Semperit Releases New Speed-Life Range

The release of the directional tread Speed-Life in March has given the Semperit product portfolio a high performance summer tyre for the medium price range category. The manufacturer states that the main considerations adhered to in the design of the new tyre were safety and low rolling resistance, and Semperit is pleased with the results of its development work: Braking distance, compared with that of its predecessor, has been reduced by up to nine per cent, and it reports that handling, rolling resistance and comfort have also benefited.

Designed for powerful vehicles, the Speed-Life features a symmetrical, directionally-orientated tread pattern with four circumferential tread grooves. Explaining the design, Stephan Herbst, developer of the new Speed-Life, commented: “The solid, powerful central rib ensures safe driving stability and best steering response to slight course corrections and when travelling at higher speeds.” The balanced longitudinal and lateral stiffness of the inner tread ribs to the right and left of it, plus the rows of lugs in the shoulder intersected by lateral grooves, are intended to provide a good steering response to medium steering angles and precise handling on winding roads. “The interlinked tread lugs in the outer shoulder are a further benefit in terms of handling,” Herbst added. “They ensure reliable handling even when driving at the limit.”

The four wide tread grooves and side drainage channels reduce the danger of aquaplaning (Semperit’s tests show a four per cent improvement over the tyre’s predecessor), supplementing the added wet road safety offered by the Speed-Life’s full silica compound. Another benefit of the tread compound is its low rolling resistance. Here too the developers made progress over the previous model, reports Semperit. To achieve the quietest possible running across the entire speed range of the new tyre, the latest noise simulation processes were used to determine the position and the length of the tread lugs. The results were incorporated into the tread lugs, which are of differing lengths; these run one after the other into the approximately postcard-sized contact patch, thereby generating particularly low tyre/road noise.

Summarising the tyre’s planned benefits, Herbst commented: “In the new Semperit Speed-Life, we have managed to combine considerable progress in product characteristics with a highly attractive tread pattern design. We succeeded in shortening braking distances in the wet by a full nine per cent.” The aquaplaning risk was also reduced by four per cent, whilst driving characteristics on dry roads were improved too. Taken together with its low rolling resistance, the new Speed-Life has turned out to be a very balanced product with optimum driving characteristics for the summer season.

The Speed-Life range contains a total of 34 sizes between 15 and 19-inch, in H, V and W speed ratings.