The last 20 years has shown large increases in the use of precipitated silica in rubber compounds for tires. This increased usage is due to the improved trade-offs achieved between the fuel economy and wet traction properties of tires with silica filled tread compounds. These improved tire properties come at the increased difficulties of mixing and processing the silica filled rubber compounds. Traditional carbon black rubber compounds are relatively easy to mix and process, whereas silica filled compounds are difficult to mix and process. The difficulty of mixing and processing arises from the polar nature and high hydrogen bonding capability of silica particles versus the non-polar and low hydrogen bonding nature of the elastomers used for tires. The tire industry traditionally adds silane coupling agents during the mixing of silica in order to hydrophobate the silica particles for incorporation into the elastomer matrix. This type of mixing is complicated and requires longer mix cycles when compared to carbon black filled compounds. This talk will cover our efforts at using silica particles that have been pretreated with silanes for faster rubber processing. The use of these pretreated particles has allowed for easier incorporation into elastomer matrices but also has led to some non-obvious processing issues.