TREAD Archives - Page 73 of 74 - Tyrepress

Posts

RainSport 1 And rallye 680 From Uniroyal

The two latest offerings from Uniroyal are classed as “wet weather tyres”. The RainSport 1 is a high speed (V and W rated) tyre which succeeds the RTT 2 and features include a directional tread with a double-V tread pattern and a silica compound for improved wet grip and lower rolling resistance. The rallye 680 is a T-rated tyre, aimed at the family driver, and it is a replacement for the rallye 580. Again, the compound is silica-based and Uniroyal claims improved performance in the areas of aquaplaning resistance, wet braking, tyre life and noise generation.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

Semperit Sport Grip With New Sipe-Technology

Continental’s subsidiary Semperit introduced its new winter-tyre “Sport Grip” for stronger motorised passenger cars to the press at the end of September in Austria. With its new sipe-technology called “Add Traction” and a corresponding profile structure, the new tyre has been designed to meet the most difficult driving conditions of the winter season. In addition, modern silica tread technology will guarantee a balanced handling up to speeds of 210 kilometres per hour. The “Add Traction” sipe consists of three parallel ordered straight sipe pieces which are angled in a “z” shape. In the immobile middle of the block they double the effective length of the grip edges, thus significantly increasing traction. The directional profile of the Sport Grip is also characterised by diagonal profile blocks and enlarged grip edges that optimise traction and side stability. Initially, the Sport Grip is available in 21 sizes from 185/65 R15 Q up to 225/50 R16 H, which represents a market coverage of about 83 percent.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

New Tyre Introduced by Cooper

Cooper Tire & Rubber Company introduces its newest addition to its line of tyres – the Lifeliner Touring SLE (Sport Luxury Edition). The product offers optimized tread compound to balance wear and wet/winter traction. It is equipped with optimized bead contour, as well, for a more uniform fit to the rim and an improved ride quality. Offset shoulder slots bvreak up tire pitch harmonics, allowing for a more quiet ride. The Touring SLE is offered in three separate speed ratings: T, H and V.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

DT818 And DT824 Complete Goodyear’s Optitrac Product Family

Only a few weeks before the start of the Agritechnica fair, Goodyear presents its brand new “Optitrac DT818” and “Optitrac DT824” tyres – the latest additions to the Optitrac family of agricultural tyres, to which the super volume tyre DT830, introduced at the end of last year, also belongs. The DT818 is the family’s super-wide tyre, created primarily for use on today’s higher horsepower tractors with large implements. According to the tyre manufacturer, the DT824 is the perfect choice for very heavy machinery including harvesters and combines. Both tyres hold a much greater volume of air than standard-width tyres, and, because they are wider, have a much larger “footprint”. The weight is distributed over a greater surface area, reducing the pressure at any single point and minimising soil compaction which has negative effects on the plants‘ development. The DT818 and DT824 have also been designed for optimal traction in all types of weather. They feature deeper, more powerful curved lugs for greater draw-bar pull and broad square shoulders provide extra grip. The tread area between the lugs has been specially shaped for better self-cleaning of the tyres. During the presentation of the new tyres Serge Daleiden, responsible for the farm tyre division in Europe at Goodyear, mentioned that future developments in the farm tyre sector could possibly also include the company’s BioTred technology. “This is not a promise, just an idea”, said Daleiden.

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

Winter Snowcontrol/Scorpion Ice&Snow From Pirelli

Two years ago, Pirelli launched its “Winter Snowsport”, a tyre with an asymmetric tread pattern, for sports cars and high-powered saloons. The same technological basis from which the Winter Snowsport was created has enabled Pirelli to offer two new products, extending the same guarantee of safety that Snowsport gives to top-of-the-range cars, to other important motoring segments. On a glacier in Iceland, Pirelli launched the two new products. With 21 sizes for 13″ to 15″ diameter rims, the Q- and T-rated new directional “Winter Snowcontrol” will be available in all European markets. The tyre offers performance in all winter conditions, particularly on ice and snow, to all drivers of cars in the medium to medium-low segment. “Scorpion Ice&Snow” is an asymmetric winter tyre specially developed for sport utility and recreational vehicles, which provides excellent performance on ice and snow and is highly versatile on snow-covered off-road surfaces. The tyre is based on the Scorpion concept for the 4×4 market and will be available in nine sizes from 15 to 18 inches (8x T-rated, 1x H-rated).

30th November 2001/by Tyrepress Editors

New Developments At Nokian

Nokian Tyres introduced its new intelligent tyre technology system to the press in Essen. It will communicate directly with the driver’s mobile phone, sending real time data on tyre pressures without the need to install any extra equipment in the vehicle. Furthermore two new tyres that will be available next spring were presented: The “NRZi” with speed index “W” and an asymmetric and directional tread pattern is designed to meet the demands of high-performance cars. The van tyre family will get a new member with the “NRC2”, the tread profile of which will be 10 per cent wider than that of its predecessor.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

ContiPremiumContact – Developed to Customers’ Specifications

From the spring of 2000 the new ContiPremiumContact will gradually replace the ContiEcoContact CP as the tyre for top-class cars. With this new summer tyre Hanover expects a significant increase in the replacement and the original equipment business in tyres with speed categories of 190 km/h and above during the next few years. The new tyre was presented to the international trade press in mid-February. A study undertaken by the development/consultancy “Institut für Sensorikforschung und Innovationsberatung” has established that the first and foremost user requirement of a tyre is safety. By which he means aquaplaning protection, short brake distances, steering precision, roadholding and tracking stability. With three construction specifications – an innovative bionic contour emulating a cat’s paw that extends in width when the brakes are applied, an asymmetric tread pattern and a third-generation silica compound – the PremiumContact wants to fulfil these requirements. Continental is seeking a total of 37 original equipment approvals from 14 vehicle manufacturers with the PremiumContact – available in eleven different 16 and 17 inch sizes. In the replacement business the ContiPremiumContact will initially be launched in 13 sizes, a 75 p.c. market coverage, according to the manufacturer. The new tyre will be positioned at the same price level as its predecessor.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

Joan Claybrook Attacks Goodyear

Whilst working at the National Highways Transportation Safety Administration in 1979 Joan Claybrook forced Firestone to recall the S 500 Tyre. Later, as president of Washington-based Public Citizen consumer protection group she was at the forefront of pressurising Bridgestone/Firestone into their second large scale recall. Now she is turning the guns on Goodyear and is joining the growing band of lobbyists for a Goodyear recall on Load Range E tyres. As reported previously in TYRES & ACCESSORIES, there have been 15 deaths related to tread separations on Load Range E tyres and a larger number of non-fatal accidents, with some 58 incidents being reported to the NHTSA. Goodyear emphatically deny that there is any tyre fault and cite the low number of accidents in relation to 27 million tyres sold since 1991. Two years ago the company recalled 600,000 tyres and has voluntarily recalled tyres on other occasions, on one instance the fault was as a result of faulty tyre fitting procedure at Chrysler, but Goodyear handled the recall. So why not this time? Now several consumer action groups, including Public Citizen, Strategic Safety and Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety are calling for a recall based on the existing accident statistics to prevent further incidents. They suggest that the reason for Goodyear not recalling the tyres is the tremendous cost involved in recalling an estimated 13 million tyres still in use. The cost would run to several hundred million dollars, much more than the costs Firestone have recently incurred. Again, Goodyear deny that this is the case, explaining that in the previous recalls there were clear faults with the tyres, this they say is different, the separations are, they claim, subject to many different causes and are not the responsibility of Goodyear.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

“Product Range 2000” of Marangoni

At the beginning of April Marangoni, the Italian tyre manufacturer, broadened its tyre range in the high-performance sector by seven new sizes within the product programme 2000. Top of the summer tyre series is the “Zeta ESC”, a low-profile tyre with a directional tread pattern approved for speeds up to 270 km/h, which had five new 17-inch sizes added. Two more sizes were introduced to the second product line, “Heron”, making a total of 25 sizes in aspect ratios 65, 60, 55 and 50 and speed indices from H to W. On the occasion of these new introductions Marangoni invited the European trade press to Rapallo on the Italian Riviera, where questions were answered not only about the latest additions but also about the past, present and future of Marangoni Tyre S.p.A. When all is said and done, Marangoni is a kind of outsider in tyre production matters, hoping to raise the degree of international awareness and acceptance by its presentation. The production of new tyres (the Marangoni and Stunner brands) for cars, trucks and small transporters is one of the business units of Marangoni Holding, best known for its divisions Marangoni Tread (production of materials and technology for retreading) and Marangoni Pneumatici (retreaded tyres),which last year generated a turnover of 400 billion lire. The Marangoni Tyre share of the consolidated annual turnover of the group of companies is a quarter, according to Andrea Vassura, managing director and board member of Marangoni Tyre S.p.A.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

Consumer Campaign Launched By RMA

The Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA) is launching a tyre safety awareness campaign called ‘Be Tire Smart – Play Your PART’ urging consumers to think about Pressure, Alignment, Rotation and Tread. The campaign supported by the American Automobile Association (AAA) comes in the light of a RMA survey which showed that most drivers failed a tyre safety quiz. In the survey only four percent admitted to checking tyre pressures regularly. Only 28 percent knew the regular service interval for rotating tyres. Only 22 percent knew the legal minimum tread depth. In the overall quiz only 23 percent managed to get a grade “C” pass or better.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

Continental Truck Road Safety Round Table

Every so often, Continental Tyre UK assembles a panel of interested parties to talk through a subject of interest. The most recent ‘Round Table’ was on the subject of truck safety, particularly that of tyres. Roadside checks on trucks seem to reveal a story of tyre neglect, with many tyres showing damage which would be obvious to the most cursory examination, implying that nobody bothers to look. The legal minimum tread depth for trucks in the UK is 1mm, and has been so for the past three decades. Conti is not convinced that raising the limit to 1.6mm would have a significant effect on safety. Most good fleet operators change tyres at 2mm anyway, which is what Conti recommends. Roadside fitter safety was discussed – a dangerous job made even more so by the extensive use of the mobile phone, which removes the police from the equation. If the police do not know of a breakdown, they cannot provide safety backup for the fitter. Like many other companies, Continental provides a complete tyre management service for fleets, taking on all responsibility for tyre-related matters. This not only means peace of mind for the operator, but should ensure better maintained, safer tyres. Full details of the Round Table discussion can be found in TYRES & ACCESSORIES 6/2000.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

Two Piece Tyre Tested By Goodyear

Goodyear is testing a two piece design for off-the-road tyres. The tyre consists of a steel cord casing which is matched to a separate, removable over belt carrying the steel belt, bead and tread package.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

Eagle F1 Tread Pattern In Le Mans

While, for example Michelin, declares the demands of Le Mans comparable with Formula 1, Goodyear is fitting the Corvette of the official Chevrolet team and a private BMW prototype with the Eagle F1 street tread pattern.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

Aquatred 3 By Goodyear

At the beginning of the 90s Goodyear had great success – especially in USA – with its aquachannel tyre “Aquatred”. Now the tyre manufacturer launches in North America the dual-aquachannel tyre Aquatred 3 with greater dry traction performance and an 80,000-mile treadlife Warranty. The all-season tyre will be introduced initially in 18 popular T-rated sizes.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors

TyreCheck 2000 Results From NTDA

The National Tyre Distributors Association held a press conference to reveal the results of its TyreCheck 2000 campaign. This was part of a wider European initiative to increase tyre awareness and collect data in support of a campaign to increase the legal minimum tread depth. The UK campaign lasted a week and over 37,500 tyres were checked. A depressing 10% were below the 1.6mm legal minimum and a further 17% had tread depths below 2mm, which is the level being proposed as the new legal minimum. 26% were damaged in some way and 46% incorrectly inflated. Spare tyres were also checked and 33% of these had a tread depth below 2mm. 66% were wrongly inflated. In a telephone survey of people who had recently bought tyres, 75% did not know the legal tread depth and 43% said they check their pressures regularly; a figure not borne out by the above statistics. It is planned to repeat the exercise next year, hopefully on a larger scale, and the results will be used to lobby individual governments and European authorities through Bipaver for a change in the tyre laws in Europe.

7th December 2000/by Tyrepress Editors