F1 technology: Pirelli launches ‘coloured edition’ tyres

Have you ever gazed at your car’s tyres and thought “they’re just too black for my liking”? If your answer is yes, Pirelli has something you may be interested in. The company has brought a new tyre to the 2017 Geneva Motor Show, and it features sidewall colouring similar to that seen on Pirelli’s Formula 1 tyres. This new Pirelli coloured edition is an add-on to the P Zero and Winter Sottozero ranges, and utilises materials that ensure the colour remains vivid throughout the tyre’s life. Pirelli says coloured edition tyres can be obtained in any colour the customer wants.

The Pirelli coloured edition was created to “satisfy the increasing demand for personalisation from prestige and premium clients,” a wish the Italian tyre maker identified through market research as well as its own monitoring of consumer trends. Four base colours – red, yellow, white and silver – are available, however “options are available in every other colour on request.”

The sidewall colouring found in the Pirelli coloured edition is said to be very stable. Pirelli claims it used a “ground-breaking” and “exclusive” technology to develop the colours, drawing upon its experience in F1, where it has applied colour to race tyre sidewalls since 2011. “In particular, a new material has been created that acts as a protective barrier to maintain the brilliance of the colour and avoid fading caused by time and use, without affecting performance,” shares Pirelli.

The very first coloured edition P Zero tyres recently debuted as concepts with Pagani, Lamborghini and McLaren, and from the summer they will be available for brands such as Ferrari, Aston Martin, Porsche and Bentley. The coloured edition will then be expanded to “premium models from the world’s top manufacturers.”