Best of British

In February 2007 Cooper Tires opened a new European Technical Centre (ETC) alongside its factory in Melksham, thus beginning the Wiltshire site’s transformation from a production location for Avon brand tyres into a hub for the company’s Europe-wide activities. Under the guidance of ETC general manager Marcus Hancock – a 19-year company veteran who began his career at Melksham before furthering his career with Cooper in the US – the centre has spent the 14 months since its opening taking full responsibility for the design and development of products manufactured at Melksham, with high-performance passenger car tyres a particular focus. The first such tyre to be primarily developed in-house at the Melksham ETC was ready to be launched in March 2008.

“Europe leads the world in the performance market,” stated Cooper Tires’ director of European sales and marketing Steve Kersh upon unveiling the new Avon ZV5 range to UK dealers and wholesalers at the prestigious Ascari Race Resort in Spain. “To recognise that, Cooper decided to invest in a dedicated technical centre, and this is the first product to come out of that.” Intended as a partial replacement for the Avon’s ZV3 range (H-rated sizes in the ZV3 will continue), the new tyre is aimed at the saloon car market, with sizes available to fit the lion’s share of this sector.

In its design brief for the ZV5, Cooper set out that it didn’t merely want the new tyre to be better than the ZV3 – instead it set its sights on making the ZV5 comparable to products recognised as industry leaders. The particular product used as a benchmark was the Bridgestone Turanza ER300, which, in addition to numerous other accolades, was in its 205/55 R16V guise voted by Germany’s respected ADAC as the winner in its 2007 summer tyre test. To develop the tyre Cooper really wanted, the designers of the ZV5 faced the task of making their new product at least this good – a worthy test of the new ETC’s capabilities.

In designing the ZV5, Cooper went back to its customers throughout Europe and asked them what they thought the strong points of the ZV3 to be – and what areas showed room for further improvement. “We focused on three main areas: pattern, construction and tread compound,” said ETC general manager Marcus Hancock. “A number of respondents said that wet grip and subjective handling in the ZV3 needed improvement, so these two areas became the subject of particular attention.”

The issue of subjective handling was mainly addressed by improving sidewall stiffness with the inclusion of a stiffer lower sidewall layer, commented Hancock. Wet weather grip has been optimised through tread pattern design. The tread features wide circumferential grooves intended to minimise aquaplaning, and the tread blocks and siping have also been designed to slice through thin films of water for enhanced braking performance.

In the course of development the ZV5 was extensively tested against both the benchmark tyre and Cooper’s own product charter goals. The bulk of tyre tests were conducted at the Motor Industry Research Association’s proving ground in Warwickshire. Other sites throughout Europe were also utilised, such as Papenburg in Germany, where aquaplaning evaluations were carried out. High-speed tests were performed at the famed Nürburgring, and noise assessment tests were also conducted in Germany. Cooper’s own testing was rigorous, reports Hancock. “Our first tests showed that, in areas that are important to us, we are either equal to or better than the benchmark. Then we did a second final assessment, against the tyres of three competitors. The ZV5 performed either equal to or better than the three competitors.”

The launch of the new Avon tyre provided an opportunity to compare the ZV5 against its competition, both in the hands of professional and less experienced drivers, and to observe first hand how the product charter goals have translated into performance and safety qualities – the team at Cooper Tire felt completely at home allowing a direct comparison between their new product and those it will be pitted against in the market place. And at the mood of the team from Melksham at the Ascari circuit was also one of pride in what they had achieved.

“As this project was started in the US but then transferred to the European Technical Centre, there is a sense of accomplishment from both sides,” Marcus Hancock. “There is a huge sense of both accomplishment and belief in this tyre, from the robustness of the pattern to the performance of the construction and tread compound. A huge amount of work was put into the successful development of this product in both technical and production. Everyone here is excited and knows that this product will be a success.”

Members of the ETC team also expressed the opinion that having a European based technical centre not only is advantageous in terms of carrying out testing in European conditions. It also offers the significant benefit of permitting technical development and product manufacture to take place in the same location. Since signing off on the ZV5, ETC personnel have been engaged in other significant projects – also in action on the Ascari circuit during the ZV5 launch was the company’s upcoming and as-yet unnamed new UHP tyre. Additional details on this product can’t be given at this time, however the coming months will undoubtedly give the ETC team further reason to be proud.

As for the ZV5, upon its launch the new tyre will be available in 22 sizes (eight 15 and 16-inch, five 17-inch and one 18-inch), with 20 of these V rated products, giving the ZV5 an 86 per cent V-rated market share coverage. More 18-inch sizes are on their way, with plans for these already at an advanced stage. Run-flat sizes are also currently in preparation, with two 16-inch products (195/55 R16 87 H/V and 205/55 R16 91V) and one 17-inch tyre (225/45 R17 91W) earmarked to be the first released. Every tyre in the ZV5 range comes with a rim flange protector, and the entire line-up meets all “S” noise mark requirements, even though this is not required for replacement market tyres until 2011.