Goodyear launches HydraGrip

Goodyear has introduced HydraGrip, a new high performance summer tyre, specially developed for rainy and wet weather conditions. With its innovative DynamicDrain TRED technology HydraGrip provides unrivalled wet braking and aquaplaning safety without compromising its performance on dry roads.

Goodyear customer research has shown that in Europe safety is the primary concern of drivers of medium and large high performance and family vehicles, especially in rain and wet weather. No matter where you drive in Europe, you are facing a lot of rain: according to the yearly weather statistics it rains in Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Paris, Warsaw and Stockholm three out of five days, even cities like Athens, Madrid and Rome have almost 100 rainy days per year. European drivers across the continent have to drive an average of 141 days per year on wet roads. “Accidents happen especially when it starts raining after a dry period – a situation that demands high performance both from tyres and drivers. Therefore it is no surprise that 70 per cent of European drivers want tyres that behave particularly well on wet roads,” explained Paul Joosten, marketing director Goodyear brands Europe, Middle East and Africa in Mireval, when launching the HydraGrip. “Our goal was to develop a tyre that provides optimal safety in the quickly changing European summer weather with its alternate heavy rainfall and dry periods. After millions of tested kilometres and three years of development at Goodyear‘s Research and Development Centres in Colmar Berg, Luxembourg, we now proudly introduce a tyre that sets new standards for high performance summer tyres,” added Joosten.

Thanks to its unique DynamicDrain TRED technology HydraGrip provides excellent side grip and lateral stability, coupled with an unrivalled performance in emergency braking and resistance to aquaplaning. “HydraGrip gives drivers the all around performance and safety that they demand in extreme wet conditions,” said Joosten.

The new DynamicDrain TRED technology is a combination of highly sophisticated technology features such as 3D-BIS technology, cascade blading and V-TRED design with a specially developed high performance tread compound. In Detail: Goodyear‘s patented Three Dimensional Block Interlocking System (3D-BIS), well-known from successful Goodyear winter tyres, significantly improves the tyre’s wet and dry handling performance because it allows an increased number of blades in the tyre compared with traditional bladed tyres. This technology equips the tyre with as many biting edges as possible to provide excellent behaviour in aquaplaning and on wet roads while at the same time preserving the precise and dynamic handling characteristics of a high performance tyre with its stiff solid tread blocks. HydraGrip‘s 3D-BIS technology also increases the blade length with worn tyres and therefore improves the tyre‘s wet performance during the whole tyre life.