There are only minor differences up until this point between the two companies, but after the production of the parallel-threaded rubberized fabric the major differences begin. Both companies make the finished tire casings with at least two layers of fabric at 90 degrees to each other to provide strength in all directions, but they approach it differently. High-end Vredestein casings are left in a strip about six inches wide. Continental tires are built by hand on an expanding horizontal drum. The drum rotates under operator foot control and is fed by continuous strips of casing fabric, tread material, bead-protecting strips, and, in the case of folding tires, black Kevlar thread.
Lasers shining on the drum show the operator where to line up the pieces.
The casing strip is wrapped around the drum, torn off where the ends meet, and stuck together. With standard-bead tires, a steel bead loop is pulled over either end of the drum to sit on the casing. On folding tires, the operator sticks the end of the Kevlar thread down onto the casing on either side and spins the drum a number of times, to wrap layers of Kevlar one on top of the other onto the casing and form the bead. The drum is expanded by foot control to make the beads taut. The edge slats of the drum fold over, first one side and then the other, to fold the casing over the bead from either side and lap it over itself down the center of the tire.