T&A Interviews Cooper European Technical Centre Head

Cooper Tire has launched a new ultra-high performance tyre which, the company claims, offers all the performance of the Zeon range, but with the addition of much improved tread life. The new Cooper Zeon CS6 replaces the Cooper Zeon XTC’s V and W-rated sizes. The product’s enhanced tyre tread life is achieved by virtue of a new silica compound which, thanks to computer-aided design technology, offers enhanced grip in wet weather braking and handling situations. However, arguably the greatest claim the company is making about the CS6 is the suggestion that the new tyre offers up to 12 per cent longer tread wear than the XTC.

What’s more, the new tyre has hit the road courtesy of development work at Cooper’s European Technical Centre. Tyres & Accessories recently visited the ETC, which is based on the company’s Melksham tyre production site, and discussed the CS6 and evolution in the company’s tyre development strategy with tech-centre head Marcus Hancock.

The CS6 will be available in sizes ranging from 15 to 18 inch rim diameters, and more high-speed classifications than its predecessor including V, W and Y ratings. In addition its upgraded tyre construction means the CS6 is lighter than its predecessor and features lower rolling resistance – which offers financial and fuel saving benefits to consumers. With three quarters of new cars rolling off the production line on alloy wheels, the CS6 also benefits from rim flange protectors, which help protect alloys against expensive kerb damage. It is available in 38 sizes, from 15-inch to 18-inch diameters. Selected run-flat fitments in a handful of key market sizes are also being prepared and will be available to the market during the coming months. Two initial sizes are already in production, but three more are scheduled to enter the factory “imminently.” T&A learnt that the sizes will include: 195/55 R16, 215/55 R16, 245/40 R18 and 225/45 R17 in both summer and cold-weather/winter treads – a total of 10 variants in all.

Cooper’s management reports that the Cooper Zeon XTC has been a popular element of its high-performance range since it was introduced in 2005. At the launch of the new tyre, Cooper Tire Europe managing director, Julian Baldwin pointed this out and at the same time tipped his hat to the development work being done in Melksham: “We are constantly working to continuously improve our products, and with the latest technology from our European Technology Centre, we’re able to do just that with the CS6. This is a tyre that not only features enhanced handling, but also a longer-lasting tread that means customers won’t have to think about spending money on replacement tyres for that bit longer – a key bonus point in the current economic climate.”

The ‘durable performance’ characteristics the CS6 offers place Cooper at the centre of the mean-tyres-become-green-tyres transformation the leading tyre manufacturers’ sales narrative appears to have undergone in recent years. While previously large, low and fast were the requirements of the day, now economising tyre design is being added to the list. T&A asked Marcus Hancock how much influence economical considerations are having on tyre design.

“In times such as these, consumers are not so keen to part with their cash, so [the challenge is] to balance performance aspects such as wet-grip, handling and braking…with economy,” Marcus Hancock commented, explaining that the development process is also nuanced by the demands of consumers in the various different European markets. While a market the size of the US can afford to take a more broad-brush approach to tyre development, those same tyres are not as attractive in the various European countries that make up the continental tyre culture. Consumers in Europe’s largest market (Germany), for example, are most interested in tyres’ performance characteristics; Southern Europeans are said to more brand conscious, whereas in other markets (including the UK) it would be fair to say that price is a key influencing factor.

Then there are the increasing regulatory pressures. In addition to new European rolling resistance, noise, wet grip and labelling rules that have just been introduced (see elsewhere in this issue for further coverage on this), clean oil regulations set to come into force on 1 January 2010 will apply to all manufacturers exporting into Europe and any importers bringing tyres into the continent. Even closer than that is the first phase of S-mark noise requirements (up to 185 section width), which come in in October this year. Phase two (up to 210 millimetres width) follows a year later in October 2010.

This list, which doesn’t even detail the 2011 REACH requirements, shows that Cooper Tire Europe’s decision to found a European Technical centre alongside its Melksham, Wiltshire production site was farsighted. And, by all accounts the facility has already been well used. The ETC is responsible for all elements of the design and development of products manufactured at Melksham, primarily high-performance passenger vehicle tyres in both Cooper and Avon brands, but it also plays a central role in developing new products and even sidewall patterns designed to better serve the European market. As a result Cooper’s ETC team are confident the company can offer a “greatly improved” winter proposition, which offers particularly strong snow and ice grip and has still managed to improve on everything else.

Another example is Cooper’s GFE (Greater Fuel Efficiency) – a US tyre debuted at the end of 2008 at the SEMA show in Las Vegas – which features technical improvements designed to reduce rolling resistance without compromising overall performance. The knowledge gained from this product’s development is now being reapplied wherever applicable. For its part the ETC is focusing on taking existing premium range products and improving characteristics such as tread wear and rolling resistance without cutting back on anything else.

All this talk of continuing improvement begs the question – isn’t always going to be a question of balancing one criterion against another? Can any manufacturer yet produce low rolling resistance tyres that don’t by virtue of their increased fuel efficiency suffer in terms of wet braking performance? According to Hancock, while this is possible, he is sceptical about whether the technology yet exists in any great scale. Improvements are rather said to have been made through general forward steps which reduce the appearance of any deficient but the whole product improves.

Having a technical centre alongside a manufacturing plant also means a short time between development and production and allows for dialogue between production and development teams. According to Marcus Hancock, the CS6 is the second major line through Melksham factory since the ETC was established and the team’s proximity to the various groups of consumers, customers and production staff has enabled the team to keep development times short and follow the company’s product charter.