New Marketer Adds Colour-Coded Tread Wear Warning

A new private label tyre company based in Oregon, USA has launched its first product, one with an interesting twist. Icon Tire’s new I/Q LT7 line features what the company calls “Visual Tire Performance Indicators” (VTPI), stud-like devises designed to help drivers see when a tyre has worn to its removal mileage.

Icon said the new tyres and system will be available to dealers and retailers by the end of this year. Initially there will be 12 sizes, Icon said, focused on minivans and SUVs. Icon said the new line was “developed through a non-exclusive license of Smart Tread LLC’s patented performance testing and identification method, and Icon’s patent pending stud design.”

VTPIs are inserted like a standard winter tyre stud, and can be inserted to any tread depth that a tyremaker establishes as appropriate for that tyre model, Icon said. With its I/Q LT7 line, the installed VTPIs will show a yellow colour when the tread has worn to 5/32-inch, warning drivers that the tyre’s “wet weather traction and performance has been diminished.” When the tread depth hits 3/32-inch, the VTPIs will show white, “signaling that tyres should be replaced immediately,” Icon said.

Portland-based Icon has its tyres produced by unnamed tyremakers in China. (Tire Review/Akron)