Commercial Tire Dealer
August 16, 2010
The steer tire of the future
Fewer ribs, simpler tread patterns will be the norm
By: Mike Manges
Steer tires are already moving toward simpler tread designs, fewer ribs and straighter grooves.
The steer tire of the future will most likely boast fewer ribs, straighter grooves and simpler tread patterns as truck tire manufacturers continue to pursue lower rolling resistance and the minimization of irregular wear, says Roger Stansbie, director of tire technology, Commercial Division, for Continental Tire the Americas LLC.
“We, as an industry, are about to do some serious homework to fine-tune steer tires.”
Stansbie says the bulk of the work will focus on two areas: irregular wear and energy efficiency.
“Everybody is playing around with different forms of decoupler grooves, and on pure long-haul applications, that’s still going to be the resolution in the U.S. — having some form of decoupler groove in the shoulder whereby we can reduce the stiffness modulus and take a lot of resistance to movement out of the footprint.”
Manufacturers also are experimenting with different shoulder widths as a means to even out stress points in the tire’s shoulder area. “I think with the move to more fuel-efficient tires, there has been a lot of emphasis put on reducing the number of grooves in the tire while still keeping an eye on wet traction.”
For instance, Continental’s premium steer tire, the Continental HSL2, boasts four grooves, down from the six grooves found in the Continental HSL Eco Plus several years ago.
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