There are few th🀅ings in life thaꦿt people don't question. One is why wheels are round (a topic for another week if you're unlucky) and another is that tyres are black - but why?

Mos⛄t people think of tyres as black rubber but it's not the rubber that makes them black - carbon black powder is the critical ingredient that not just gives the colour but also provides the structural strength that tyres need - both on the road and the race track.

A tyre typically contains around 30% of carbon black which is one of the m﷽ost critical ingredients in tyre construction. Simply, it is manufactured by burning crude oil and manufacturers around the world offer ever-improving qualiti⛎es.

The burning process produces 'grains'. These are round but the best quality is when the grains resemble meteorites an𓄧d have a larger surface area. Dunlop continually assesses the carbon black on offer to get thꩵe best product for each application.

All tyres contain an ele🎀ment of carbon black but it is now possible to produce coloured tyres by using a high proportion of a silica compound that can be pigmented to produce the required colour. This doesn't have the strength properties that a higher level of carbon black affords but can have useful applications such as promotional activities.

Unlike the response to Henry Ford's 'any colour so lo🔯ng as it's black', tyre producers are not looking to provide high volumes of alternatives - so black and round is here to stay.