 94.
2. Tire Sidewall with Grooves and Patterned Protrusions for Defect Containment
MESNAC UNION TECH CO LTD, 2025
Tire design with grooves and patterned protrusions on the sidewall to improve tire quality and reduce noise. The tire has grooves on the sidewall with patterned protrusions arranged in them. The patterned protrusions contain any defects that may form during vulcanization, preventing them from appearing on the tread or critical areas. The patterned protrusions are larger than 20 mm in size to improve visibility and distinguishability. The protrusions are formed by connecting straight lines and arcs to create polygonal or circular shapes. This prevents defects falling on the tread while keeping the sidewall aesthetics. The protrusions can be formed using textures on the mold.
3. Tire Sidewall with Character-Shaped Protrusions and Overlapping Parallelogram Pattern
TOYO TIRE CORP, 2025
Tire with a distinctive sidewall pattern that provides improved visual contrast and durability compared to painted patterns. The pattern region on the sidewall has protrusions shaped like characters or rotated/inverted characters. The protrusions are surrounded by minimal parallelogram regions. The overlapping parallelograms create a high contrast visual effect that is less susceptible to aging compared to painted patterns.
4. Tire with Concave Sidewall Marks in Varied Rotational Configurations
Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd., 2023
A tire with concave marks on the sidewall for improved visibility and three-dimensional effect. The tire has concave marks on the sidewalls that are visible even from different light angles. This is achieved by making the concave marks on the sidewall in different locational configurations in the tire rotational direction. This ensures that the marks are exposed to light from different angles when observed, allowing consistent visibility and three-dimensional effect regardless of viewing direction.
5. Tire with Convex and Ridge Surface Configuration for Enhanced Visibility
BRIDGESTONE CORPORATION, 2023
A tire with improved visibility on specific regions of the tire's outer surface. The tire has a first region with convex portions and a second region with ridges. The distance between the highest points of the convex portions in the first region is shorter than the distance between adjacent ridges in the second region. This configuration enhances the visibility of the convex portion region compared to the ridged region.
6. Hexagonal Unit Pattern Arrangement for Tire Sidewall Graphics
HANKOOK TIRE & TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD., 2023
Improving the appearance of tire sidewalls by using a specific arrangement of unit patterns in the tire sidewall graphic. The tire has a patterned area on the sidewall filled with hexagon-shaped unit patterns. The unit patterns are arranged edge-to-edge to form the patterned area. The unit patterns are cut off at the edges of the patterned area to fit its shape. This allows continuous and complete filling of the pattern area with unit patterns.
7. Tire Sidewall with Inclined Projections for Enhanced Oblique Contrast
BRIDGESTONE CORPORATION, 2023
A tire with a decorative pattern that provides enhanced contrast when viewed obliquely. The pattern has raised projections on the tire sidewall. These projections are inclined in the same direction. When viewed from the direction of the incline, the pattern appears black against the non-patterned tire surface. This visual effect is due to light entering the pattern region and being repeatedly reflected between the inclined projections, reducing brightness compared to the flat tire surface.
8. Pneumatic Tire with Radial Gradient Decorative Pattern on Sidewall
Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd., 2023
A pneumatic tire with an inconspicuous, decorative sidewall portion. The tire has a decorative pattern that extends in an arc shape around the tire's sidewall circumference. The pattern has multiple decorative zones with different occupied area percentages. The occupied area percentage of each zone gradually decreases from the radially innermost zone toward the radially outermost zone. This gradual reduction in occupied area percentage along the sidewall creates an optical effect that makes any convexoconcave of the tire's outer surface less noticeable.
9. Tire with Sidewall Micro Projection Gradient Adjacent to Marking
Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd., 2023
A tire with enhanced sidewall marking visibility by having a region of micro projections adjacent to the marking that decrease in height and density with distance from the marking. This creates a contrasting geometry arrangement around the marking that improves visibility compared to having a uniform projection height and density.
10. Tire with Concentric Ridge Sidewall Pattern and Circumferential Ribs
SUMITOMO RUBBER INDUSTRIES, LTD., 2023
A tire with an improved sidewall pattern to enhance its appearance. The sidewall pattern has an outer concentric ridge pattern and an inner concentric ridge pattern, with the ridges connecting at the tire circumferential line. This creates a stereoscopic visual effect with contrasting directions that make the pattern stand out. It also camouflages molding defects like recesses and projections. The tire also has outer and inner ribs extending circumferentially from the pattern to further enhance the appearance.
11. Tire Sidewall with Concavely Formed Marks Featuring Oblique Ridge Lines and Inclined Surface Portions
SUMITOMO RUBBER INDUSTRIES, LTD., 2023
A tire design that improves the legibility and visibility of sidewall marks. The tire sidewall has one or more marks formed concavely on a reference surface. Each mark has an oblique ridge line extending from the reference surface. The ridge separates the outer and inner surface portions of the mark. The outer and inner surfaces are inclined downward away from the ridge. This configuration provides improved contrast and visibility of the marks compared to traditional flat marks.
12. Tire with Sidewall Pattern of Curved Chains and Half-Closed Circles Formed by Matching Mold Grooves
Himile Mechanical Science and Technology (Shandong) Co., Ltd., 2023
A tire with a unique sidewall pattern that reduces light reflection and improves tire appearance. The sidewall pattern has curved portions arranged in chains with extension ends. The curved portions connect to form loops and the extension ends have half-closed circles. A tire mold with matching grooves is used to create the pattern during vulcanization. The pattern breaks up the light reflection on the tire sidewall for a better look.
13. Concave Tire Sidewall Markings with Integrated Rib-Shaped Protrusions for Enhanced Shadow Contrast
SUMITOMO RUBBER INDUSTRIES, LTD., 2023
Invisible shadows are added to concave tire sidewall markings to increase legibility without protruding. The shadows are small rib-shaped or columnar protrusions on the bottom surface of the concave mark. These protrusions make the shadow area darker when light is shed on the tire, increasing contrast and making the mark more readable.
14. Tire Sidewall with Radially Arranged Raised Micro-Projections for Marking Enhancement
Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd., 2023
A tire with enhanced visibility of sidewall markings. The tire sidewall has raised micro-projections around the marking to create a 3D effect. These projections extend radially outward from a vanishing point towards the mark. This provides depth perception and makes the mark stand out more clearly against the background.
15. Recessed Dual-Depth Tire Sidewall Marking Design
SUMITOMO RUBBER INDUSTRIES, LTD., 2023
A tire sidewall marking design to reduce air resistance while maintaining good visibility. The tire has a pair of recessed marks on the sidewall. The outer mark is recessed less than the inner mark. The marks can be characters, symbols, or patterns. The recessed marks avoid protrusions that create drag during rotation.
16. Tire and Wheel Assembly with Integrated LED Lights and Optical Fibers for Visual Patterns and Dynamic Color Change
Matthew David Weirich, 2023
Tire and wheel with illuminable features such as LED lights and optical fibers for aesthetic and functional purposes like lighting, indication, visibility, wear, rotation, and service. The lights and fibers are built into the tire and wheel components to create visual patterns, characters, and effects. The illuminable features can help illuminate the area around the tire, indicate wear and rotation needs, show tire pressure, and make the tire more visible. The color of the lights can change with wheel speed.
17. Method for Producing Ultra-Low Profile Tires with High-Contrast Colored Sidewalls via Modified Contour and Molding Techniques
SAILUN CO LTD, 2016
Preparing ultra-low profile tires with colored sidewalls that have a high contrast and uniform appearance. The method involves increasing the sidewall space by modifying the tire contour, font design, and molding to prevent color contamination and defects. This allows producing colored sidewalls on low profile tires with tight sidewall space without issues like abnormal material distribution.
The progress made in tire design highlights the continuous endeavors to combine style and utility. As mentioned, these advances all keep the fundamental performance standards of tires while offering improvements in wear resistance, durability, and visibility as well as three-dimensional effects.
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