CamberTire – Set to Revolutionise the Tyre Industry?

US based company Optima Sports LLC has released its patented CamberTire, and believes we will hear this product name much, much more in the coming years. “This advancement will revolutionise the tyre industry and we are ready to bring it to market," said company owner and CamberTire inventor John Robinson Scott. “The benefits this design offers are significant to a traditionally slow changing industry – we have, literally, reinvented the wheel.”

The technology behind this hefty claim centres upon the inclusion of a trapezoid profile and asymmetrical sidewalls into conventional tyre design. The benefits this delivers, says the CamberTire creator, include better handling and /braking performance, safety and fuel efficiency. Camber designs can reportedly be utilised on virtually every tyre category currently available on the market, and a switch over to the production of tyres incorporating CamberTire developments is said to be achievable just by altering the tyre moulds and making adjustments to alignment settings.

“Introducing camber into a tyre, and eliminating the need to have toe-in alignment settings, brings significant benefits including improved fuel efficiency, enhanced handling and performance and improved safety with decreased incidence of rollovers,” explains Optima Sports in a press release. “Environmental benefits are significant as well, with improved realised mileage due to a reduction in rolling resistance and wind profile, extended tyre life and less material usage allowing narrower tyre profiles to achieve desired handling characteristics with less weight.”

Optima Sports’ confidence in the future importance of camber tyre technology has, naturally, prompted it to take measures to protect its development: The company reports its CamberTire patent covers any tyres featuring a constantly decreasing diameter from one sidewall to the other and any tyres manufactured with any degree of camber. A recently filed second utility patent covers all conceivable methods for uniform camber tyre production.

The June 2010 issue of US publication ‘Automobile Magazine’ lists camber tyres as being one of the top ten most significant emerging technologies, and likens the importance of Scott’s invention to the Robert Thompson’s invention of the pneumatic tyre and Michelin’s creation of the first radial. The magazine’s technical editor, Don Sherman, recently track tested two sets of the tyres – one with a 140 tread wear rating, the other with ‘R’ compound tread rubber – on a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, comparing the camber tyres with the original equipment fitment.

“Our results confirm that camber tyres do provide measurable advantages over conventional rubber designs,” reported Sherman. “Optima’s standard-tread design is a fairly close performance match with the original equipment Yokohama Advans. The R-compound camber tyre delivered remarkable gains: versus the reference Advans, it shortened stopping distance by 11 feet and increased cornering grip by more than four per cent.

“Tyre engineers would kill for any one-percent gain,” Sherman noted. “Trimming braking distance by six per cent while increasing cornering grip by four per cent constitutes a major breakthrough.”

Optima Sports has been working under cooperative development agreement with M & H Racemaster, a division of Interco Tire Corporation, to produce prototype tyres and conduct the first industry testing. The company reports the first round of two-degree camber tyres produced “easily passed” DOT testing, while  high speed tests met V rated performance requirements, the highest test rating available through M&H – but the prototype tyres were built to meet or exceed Z rated performance. It is now working with M&H to contract manufacture jointly-branded performance street CamberTires in multiple categories and provide Optima Sports distribution of M&H built CamberTires for sales throughout the world. M&H Racemaster also plans to license CamberTire rights for its drag racing line. 

“We have seen excellent results so far as we have optimised the production process. Adopting the camber tyre technology can provide us with the competitive edge we are looking for in several types of racing,” explained Tom Lorden, general manager of M&H. “The camber tyre design is likely to be the most significant advancement to tyre performance since the introduction of radial tyres.  We are researching applications in all of our product lines. “

Although Optima Sports says it will initially go to market with several sizes targeting the high performance niche, its near-term plans include producing additional moulds to expand the product line into more conventional tyre size applications, as well as additional licensing agreements with tyre manufacturers and exclusive OEM fitment agreements with car, truck and trailer manufacturers.  Optima Sports states it is also “considering outside investment opportunities to rapidly expand operations and market penetration.”