Steer axle tyres face a number of different challenges from drive tyres. As well as the direction-of-travel forces that affect drive tyres, they must withstand sideways and diagonal forces when turning. Goodyear’s design for this new series of tyres has focussed on these potential problems.
On the tyres’ surface, a specially designed ‘crosslinking’ system links tread blocks together, increasing their resistance to sideways and diagonal forces, reducing wear caused by ‘scrubbing’ when cornering. While tread blocks on the RHS II are generally larger than on competitor products (by up to 10mm) the tyre uses a ‘flexomatic’ system of small diagonal lines in the tread block, which push water away from the tyre and into the tread, increasing grip.
The first three sizes of tyre, 315/80R22.5, 295/80R22.5 and 315/70R22.5, covering around 70% of the market, are due to be available by September 2006. The remaining sizes, 12R22.5, 11R22.5, 275/70R22.5, 13R22.5 and 305/70R22.5, will come onto the market during the latter part of this year, with the full range available by early 2007.
