Conti offers deep treads for savings
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by John Dickson-Simpson • Continental is testing energysaving tyres with normal tread depths which should offer fuel savings throughout their life— even when retreaded.
While current fuel-saving tyres have shallow treads Continental will soon launch tyres with tread depths of 14.5mm for steering axles, 19.5mm for driving axles and 16mm for trailer axles. The lower rolling resistance comes from rearranging the casing crown's criss-cross steel plies, as well as the use of rubber compounds reinforced with silica rather than carbon black.
Continental's Roger Sanders is confident that the average reduction in rolling resistance over the life of a tyre will be 12% compared with present Continentals "which are already comparatively good".
For steer-axle tyres the crown-belt strands are at a coarser angle, giving lateral stiffness which provides directional precision; a feature that Continental will soon incorporate in steer-axle derivatives of the wide-single tyres common on trailers.
There's a connection with noise levels too, in that tyres that consume less energy are also quieter and run cooler (and so last longer).
This is particularly noticeable on deep-lug drive-axle tyres, which are comparatively noisy: Continental forecasts a 1.5dBA reduction in noise.