From a recent press release from Bridgestone ...

New Technology of Color Printing on the Sidewalls of Tires

Tokyo—Bridgestone Corporation announced today that it has developed a revolutionary new printing technology for tires that is different from any tire printing or coloring process on the market today.
Until now, white rubber has been used on the sidewalls of tires to manufacture white ribbon and white letter tires. This process requires the use of large amounts of white rubber to prevent discoloration and to also maintain durability. This conventional manufacturing process can also add additional weight to the tire.
Bridgestone’s advanced tire printing technology consists of the layer to protect from discoloration as the base, inks newly developed for this technology, and the layer to protect from external damages on the surface. Through this new technology, Bridgestone can realize the more creative showcase of tires while also considering environmental concerns such as fuel efficiency, without any additional weight to the tire.
Bridgestone will continue to explore the many opportunities associated with this new tire printing technology. As an example, original customer designs or photographs could be printed on tire sidewalls and later removed or changed if a customer chooses.
Bridgestone plans to quickly bring this tire printing technology to market.


A sample of the technology is on display at the Geneva Auto Show, and may be seen at this link: http://www.autoblog.com/photos/bridg...y-geneva-2012/.

Anybody else think that "blue plaid" tire looks sort'a like the X-Marks tartan? Just sayin', ya' know...