Goodyear unveils new tires, technology

Nashville, Tennessee – Goodyear made some tire industry music in the Music City with the 26 Jan unveiling several new products—including the highest mileage tire in company history.

The company’s three-day 2018 Customer Conference at Nashville’s Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center, concluded 27 Jan with a bash featuring a surprise country-and-western star. More than 2,300 attended the event.

The Akron-based tire maker launched several new products as well as a software management platform and tool, called Tire Optix, that measures the treadwear and pressure of fleet tires and enters the numbers in real time into a cloud-based system.

Products on show included:

Assurance MaxLife, an all-season passenger/SUV/minivan tire with an 85,000-mile limited treadwear warranty;

Eagle Enforcer All Weather police pursuit tire, designed specifically as an replacement tire for the police vehicles, providing year-round, responsive performance;

Eagle F1 SuperCar 3R, developed in cooperation with General Motors Co. as a street-legal track tire for the Camaro ZL1-1LE.

Fuel Max SSD drive and Fuel Max SST trailer tire, two wide-base single tires for long-haul fleets that want to save on both weight and fuel;

Endurance LHS, a commercial truck tire designed for long-haul steer applications; and

Endurance WHD, a retread for waste-hauler fleets.

Several members of the Goodyear executive team addressed dealers during the opening session 26 Jan, discussing the company's strategy, programmes, marketing initiatives and new products.

"There has never been more potential or more opportunity for growth in our industry than there is today," Scott McClellan, president of Goodyear Americas, said.

Goodyear said the Assurance MaxLife is bolstered by its "TredLife Technology," delivering 30% more miles of all-season track when compared with a standard all-season tire.

The tire also features a treadwear gauge moulded into the tread that shows how much tread life remains as the tire wears.

The tire is available in 45 sizes, from 15 to 20 inches, and covers 75 percent of the cars, SUVs and minivans on the road today, Goodyear said.

The wide-based Fuel Max SSD and SST feature the DuraSeal Technology, which instantly seals punctures up to a quarter of an inch in diameter in the repairable part of the tread.

The Eagle Enforcer has a soy-based rubber compound optimised for traction and handling, Goodyear said. It will be available in three of the most popular sizes for the vehicles in the market.