(Akron/Tire Review) Coker Tire has introduced a newly developed 65 Series BFGoodrich Silvertown whitewall radial. The tyre features a wider, lower profile than the current 70 Series Whitewall radials, Coker said. Constructed with all of the safety and performance aspects modern radial tyre technology affords, Coker said, the new BFGoodrich Silvertown 65 Series Whitewall radials are S-speed rated and carry a 540 BB UTQG rating.
(Akron/Tire Review) There is one P225/50R17 Michelin Pilot HX MXM4 that will never see the open road – the 200 millionth tyre produced at Michelin North America’s (MNA) Greenville, S.C., US1 plant last week. And Richard Simmons, the man who helped build the plant’s very first tyre – a BR78R13 – in 1975, was on hand to help produce that landmark radial. According to MNA, some 100 employees at the plant have been at US1 since day one.
Total Chinese tyre production will reach 3 billion units annually in the next five years, according to China Rubber Industry Association (CRIA) figures. Of these 70 per cent are expected to be radial tyres, with radialisation set to spread to the construction field. The huge production figures will also be predominantly made up of tubeless truck and bus and high-speed passenger car radials, according to the association. As far as machinery is concerned 11 out of the world’s top 12 tyre producers use Chinese-made rubber machinery in their production, according to CRIA chairman, Ju Hongzhen.
(Akron/Tire Review) In the USA, Falken Tire Corp. announced a limited price increase, effective May 1. The increase will impact select sizes of Falken’s S/TZ04 and Ziex 60- and 65-series tyres.
Radik Ilyasov, CEO of Russian tyre maker Nizhnekamskshina, has described the company’s plans to build a $180 million new truck tyre manufacturing plant. Iiyasov told CentreInvest analysts that the company will build the plant by 2009 and it will be capable of producing 600,000 radial tyres a year. The project will involve foreign participation, either through a JV or via a licensing arrangement. In line with this, Nizhnekamskshina intends to complete its reconstruction of a $180 million rubber mixing line by 2007.
(Akron/Tire Review) Coker Tire Co. announced that it is offering BFGoodrich wide profile Redline radial tyres. With the tyre’s BFGoodrich v-block tread pattern and the distinctive appearance of a Redline sidewall, the supplier of classic and collector tyres said the tyre can turn a vehicle into “the ultimate muscle car tyre.”
Continental Tyres has introduced the new ConRad tyre, a powerful addition to its radial industrial range. The manufacturer describes the ConRad is “ideally suited for heavy transport or lift trucks carrying loads up to 10 tonnes in weight, operating on smooth, paved and mixed terrain.”
Yokohama Rubber Company Ltd is in the process of patenting a method of producing radial tyres for construction vehicles. The new tyre production method reportedly facilitates “a vast reduction in facility costs.”
Chinese Tyre output was up 32 per cent year-on-year in the month of October to 26.664 million units. The China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Association figures also show that almost half (12.301 million) were radial tyres, up 31.2 per cent. For the January-October period, the tyre output reached 248.588 million units, up 28.4 per cent year on year, of which radial tyres accounted for 113.995 million units, up 38.6 per cent.
(Akron/Tire Review) As of 1 November, Ernest J Rodia is Titan International Inc’s new executive vice president and chief operating officer (COO). Rodia had worked for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co since 1966 in various capacities, including vice president of global engineering and manufacturing technology. He had been instrumental in Goodyear’s entry into radial tyres and directed tyre manufacturing in the tyre company’s European and Asian markets.
Rodia also worked as plant manager of Goodyear’s Kelly-Springfield/Goodyear farm tyre plant in Freeport, Illinois. He earned a mechanical engineering degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and a management degree from Harvard University.
The Tire Industry Association (TIA) has announced the 2005 inductees into the Hall of Fame. These are Eugene Beck Jr., president of Beck Tire International and John Sieff, retired president of S&M Tire Company and Mr. Tire Service.
This year an additional category – that of “Historical Contributors” -has been added for individuals, living or deceased, who have been out of the tyre industry for at least 20 years. There are four inductees; Fernley Banbury, inventor of the Banbury mixer, Theodore Smith, founder, president, publisher and editor of the India Rubber Review (now Tire Review) and Marius Mignol and Pierre Bourbon of Michelin, inventors of the radial tyre.
The Tire Industry Association (TIA) has announced the 2005 inductees into the Hall of Fame. These are Eugene Beck Jr., president of Beck Tire International and John Sieff, retired president of S&M Tire Company and Mr. Tire Service.
Bridgestone Corp is to build a new $100 million steel-cord plant in southern China to feed its growing production base there, the manufacturer has reported. The plant, in Huizhou in the southern province of Guangdong, will produce steel cord for truck and bus radial tyres starting in January 2007, Bridgestone said.
Bridgestone is to invest 17 billion yen (£86 million) in increasing production of large and ultra-large radial tyres for mining and construction equipment. The company plans to spend the money in expanding production at its Shimonoseki, Saga, and Hofu plants. Bridgestone said that the move has been taken in response to growing global demand for this specific type of tyres. The investment is also said to be part of a “sweeping capital spending programme” that the Bridgestone Group is undertaking worldwide.
Pirelli and Roadone Tyre have signed a joint-venture contract to manufactue all-steel radial truck tyres in the Shandong Province. The transaction, which is expected to be completed within the year, is subject to the approval of the relevant authorities.
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