Winter Tire Tests
When choosing tires people are guided by different things including their own needs, experience, friends’ advice, family budget, internet reviews and, at last, tests results. You can find lots of opinions about tire comparative tests. There as well exists an opinion that such tests are useless as they are subjective. Testers are people, so they can get mistaken as to err is human. They as well have their own preferences, which cannot but affect test results.
But in reality, a comprehensive tire test is nothing but a scientific research, which results are processed and calculated with the help of up-to-date methods of mathematical statistics. At the same time, researches aren’t able to add subjective opinions while the influence of such extraneous weather factors as temperature, humidity and atmospheric pressure is minimized.
The influence of the testing environment is excluded with the help of a special car fitted with an etalon tire set. This car takes part in every research. So if at the end of a testing day the weather becomes warmer and melting ice results in a longer braking distance of this car, it becomes possible to speak about the influence of the altered temperature and, moreover, to calculate the numbers. Further on, you take this coefficient into consideration when assessing the final results.
Statistical convergence of the results, in its turn, is achieved by multiple repetitions of one and the same tests with one and the same tire sets. Moreover, testing pilots put the tires objective marks as they don’t know the names of the tire, but only their ordinal numbers.
In conclusion it should be mentioned that tire tests are serious event, so when choosing the fitting for your car it is worth paying attention to the results comparative tests published in papers or internet sites.
Michelin Active Wheel Futuristic Technology
Michelin Active Wheel is an innovative wheel making technology that indicates a new era of automotive production. It is the wheel featuring a miniature engine and electronic suspension system nested into it, which helps achieve a highest safety level, a highest efficiency level while opening the way to eco-friendly auto transport.
The wheel was worked out two years ago and was unveiled with the new Venturi Volage car. The vehicle has an innovative construction that doesn’t restrict component arrangement; at the same time, its electric engine provides for eco-friendliness while ensuring excellent speeding up performance. Another vehicle to take this wheel was the WILL created by Heuliez, Michelin and Orange companies.
The essence of Michelin technological breakthrough is the wheel’s own compact driving electric engine with 30-Watt power, disk brake and an integrated suspension system. The technology may be used either for all the four wheels or for two of them (e.g. for a front pair of wheels). Hence, the Active Wheel technology maintains both 4WD and 2WD vehicle production.
Michelin Active Wheel technology uses electric energy derived from ionic-lithium battery or condenser, which allows eliminating environmental pollution and achieving comfortable running. The system doesn’t either produce greenhouse gases or create noise pollution.
The Active wheel technology changes the usual image of a transport vehicle. Now, since all the driving components are integrated in the wheel, car design can be altered and improved freely.
Michelin new wheel outstrips the time for now, but natural resources have already started to exhaust, that’s why it’s high time to think about alternative technologies and adapt already existing electric cars to in-city conditions. This was one of the first steps in this direction.
Yokohama is Going to Make a Contribution to Environmental Protection
Yokohama Rubber Co. tire-producing company has worked out and approved several corporative principles in accordance with the UNO decision to declare the year of 2010 an International Year of Biodiversity.
New concept conforms to previously accepted ones that were aimed at wider use of recycled materials in new tire production and directed towards the prevention of global warming. The new philosophy will be applied to all the company’s departments and its suppliers.
The company highlighted the following six points and attributed greatest importance to them:
1.For the Yokohama Rubber directly depends on natural resources and its activities affect biodiversity it understands all the importance of its preservation and the level of threat. Therefore, the company will do its utmost to preserve biodiversity on a long-term basis.
2.Another necessary task is to spread the idea that humankind depends on natural resources, so all the company’s employees will work in its field including local communities.
3.The company will make efforts to eliminate of at least minimize the negative impact on the environment caused by its activities.
4.It will also combat threat in the areas where raw materials are produced.
5.The company will make use of innovative technologies and production processes to achieve stable use of eco-friendly resources.
6.The company will work with mass media in this field, will stay open to cooperation with all the interested parties.
The Biggest Tires in the World
Wheels and tires can be really big exceeding the height of people in some applications. It is dumpers and heavy-duty trucks that are equipped with such giant tires. Can you imagine how much money is needed to make such a tire set only for a dumper? Actually, dumper tires cost more than a passenger cars.
Giant dumpers should be equipped with giant tires, that’s why the size of dumpers depends to a large extent on tire manufacturers rather than on customers’ wishes or market research. In 1959 Michelin tire company launched the first large dumper tire, but for the industry needed durable tires, first giant dumpers appeared only in the 1970-s.
In 1976 Michelin made a real breakthrough in technology by unveiling a 57-inch tire, which opened the way to giantomania in extractive industry. Fifty-seven inches was the biggest tire size possible at that time and it was true for another two decades, but in 1990-s the Caterpillar company created a dumper with unprecedented carrying capacity of 345 tons. It was launched fitted with 63-inch tires made again by Michelin engineers. Each of the six tires was to carry as much as 104 tons of weight. The might of the Caterpillar dumper was surpassed only by the Liebherr T282B that could carry 363 tons of freight.
Nowadays the largest tires measure 59 inches and are put into mass production by Bridgestone and Michelin companies. Michelin 59/80R63 XDR, for instance, features an extra-deep tread picture and hence offers long mileage, which results into its impressive price tag ($60 000). It weighs 5 tons and features 890 kg of iron to ensure 100-ton carrying capacity and excellent durability. Its rubber is enough for making 600 passenger tires.
Many people wonder whether there will be tires bigger than 63-inch ones. The experts give a “No” answer. It is restricted by the possibilities of their transportation. Cargo ships, planes and trains are designed to carry tires measuring 4.3 meters in diameter while the biggest Michelin tires features a 4.03-meter diameter. In theory, the size of tires can be increased, but there’s little practical use while it will costs large sums of money.
