Car tires are actually black entirely by design, as the natural color of vulcanized rubber is a rather unappealing milky white.

A closer look

Car tires are actually black entirely by design, as the natural color of vulcanized rubber is a rather unappealing milky white. Early automobiles rolled around on white tires until manufacturers discovered that adding carbon black to the rubber compound drastically increased the structural durability and helped conduct heat away from the tread. The aesthetic shift from delicate white rings to aggressive black donuts was basically a happy accident born out of a desperate need to stop tires from melting onto the cobblestones. Imagine a world where monster trucks and military humvees still rode on pristine, marshmallow-colored wheels. It would certainly make road trips feel a lot more festive, even if you had to replace a blowout every twenty miles