Here is a trend that looks set to expand bigtime in the next few years:  race-branded tire sidewalls!

This trend is really in the early stages of the curve — like dark wheels were in 2007 or 2008. The only production car we can think of featuring loud tire letters and colors so far is the Lamborghini Aventador Pirelli Edition, but more are surely on the way from OEM supercar brands and tire companies alike.

Until then, the real tastemakers are taking matters into their own hands. These two stunning white exotics are extensively customized by GT Auto Concepts of Redwood City, California to include bright white tire lettering all around.

Michelin N-rated tires for the Porsche 911 GT3 RS, of course, and Pirelli P Zero rubber for the Ferrari 458 Speciale shown here.

As you can easily see, the ‘stenciled’ white letters are a gorgeous and aggressive statement of race pace — for the road.

In the old days of motor racing, the Goodyear or Dunlop logos were actually spray-painted on tires using simple stencils and shade-tree engineering.  Labelled for brand impact of the race rubber sponsors, color-coded tires now dominate F1 as a short-hand for what compound a car is running.

F1 cars and their tiny-diameter wheels make plenty of sidewall space for Pirelli branding and color rings — but what about road-going supercars?

The ultra low profile rubber section of the Ferrari and Porsche customs here on HRE P101 forged alloy wheels makes it more of a challenge.  The traditional stencil and spray-paint method is a bit too imprecise for this application, so it seems these may be custom-designed and fitted decals.  Baked on, these should comfortably last at least a year in everyday road driving, or perhaps 10k miles before fading or coming off in places.

We’ve reached out to GT Auto Concepts to ask about the pricing, stencil/decal methods, and durability of the custom branded sidewalls, and will update you with any info they provide. The cool thing about this style trend is that you could just order a fresh set of wheels/tires from GTAC, have them mounted and balanced and stenciled all in one fell swoop. For installation locally or globally.

We’d estimate a price of about $300 per tire to replicate this look, which is best done with the tires off the car to ensure proper placement. Just a white blur of cool racing style at speed, and pit-lane cool as you approach every stoplight!

These two customs also wear frozen white satin exterior wraps and LeMans-like yellow lamp tints to complete the race-ready mood all around. Well done and very sexy mods overall.

 

GT Auto Concepts – Customs Photo Credit: ItzKirb Photography c/o HRE Wheels

TrendWatch – Stenciled Tires – 2015 Ferrari 458 Speciale

 

TrendWatch – Stenciled Tires – 2015 Porsche 911 GT3 RS

GT Auto Concepts

GT Auto Concepts – Customs Photo Credit: ItzKirb Photography c/o HRE Wheels