How tire markings were applied.

[Tom Hendricks]

I've been doing some studying on tire construction from the 70's and was finally able to positively identify the way tread code markings were applied to the tires. I contacted some friends at Goodyear and also tracked down a company that provided the equipment to do this. The machine was supplied to the tire companies by a company called The Matthews Company based out of Pittsburgh ,PA. The machine was a roll type printer that printed the block letters or numbers to the tread area while it was still in the flat stage. It was put there when the tread surface was extruded, then became part of the tire when it was vulcanized. This information came to me from a gentleman from the Matthews Company who was familiar with the process used at the time of production. He said there is no way to correctly reproduce these markings, however, Rick Nelson has come as close to any I've seen with his technique.I'm sure this trivial information is useless to many, but interesting to the rest of us "detail freaks". If anyone has any further questions regarding this process, let me know and I'll contact my new friend at the Matthews Company and try to get them answered.


Tom Hendricks
69 Chevelle L78
72 Duntov Chevelle

[JoeC]

Tom, sounds like interesting research. No detail is to small or trivial in my opinion.
Years ago I had a long talk with a tire engineer who worked for Goodyear in the 60s. I didn't think to ask about the markings but the guy had some great stories about tire design.