Bridgestone: 150 Million Blizzaks – and Counting

Bridgestone reports the reaching of a noteworthy milestone during the past year – the production of the 150 millionth Blizzak studless winter tyre. The brand was introduced in 1988 and the name is applied to passenger car, light commercial vehicle and 4×4 tyre ranges manufactured in Japan, Europe and Turkey. The range was introduced into North America in 1992 and Europe in 1994. The 100 millionth tyre was produced in 2004, and last year more than ten million Blizzaks were produced worldwide.

The current European Blizzak range includes lamellen tyres for more variable Central European winters and studless tyres with some Multicell compounds for extreme Nordic conditions. Following a new approach to European lamellen tyre design in 2009, Bridgestone engineers developed one Blizzak asymmetric tread pattern and tuned it for two different performance profiles: the Blizzak LM-30 for safety on snow and wet; the LM-35 for secure motorway handling on both wet and dry. Both tyres are said to have lower rolling resistance than their predecessors.

For extreme winter conditions, the latest Blizzak DM-V1 is designed to give drivers of powerful new-generation 4×4 vehicles the double benefit of strong grip on frozen surfaces and safe handling on wet. The tyre features Bridgestone’s Multicell Z Compound, with its microscopic bubbles and tubes for absorbing the water film on ice. Adding to the edge effect, “biting” micro-particles are constantly exposed as the tyre wears, a feature intended to ensure strong grip on frozen surfaces until the tyre tread wear indicator appears on the tread surface when tread depth reaches 50 per cent of the original level.