Winter Tyres
One occasional criticism of the European tyre label is that, unlike the energy efficiency label, it provides more than just a single performance measurement. Delticom is avoiding such issues with its new Delticom Efficiency Class Index, or, DEX a measurement it will offer its customers in addition to the label.
With little over a month until the EU tyre labelling legislation becomes mandatory, independent DriveRight report an influx of enquiries from all over Europe for labelling information via their EC1222.com website. When the EC1222/2009 legislation was announced, DriveRight foresaw a need for an independent supplier of label information. The company, with its 12 years of experience in the tyre industry, obtained the data of 91 major manufacturers and launched EC1222.com as an independent entity.
Safety organisation TyreSafe held its annual communications briefing in September, where chairman Stuart Jackson looked back on the organisation's achievements and gave a taste of future initiatives.
He began with a brief history – TyreSafe was formed in 2006, with 14 members and held its first tyre safety month the following year. Since then it has mounted various campaigns, majoring on subjects such as pressure, tread depth, part-worn tyres and winter tyres, to name but a few. These campaigns have been staged across all media – print, TV, radio and online and the organisation's efforts were recognised when it picked up the Prince Michael Road Safety Award.
October is fast approaching and TyreSafe invites garages, tyre dealers and other road safety professionals to start their preparation for Tyre Safety Month by ordering their campaign materials. This year’s campaign is titled ‘Time for a Change?’ and addresses the perennial favourite British topic of conversation, the weather. To be precise, it highlights the need for drivers to make sure their tyres are safe and legal at a time when the weather normally takes a turn for the worse.
Despite the late summer sun (or perhaps because of it) Goodyear invited journalists to the launch of the UltraGrip8 Performance at Icebar in London on 6 September. While it may have been uncharacteristically warm for a British summer, the Icebar environment (where the walls, bar, table and even glasses are made of ice) were intended to provide a physical reminder of what winter conditions mean for cars and drivers alike.
In American advice magazine, Consumer Reports’ latest tests of all-season and winter replacement tyres, Michelin and Continental lead the way, Tire Review reports. However, the results show that many tyres offer good overall performance. In total, CR tested 78 models of all-season and winter tyres: 20 T speed rated all-season tyres; 20 H speed rated and 22 V speed rated performance all-season tyres; and 16 winter tyre models.
On the snow-dusted face of it, the UK winter tyre market seems to provide a couple of conundrums for those trying to predict and capitalise on demand for seasonal products. The first issue, and the most obvious in many tyre industry professionals’ minds, must be the Oceanic climate of the country, which, coupled with the warm air of the Gulf stream, provides us with only moderately cold winters. The second, a novelty for 2012 is the start of mandatory tyre labelling, which I will come to later.
Sailun says its winter tyres has been established in the North American and Canadian market for several years, and the company is now seeking to increase its seasonal prominence in Europe with its Ice Blazer range. Sailun is accessing the continental markets through appointed distributors covering traditionally strong winter tyre markets in Scandinavia and the Baltic region, as well as in Germany, where recent legislation has increased the profile of winter products, and Austria. Now, Sailun says it is seeking to add distribution of the product to the more temperate climates of France, Benelux and the UK, where it says distributors are “considering stocking the Ice Blazer patterns”.
With two new winter tyres for 2012, Pirelli is enthusiastically promoting the benefits of fitting specialist cold weather tyres in the UK. Joining the Italian manufacturer’s Sottozero Serie II high performance winter tyre are the recently introduced Winter SnowcontrolSerie 3, designed for smaller cars, and the Scorpion Winter SUV tyre, which was displayed at Reifen 2012, and replaces the Scorpion Ice.
Toyo’s range of winter tyres is designed to tackle all wintry driving conditions, aiming to increase drivers’ safety in more conditions than just the handful of snowy days (or weeks) in the UK. Toyo stresses that its winter tyres do not require snow to appreciate the benefits they offer. Toyo identifies slush, ice, mud and cold December downpours as conditions in which the tyres will “prove their worth in keeping drivers on the move”. The company’s computer-optimised tread designs come in a wide variety of sizes to suit all vehicles, from small compact cars to ultra high performance models to 4×4’s and SUV’s.
Maxxis’ range of winter tyres is designed to cope with conditions across Europe, where the manufacturer says they have “proved their reliability”. Designed to disperse snow and deliver improved grip, Maxxis has developed its winter weather tyres with Virtual Intelligent Prototyping technology, engineering them to cope with the most extreme temperatures and slippery surfaces. The range currently includes the MA-PW, the MA-W1, MA-W2 and MA-SPW Wintermaxx range tyres, and the MA-SW Victra Snow tyres.
Dutch tyre wholesaler Interstate Tire & Rubber Co. has added three new winter lines to its 2012 winter programme, which now covers van and SUV sizes, as well as including a fully studdable PCR-light truck line. The three new winter tyres join the popular the popular Winter IWT-2 EVO line, meaning that the company now offers over 120 unique sizes in its private brand winter line-up. The wholesaler says that the new additions mean that its own brand has 11 tyre lines and over 250 sizes in what it calls the “premium-budget segment”.
Stamford Tyres brand, Firenza has an established presence in UK and European markets, with patterns across the PCR, UHP, light commercial and truck sectors. The brand expanded its purview in 2012 to include a recent range expansion into specialist cold weather products. Its growing portfolio now includes the winter tyre range, Nu Ice.
Fast fit franchise network, HiQ has been quick to acknowledge the potential effects of tyre labelling legislation on the retail landscape in the UK, and a new section of the company’s website will continue the steps it has already made in educating its customers about the subject. HiQ has launched its new Tyre Labelling World – described as a “motorists’ guide – on its website, HiQOnline.co.uk. The new section of HiQ’s website aims to provide consumers with a full picture of how the new directive will affect tyre purchasing decisions and impact their vehicle’s performance.
Goodyear has launched an information campaign about winter road safety aimed at commercial vehicle owners and fleets. The manufacturer says it has identified a common misconception, with many commercial vehicle operators assuming that winter tyres are only suitable for snow and ice. Of course, readers of Tyrepress.com will be well aware that winter tyres are developed not only for extreme weather conditions; they also perform better than other tyres at temperatures below 7°C, because of optimised designs and softer, high-silica compounds that don’t harden like regular driving compounds.
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