Using feedback it had received via social media during a pair of major trucking shows, Continental Tire the Americas decided to launch not one, but two super wide medium truck radials.

CTA invited truck tire customers to visit its booth at the show, March’s Mid-America Trucking Show, held in Louisville, Ky., and leave feedback on the tiremaker’s Facebook page about two competing designs for a super wide drive tire. CTA repeated the offer at Canada’s national truck show, ExpoCam, in early April in Montréal.

“After speaking with hundreds of show visitors and reading the comments left for the research and development team on Facebook,” said director of marketing Clif Armstrong, “Continental will bring both designs to market.
 
“Originally when we invited our customers to give us feedback on the designs for the product, we were envisioning one, wide single drive tire for highway use. However, the response was enthusiastic for both designs – so much so that we knew they both had a legitimate place in our product portfolio,” Armstrong said.

The result is that CTA will launch the Continental HDL2 Eco Plus super wide drive tire and a super wide version of the Continental HDL2 DL.

Scheduled for November 2011 availability, the HDL2 Eco Plus, in size 445/50R22.5, will feature 27/32nds of tread depth, a closed shoulder and regenerating sipes in the middle of the tread blocks.

According to director of research and development for truck tires in the Americas Roger Stansbie, the “three-dimensional sipes in the center of each tread block couples the groove under compression for increased strength, but still allows more block flexibility as the block exits the footprint.” The HDL2 Eco Plus’ groove geometry was designed to reduce the stress at the groove bottom by placing the element between the two groove bottom radii, Stansbie said.
 
The HDL2 DL will also come in 445/50R22.5 size and have 27/32nds of tread depth. The open shoulder tire also has a bottom groove treatment that reduces stone retention and outside groove geometry designed to distribute stress evenly throughout the groove bottom. The tire will be available in mid-2012, CTA said.

Both tires meet EPA SmartWay rolling resistance requirements, but neither has been submitted for final verification yet, CTA said.

“For fleets looking for weight savings, ease of maintenance, greater lateral stability and reduced fuel consumption, Continental now has a truck tire product for each wheel position in the wide single configuration,” Armstrong said. “What is incredible is that not only do we now offer a complete suite of wide single truck tires (both drive and trailer positions) from Continental, but we did so by responding directly to what our customers told us.”