Tire-Makers Claim Tire Abrasion Doesn’t Inflict Harm on Human Health
Posted on October 25, 2011
Filed Under Bridgestone Tires, Continental Tires, Cooper Tires, Goodyear Tires, Hankook Tires, Interesting, Michelin Tires, Pirelli Tires, Toyo Tires | Leave a Comment
World-known tire-makers has carried out a series of tests to prove that micro-elements emerging from tire abrasion is safe for human health as well as for environment in general. Neither inhaling these elements from air nor their quantity in soil and water is dangerous for their level lies below toxicity line.
The so-called Tire Industry Project (TIP) gathered Bridgestone, Continental, Cooper, Goodyear, Hankook, Kumho, Michelin, Pirelli, Sumitomo, and Toyo automotive manufacturers to work under the idea of healthy environment. Its aim is to reveal and eliminate potential harmful influence of the materials used in tire production. The project runs under the auspices of the WBCSD while the TIP participants are in charge of 70 per cent of the world tire industry.
After the elements disposed into soil and water were tested the researchers dealt with air toxicity to find out that there’s no harm in inhaling tire abrasive elements. The results have also shown that tire wear doesn’t inflict harm on the environment for the concentration of micro-elements in soil and water is too low to become dangerous for human health.
The tests were carried out in the Seine river basin in France, in the Jodo basin in Japan as well as in Chipsake gulf in the USA.
The TIP participants are also looking forward to the use of nanotechnologies in tire production. It can partly solve ecological problems alongside with bringing benefit to end consumers. For instance, innovative nanomaterials can enhance modern passenger and truck vehicles’ fuel efficiency and hence reduce the amount of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.
Moreover, the TIP community actively promotes new schemes of worn tire utilization and their recycling and further use.
Continental Celebrates Its 140th Anniversary
Posted on October 21, 2011
Filed Under Continental Tires | Leave a Comment
On the 12th of October Continental celebrated its 140th anniversary with a special evening where an exclusive collection of retro posters was shown. It also organized an excursion into a retro museum to display such legendary cars as Rolls-Royce Phantom II, Buick 57S, ЗИС-110, Mercedes-Benz 540K and many others.
The place for the exhibition is not accidental for the company can boast the same long history as that of automobile history itself. Back in 1871 in Hannover the Caoutchuc & Gutta - Percha public corporation was created. It produced goods from soft rubber, rubberized fabric, cast tires for carriages and bikes.
For one hundred and forty years of its existence the company has succeeded in a number of respects. It was one of the German companies to produce pneumatic bicycle tires (1892), than in 1921 is created the first pneumatic truck tire. It was also the first German tire-maker to unveil tubeless tires in 1955.
Now Continental is one of the leading automotive manufacturers. It produces tires, braking systems, information systems, electronic appliances and many other goods. It has been improving its products for 140 years to make roads safer with its every step.
One of the company’s proprietary technologies is the ContiSeal technology that allows for sealing punctures up to 5 mm in depth. There’s also an adaptive Black Chill rubber compound and the Brilliant Stud technology among its achievements.
Truck tires were enhanced as well. The company worked out a special lightweight and durable Airkeep casing for them to help the tire retain air pressure in it while 3D sipes and innovative methods of rubber compounding lead to the creation of the HD Hybrid, the universal tire for cargo hauling on highways as well as local roads.
Sebastian Vettel Wins Formula 1 Gran-Prix on Pirelli Tires
Posted on October 20, 2011
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Sebastian Vettel from the Red Bull Racing crew has recently joined the club of outstanding racers that won the Formula 1 championship with Pirelli tires mounted on their vehicles. The German racer as well became the youngest two-time champion in F1 history and the ninth pilot to take the first price two seasons in succession.
During the grand-prix race in Japan the victory was taken by Jenson Button, the second place by Fernando Alonso while Sebastian Vettel came the third thus continuing his crew’s tradition for the season. It happens so that this year at least one of the Red Bull Racers is seen among the winners in each race.
The most important factor for the Japan race was tread wear, which is explained by a smooth track and high lateral loads. That’s why, the pilots who took three top places, had to stop in boxes for three times. The first three parts they drove with soft Pirelli P Zero Yellow tires (with yellow marking) while for the last and the longest one they used a stiffer P Zero White tire featuring better wear resistance.
During the second wave of pit stops Button overcame Vettel who stopped in the box on the 19th loop. Vettel was the first to change for a stiffer tire at the last pit-stop on the 33rd loop and made another 20 loops in it. Still, the second place was taken by Alonso, who came just 1.1 second earlier than Vettel.
Paul Hembery, Pirelli sports department manager, congratulated the pilots on the winning and said they are glad to know that their tires managed to endure extreme character of the race.
Bald Tire Scanners Unveiled in Great Britain - the New Reason for Fines?
Posted on October 19, 2011
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The British unveiled a new device to monitor tire quality. It is capable of measuring the tread depth on the tires of the cars passing by it. According to the Auto Express data, the device is comprised of high-speed cameras and lasers that can read the depth of each groove and warn about the situation when a central groove measures less than 1.6 mm in depth.
The idea to use the device with practical purposes came to Trevol Hall’s mind, who spotted it during his visit to Germany. He saw the expensive device (that costs as much as 50,000 Euro) at the ProContour office. Being a faithful adherent of speed cameras Mr Hall advices the British government to equip road police with the new tread depth scanners.
Still, British car owners feel uneasy about the fact that this know-how could be just another option for officials to raise money from new fines. They think that money to be spent on the scanners should be better used for road repair.
However, the representative of the Association of Police Officers assures the public that scanner numbers aren’t going to be the reason for fining. The data from the scanners will be transmitted to a local police station and the officers will be just carrying explanatory work among the drivers to blame.
The British Department of Transport informs that worn tires became the reason for about 1200 road accidents in 2010, which 18 people dead. For the latest 5 years the death toll from tire-triggered accidents made 164 people. On the other hand, other researches tell that only 1.5 per cent of serious road accidents are caused by bald tires.
