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Additional Technologies |
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 Conventional
sipes are wide at the top, narrow at the
base and decrease in size as the tread
wears down, sacrificing wet performance
with tire wear. Thus, as a conventional
tire wears, it loses its tread pattern
and looks more and more like a racing
slick. Wet performance suffers, because
shallower, worn tread channels lose the
ability to evacuate water efficiently.
This means more water comes between the
tire and the road, resulting in less
actual contact and reducing wet traction
and handling.
Bridgestone/Firestone's new
Key Hole
Sipe
is a tread pattern feature that helps
solve these problems. A
Key Hole
Sipe
is a slot with a cylindrical channel at
the base. In a cross section of the tire
tread, this slot-and-channel
configuration resembles a key hole. As
the tread wears, the "key holes" emerge
to help ensure a consistent tread
pattern. These sipes help maintain
continued wet performance and new tire
appearance.
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 5
Pitch Noise Reduction
is a specialized approach to tread pattern
design that reduces tire noise levels for
quieter driving. Tread block elements are
arranged to produce noise-canceling sound
waves when the tire is in motion. Because
the sound waves created by the individual
blocks constantly cancel each other out, the
noise of the tire moving on the road surface
is significantly reduced. |
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 Power-V
is a tread pattern design born of
Firestone's IndyŽ technology for rain tires.
By dispersing water to the sides of the
tire, the v-shaped pattern allows better
water discharge and improves wet
performance. The
Power-V
pattern elements incorporate a high/low
angle approach to better discharge water
from the area in contact with the wet road. |
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 Conventional
tires evacuate water in a straight line.
VRG (Variable
Radius Groove)
is a tread design that controls water
displacement with a high-volume,
side-to-rear spray. This unique pattern
maintains a larger contact patch, which
delivers excellent wet grip and dramatically
reduces the risk of hydroplaning. |
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 Uni-Directional
Pattern
is a tread pattern design that maximizes
both wet and dry performance, as well as
other tire characteristics. By specifying
that the tread pattern is to be mounted on
the vehicle in a single direction only, the
many design compromises found in
conventional tires which can be mounted in
two directions are eliminated. This gives us
the ability to include a wider variety of
specific performance characteristics such as
high resistance to hydroplaning in each
tire. |
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