Continental's tire monitoring delivers performance benefits

ERJ staff report (TP)

Swindon, UK − Barnes Coaches is reporting improved tire wear, safety and fuel economy, after trialling a tire and pressure monitoring system from Continental, reported Laura Cork for Transport Engineer on 6 January.

The Wiltshire-based coach operator fitted Continental's CityPlus HA3 tires to a Bova Futura touring coach last year. The firm says it will now specify this model, rather than the Conti regional truck tire, after monitoring revealed more even wearing and increased resistance to damage from kerbing.

Road holding and handling characteristics, especially in the wet, were also improved, it reports.

Barnes has also fitted the ContiPressureCheck monitoring system to another of its premium touring coaches. The result, says workshop manager Trevor Summers, is that drivers are more readily reporting incidences of falling pressure to the workshop, enabling early action.

He also reveals that Barnes Coaches is trialling a set of Continental's HSW2 coach winter tires for school ski trips.

The tread of the HSW2 is claimed to gradually evolve into a conventional grooved pattern, enabling the tire to remain on the coach through spring and summer. This reduces the cost of storing tires for seasonal use and gives the company the flexibility to travel anywhere in Europe at any time of the year, without the need to change tires.

ContiPressureCheck measures the pressure and temperature of each tire every few seconds and delivers the results to a driver information display. The measuring device has integrated sensors, a data processor and communication system in a rubber container, glued to the inner surface of the tire tread.

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Full story from Transport Engineer