Designer Tires
52 OVERDRIVE OCTOBER 2008 I n the old days, tire makers relied on a long cycle of design and road testing to refi ne the fi nal product. No longer. Engineers now simulate the shape, materials and performance in the design room before manufacturing and road testing even takes place. With the advent of computer-aided design techniques, tire engineers and compounders have been able to evolve the art of designing tires into a science, so the tires of today are much different from the tires of 20 years ago, says Tim Miller, Goodyear Tire and Rubber's director of marketing communications. These new research and development tools enable designers to create tires that more than ever improve fuel economy, last longer and match the specifi c needs of different applications. For owner-operators, facing more products than ever to choose from, most with sophisticated design and characteristics, it means careful selection of tires for every position will pay big dividends. At the major tire companies, computer-aided design, including the use of fi nite element analysis, has allowed designers to create tires that can do things never dreamed of in the past. Finite element analysis is a technique that al-lows the design of any physical object, for example an en-Designer tires Computer-aided tire design and other technologies are helping produce tires that are more fuel-efficient and long-lasting. BY JOHN BAXTER This diagram shows how many belt layers and other features it takes to make up a modern heavy truck tire. Each layer has its own rubber compound to bond it together and protect it. The latest computer modeling helps engineers formulate the best pos-sible compound for each area of a tire.