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Products 98 Commercial Carrier Journal October 2008 Michelin Americas Truck Tires says its latest X One wide single tire the XDN2 on-highway drive tire is the first X One tire in North America to utilize mul-tiple Michelin Durable Technologies (MDT). This tire takes the traditional compromise between traction, long life and fuel efficiency, and throws it out the window, says Marc Laferriere, the company's vice president of marketing. By utilizing two different Michelin Durable Technologies, the X One XDN2 tire delivers signifi-cantly increased tire life and exceptional, uncompro-mised traction, complementing the significant fuel effi-ciency gains of a Michelin X One wide single tire. Michelin says the X One XDN2 delivers fuel effi-ciency levels approaching the company's most fuel-efficient truck tire the X One XDA. Through MDT, the X One XDN2 is able to reduce the number of flexing sidewalls from four to two, when replacing dual tires, which lowers rolling resistance 15 percent lower than its dual XDN2 counterpart, according to the company. The wide single tire is made possible by Michelin's proprietary Infini-Coil Technology more than a quarter-of-a-mile of steel cord wrapped circum-ferentially around the X One from sidewall to sidewall, which helps reduce casing growth and stabilize the contact patch, reducing irregular wear. Michelin says the XDN2 tread pattern incorporates the company's proprietary Matrix Siping Technology corrugated grooves in the tread block that provide a zigzag appearance; the wavy grooves lock the tread block as it moves through the contact patch, providing both tread block rigidity and exceptional traction, while resisting tread scrubbing, as is normally the challenge with deep-treaded heavily-siped tires. Also a first for an X One tire is the X One XDN2's open shoulder tread design for additional traction. The X One XDN2 will be available in November in a 445/50R22.5 size (equivalent to a 275/80R22.5 size), with a 455/55R22.5 size (equivalent to an 11R22.5 size) becoming available in December. The X One XDN2 will replace Michelin's X One XDA-HT Plus. Michelin offers X One tires for various applications such as on-highway, off-highway, urban, waste hauling and recre-ational vehicles. Michelin also introduced the XDN2 Pre-Mold retread, an all-weather drive optimized to improve traction and mileage. The XDN2 features patented Matrix siping designed to deliver winter and wet traction from more than 1,300 bit-ing edges. Available in 220-, 230- and 240-mm sizes, the retread is engineered with a two-layer compound: a top layer for wear and traction, and a bot-tom layer to maintain cool internal casing tempera-tures for longer tread and casing life. Wide, open shoulder grooves are designed to deliver added trac-tion without compromising tread life. Michelin Americas Truck Tires (www.michelin-us.com) Write 200 on Reader Service Card Wide single tire, premold retread