Why do whitewall tires cost so much?

I can buy the size tire I need in a black wall for $102 a tire. To get that same tire in white wall is $280! Why is the white wall $178 more? What's different about it? I love the look but I can't justify spending $712 more just to get that look. What gives?

 

whitewall tax.

 

Because they can?

 

I'm guessing supply and demand would play a part in it's high cost?

 

Supply and demand? Increased cost of manufacturing? Limited production run occupying plant time when they could make other tires? Just to be mean?

 

The same reason a divorce costs so much, because it's worth it!

Did you check Coker tires?

 

Ha! That made me laugh Yeah that's where the prices came from. Without getting into the radial vs bias ply debate will the non radials ride and wear ok for daily use?

 

i just got a set of diamondbacks 2 1/2 www 205-70-15 for 200.00 per tire,just saying.......

 

Ha Ha!!!

Here are all your answers..... Really!!!

 

Depends more on size & quality available. I just paid $78 a pop for P205 75R15 whitewalls at a local tire shop.

Jack E/NJ

 

White walls are cheap, its the WIDE white walls that slam your ass to the ground.....

 

Sometimes ridin the bandwagons not so cheap

 

It cost a lot to ship them from Viet Nam

 

Look. At Hurst Racing Tires their radials are a great tire and you don't pay an arm and a leg for them.

 

Get some port-o-walls 15 $ each.If I ever pay 200 to 300 bucks for some white walls please fell free to kick me in the balls.

 

Economy of scale. Econ is a required course at my high school.
get some goodyear wranglers and grind them.

 

Well put! Can you imagine spending almost $1200 for a set of bias ply tires that handle and ride like shit?

 

Hey yeah, but they is traditional!
Merry Christmas

 

If ya want to play, you have to pay. I saved up for some WWW's once, but when I sat there looking at $1,000, my good sense kicked in and I let the band wagon roll on by.

Honestly, on a hotrod, they look out of place. On a custom, you pretty much can't get the "look" without them. But for a car that's emulating a machine built for speed, it doesn't seem practical.

Now that was the part where the traditional dudes are beginning to search for race cars that ran WWW's. True, SOME did, but I think the average guy looking to go fast would have spent that money on speed parts, not fancy tires. Perhaps an old timer will chim in.

 

I have never seen this much price difference between the same tire. Did you look correctly?

 

I went to replace a set of Goodyear Advantage WW on my mom's Mercury Marquis. They don't even make them anymore.

I had to buy Kumho's to get the whitewalls. Can't even bring myself to say the name out loud. Kumho? Are you kidding me?

 

WWW's have been at least double, compared to blackwalls, for a long time.

I recently saw a show showing how Coker makes theirs and that white wall step didn't take that much more manufacturing. So, that leads me to believe that the price is mostly based on vanity and desire. Whites are the gold standard for tires.

 

white rubber trees are more rare than black ones...

 

It's called price gouging!!! but I wouldn't run anything else on my Merc so I guess I have to pay up.

 

The same reason Vic Edelbrock can charge $349 for a 2 barrel 94 carb, and the same reason my dog licks his balls...............

 

Those are also great if you want the paint beat off the side of your car. Do some research on these as they do not last at highway speeds and were not meant to be used against radials.

 

Get some raised white letter radial tires and make your own!

 

There is nothing bandwagon about it for me, they are on the car now and just look good. Oh well though because it's going to be riding around on black walls until I find a money tree

Yep but like I stated above oh well black walls for me.

See I never thought of that, good point.

 

The wax for Corky's mustache is expensive. His dad never gouged us.

 

Just ask Coker Tire. They buy the molds for the most popular brands/models of tires enthusiasts like to run on their cars so that they're the sole producers, then jack the price up accordingly. Just had this debate on an OT Mopar forum when guys were looking for BFGoodrich Radial T/A white letter tires. Turns out Coker bought the molds and all of the old BFG inventory and jacked the prices up. They're a sponsor on here, so maybe they'll chime in to either verify or falsify this story.