Following up on its promise to use customer feedback to help develop its latest tire, Continental Tire the Americas has unveiled the new model – in fact, its releasing two new models.
Continental announced during the Mid-America Trucking Show that it would solicit opinions at the show as well as at Canada’s ExpoCam, and through Facebook on two designs for a new super single truck tire. But, after receiving the feedback, the company has decided to produce two super single tires, the HDL2 Eco Plus (heavy drive long haul) and a new size of its HDL2 DL (heavy drive long haul, deep lug).
“Originally, when we invited our customers to give us feedback on the designs for the product, we were envisioning one, wide single drive tire for highway use. However, the response was enthusiastic for both designs – so much so that we knew they both had a legitimate place in our product portfolio,” Clif Armstrong, director of marketing, said.
Labeled “Design 223” on Continental’s Facebook page, the first tire became the HDL 2 Eco Plus.
Available in size 445/50R22.5, the tire will feature 27/32nds of tread depth, a closed shoulder, and regenerating sipes in the middle of the tread blocks. A three-dimensional sipe in the center of each tread block couples the groove under compression for increased strength, but still allows more block flexibility as the block exits the footprint, Continental said.
The tire’s groove geometry was designed to reduce stress at the groove bottom thereby reducing premature wear.
The HDL2 Eco Plus already meets SmartWay Transport Partnership limits for low rolling resistance drive tires, although it has not been submitted for approval yet, Continental said. It will be available in November.
But Continental didn’t stop at just one tire, per the original plan. It is also adding a 445/50R22.5 size for its HDL2 DL, a super single with 27/32nds of tread depth and open shoulder.
The bottom groove treatment reduces stone retention and outside groove geometry distributes stress evenly for durability, the company said. The HDL2 DL wide base also will meet the U.S. EPA SmartWay Transport Partnership limits for low rolling resistance tires in the drive position, he said. Availability is scheduled for mid-2012.
“For fleets looking for weight savings, ease of maintenance, greater lateral stability and reduced fuel consumption, Continental now has a truck tire product for each wheel position in the wide single configuration. What is incredible is that not only do we now offer a complete suite of wide single truck tires (both drive and trailer positions) from Continental, but we did so by responding directly to what our customers told us,” Armstrong said.
