Facebook feedback boosts Conti’s American truck tyre range

Bosses who frown upon Facebook as yet another opportunity for employees to squander precious company time may be surprised to hear it has been embraced by the tyre industry and, as the following example shows, can actually influence which tyres are released onto the market.

Following what it describes as an enthusiastic response from visitors to the Mid-America Trucking Show and ExpoCam truck show in Canada, and based upon feedback received through its Facebook page, Continental Tire the Americas has decided to launch not one new super single truck tyre into the North American market as planned, but two.

In March, Continental invited truck tyre customers to visit its booth at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Kentucky and leave feedback about two competing designs for a wide single drive tyre on its Facebook page. The company repeated the offer at ExpoCam in Montréal the following month. After speaking with hundreds of show visitors and reading the comments left for the research and development team on Facebook, director of marketing Clif Armstrong announced on July 12 that Continental will bring both designs to market.

“Originally when we invited our customers to give us feedback on the designs for the product, we were envisioning one, wide single drive tyre for highway use,” said Armstrong. “However, the response was enthusiastic for both designs – so much so that we knew they both had a legitimate place in our product portfolio.”

Continental’s original decision, Armstrong said, was to launch a long haul, highway use wide single drive tyre that would serve as a replacement for dual fitments and provide superior fuel economy, exceptional traction and weight reduction. The tyre, labelled “Design 223” on Continental’s Facebook page, will be produced for this application as the new Continental HDL2 Eco Plus super single drive tyre. Continental anticipates a November 2011 release.

Continental’s director of research and development for truck tyres in the Americas, Roger Stansbie, said that the new HDL2 Eco Plus (Heavy Drive Long Haul) in size 445/50R22.5 will feature 27/32nds of tread depth, a closed shoulder and regenerating sipes in the middle of the tread blocks. A three-dimensional sipe in the centre of each tread block couples the groove under compression for increased strength, but still allows more block flexibility as the block exits the footprint. The new HDL2 Eco Plus’ groove geometry was designed to reduce the stress at the groove bottom by placing the element between the two groove bottom radii. This separates the forces at each side of the groove bottom and reduces premature wear, Stansbie said. He added that the tyre already meets the U.S. EPA SmartWay Transport Partnership limits for low rolling resistance drive tyres, although it has not yet been submitted for.

The second product to be manufactured is the tyre labelled “Design 224” on Continental’s Facebook page; this will be released in size 445/50R22.5 as an additional fitment for the HDL2 DL (Heavy Drive Long Haul, Deep Lug) truck tyre range. At 27/32nds of tread depth, the HDL2 DL super single tyre’s tread design was copied from the existing HDL2 DL sizes and Stansbie commented it provides deep tread depth with the excellent traction of an open shoulder.

This second tyre also features a bottom groove treatment that reduces stone retention and outside groove geometry designed to distribute stress evenly throughout the groove bottom, providing excellent durability. Stansbie confirmed the HDL2 DL wide base also will meet the U.S. EPA SmartWay Transport Partnership limits for low rolling resistance tyres in the drive position. Availability is scheduled for mid-2012. “The HDL2 DL super single will be an ideal solution for fleets who want to take advantage of weight savings and low rolling resistance in the mixed long-distance and regional traffic application,” Stansbie shared.

Clif Armstrong said the company was pleased with the response from customers to its invitation to provide design feedback for the new tyres, and even more happy that they could act on the requests. “For fleets looking for weight savings, ease of maintenance, greater lateral stability and reduced fuel consumption, Continental now has a truck tyre product for each wheel position in the wide single configuration. What is incredible is that not only do we now offer a complete suite of wide single truck tyres (both drive and trailer positions) from Continental, but we did so by responding directly to what our customers told us.

“Continental is a leader not only in engineering premium truck tyres, but also in listening to our customers and providing what they really need,” Armstrong continued. “This invitation to provide feedback on our new products was a great way to reach out to our trucking fleets and drivers, and let them know that Continental always keeps their best interests in mind when it comes to tyre development.”

Both new drive tyres will be initially produced and shipped from the Continental truck tire plant in Puchov, Slovakia, but Armstrong said that moulds and presses are already being relocated to the recently expanded Continental truck tyre plant in Mt. Vernon, Illinois for American production.