Bridgestone taking air out of tires
Bridgestone Americas recently showcased its advanced air free commercial truck tire concept for the heavy-duty trucking market.
The air free commercial truck tire concept, which isn’t currently available for purchase, is designed for use in high-speed, long-haul applications, and leverages a proprietary design where tire tread is placed on a unique structure of high-strength, flexible spokes. This eliminates the need for a tire to be filled and maintained with air, Bridgestone said.
“Commercial fleets are increasingly looking for ways to maximize uptime and reduce emergency roadside events,” said Jon Kimpel, executive director of new mobility solution engineering at Bridgestone. “As mobility advances, we see these sophisticated fleets turning to technology solutions and innovative products as a way to improve operations and drive profitability for their fleets. When tires don’t need to be filled with air, this essentially erases the downtime associated with a flat tire, improving safety and making mobility more efficient.”
The initial design of the Bridgestone advanced air free commercial truck tire concept is intended for the trailer position. Reported data from tire manufacturers shows trailer tires account for approximately 20% of truck tire purchases. Furthermore, research indicates 40% of all tire failures occur in the trailer position.
The advanced air free commercial truck tire from Bridgestone also is engineered for enhanced sustainability because it is retreadable, the company said, helping reduce natural resource consumption by replacing only the tire tread, rather than the entire tread and casing combination.
“The benefits of an air free commercial truck tire solution are many,” Kimpel maintained. “This offering has the power to reduce downtime, maintenance and emergency roadside service calls. Combine that with a high retread rate, and our advanced air free tire concept has potential to substantially lower the overall total cost of tire ownership for fleets.”
The advanced air free commercial truck tire concept is part of a larger Bridgestone air free portfolio. While the commercial truck tire concept is focused first on the trailer position, it is intended to be scalable to other commercial trucking wheel positions and applications, Bridgestone said.
