Goodyear AMT Air Maintenance Technology Hits the Top Ten of 2011 Innovations
Goodyear Air Maintenance (AMT) technology worked out by the company for passenger as well as commercial vehicles in 2011 was highly appreciated by the automotive society and was called one of the most promising technologies for the nearest future.
“Car & Driver,” a competent American jounal, has included the AMT into the top ten of the year’s innovations together with Planar Energy storage batteries, wireless charging systems of electronic devices in concept Audi and Rolls-Royce vehicles and a lightweight suspension designed by a German ZF company.
The AMT technology is the technology of automatic tire inflation and constant air pressure maintenance. Although it is technically a bit difficult, the idea is quite simple and derives from the concept of tire development during running. Constant air pressure it the thing lots of drivers has been dreaming since the time vulcanization was invented.
Goodyear has already achieved certain results in this field. The technique of automatic tire inflation is likely to become a great technological breakthrough of the nearest future and car owners would never imagine driving without it.
The AMT is a completely stand-alone device that doesn’t need either additional electronics or a separate pump. There will be a tiny pump in the tire itself. The technology will automatically maintain necessary pressure inside the tire, which positively affects fuel efficiency and reduces CO2 emissions while prolonging the tire’ mileage and improving driver safety.
Goodyear Conference to Open Pneu Expo Tire Exhibition in February
France has never been a place to house a specialized tire exhibition, in comparison to Germany and Italy. Of course, tires have been exhibited on automotive shows but they has always been in the background. Now the situation is going to change with the 100-per cent tire Pneu Expo show scheduled to take place on February 7-9th.
Pneu Expo 2012 will gather all possible tire types used in various spheres of industry like auto transport, aviation, cargo trafficking, agriculture, construction and so on. The participants include three tire associations from France, Italy and Spain as well as the companies dealing with production of tire materials, tire retreading and utilization and recycling of worn tires.
A total number of exhibitors was estimated to make up as much as 200, so lately it has been announced that an additional hall will be opened as a great number of companies want to take part in the event.
It is quite reasonable to launch a tire exhibition in France, as about 30 million passenger and 2 million truck and agricultural tires are sold here every year. In future the number of the show participants is likely to increase to 1000 while the number of visitors is going to make 30 thousand people.
The city to house the show is Lion as the place is easy to reach from the Mediterranean, as well as a number of automotive manufacturers, dealers and distributors have their headquarters nearby.
The Pneu Expo show will be opened with a Goodyear conference, says Jean-Pierre Jeusette, director of Goodyear Innovation Centre in Luxemburg. The conference dedicated to the company’s new technologies will take place on the 7th of February.
Goodyear Safety Rules Concerning Tires
Goodyear Tire & Rubber experts claim that you can totally count on your vehicle to deliver excellent maneuverability and traction in tough situation only by using a set of new tires every time you have to replace worn ones while changing only for a new pair won’t do you any good.
The research conducted by the company revealed the fact that nearly one third of car owners prefer to mount just two tires instead of four. However, you’ll get much more balanced traction and handling with both front and rear axles being equipped with new tires.
Goodyear states that traction depends on the type of tires we use and, moreover, one shouldn’t mount different front and rear tire pairs on one and the same vehicle. Winter tires deliver performance different from that of all-season tires. Some drivers, for instance, buy two new tires for the front wheels only to increase traction but still it leads to lateral skidding during cornering.
The company recommends you to change tire positions every 6000 miles of driving for it provides for even abrasion and helps the tire retain balanced traction. If you do this more rarely, it causes untimely wear and reduces the tire mileage almost by one third. In addition, new tires, and new winter tires in particular, should be mounted on four wheels at a time to optimize handling and ensure a firm grip in any situation.
ACE and GTU Winter Tire Testing – Premium Class Segment
Winter tires are gradually becoming a must for more and more European countries since the Old World faced two severe winters in succession. The tire-makers, in turn, do their best to satisfy growing demand and launch numerous new models. But the main thing is to define how these new tires behave in the wet, on snow and slush.
In this post you’ll find the results of winter tire tests conducted by Automotive Club Europe (ACE) and German Technical Control Society (GTU). They compared eight premium-class tires on a special testing field in the Alps.
The first price was taken by Goodyear Ultra Grip 8 that a bit outperformed the Semperit Speed Grip2 tire. The “Highly Recommended” marking was given to Continental Winter Contact TS 830, Dunlop SP Winter Sport 4D and Pirelli Snow Control Series 3 tires while Nokian WR D3 and MichelinAlpin A4 were granted the “Recommended” sign. The poorest performer was Fulda Kristall Control HP.
Goodyear and Dunlop showed the best snow traction while the others also did well except for a Fulda. In terms on braking on snow it was Continental that outperformed Goodyear while the safest handling was delivered by Goodyear, Dunlop и Pirelli. The real disappointment became the Fulda tire.
When braking distance in the wet was counted, the best tire became the Semperit while the worst one was again Fulda. On a dry road it was Goodyear that won the first price.
In conclusion it should be said that the difference among premium-class tires tends to be smaller than earlier. At the same time one should congratulate Goodyear on the success of their UltraGrip 8 tire.
