Shade of Winter: Vredestein Shows Off Wintrac Xtreme; Growth Plans Heat Up - Tire Review Magazine

Shade of Winter: Vredestein Shows Off Wintrac Xtreme; Growth Plans Heat Up

Vredestein Shows Off Wintrac Xtreme; Growth Plans Heat Up

If you created a product with the word “extreme” in its name, you’d want to prove its mettle, right? So, if you were showing off, say, a new winter tire, would wind chill temperatures exceeding -30⊄F be extreme enough?

Vredestein Tyre North America’s (VTNA) recent dealer and media rollout of its new Wintrac Xtreme pushed that extreme envelope. The driving portion of the program was held at Circuit Mecaglisse, a racetrack/test center hidden in mountainous Notre-Dame de la Merci, Quebec, some 90 minutes north of Montreal.

Intrepid tire dealers and media folks participated fully, minimizing their face-stinging outdoor time by maximizing their in-car seat time. Vredestein created four test areas, offering a straight-line panic and avoidance braking test, an autocross course, a two-part slalom track and a tight skid pad – all on snow-covered ice.

Of course, this event was just the gravy. The formal intro last year was held atop a live glacier near Montreaux, Switzerland, in the shadow of the fabled Matterhorn and Mont Blanc.

The Wintrac Xtreme, which is replacing select sizes of Vredestein’s existing Wintrac and Snowtrac lines, held its own against the elements as Chrysler 300s and Jaguar S-Types and X-Types moved through the exercises. In addition, the vehicles were driven on snow- and slush-covered public roads in the Notre-dame de la Merci area.

The evening before the driving event, Vredestein officials from the U.S. and the Netherlands briefed attendees on the new line and the tiremaker’s plans.

Marc Luyten, director of worldwide sales and marketing for parent Vredestein Banden, said “2004 was the best year ever for Vredestein in North America,” and that the company, while small, will continue its course. “We do not want to buy marketshare,” Luyten said. “We intend to protect our dealers’ territories, as we have in the past.”

Luyten said Vredestein will grow by expanding into new markets and enhancing marketing efforts. Vredestein, for example, will be adding a new summer tire and plans to seek distribution for the line in warm weather states.

In describing the new line, Al Smoke, sales manager for VTNA, said, “Vredestein was the first, and remains the only, tire producer to have its tires designed by one of the world’s leading design houses: Giugiaro.” The new Wintrac Xtreme is the third tire Giugiaro has worked on for Vredestein. Past collaborations resulted in successful products like Sportrac and Ultrac, Smoke noted.

Michiel Kramer, who recently joined VTNA as a new business manager, reviewed the technical and performance aspects of the tire. “Having no compromise in the tire’s performance required having a completely new tire, so we started from scratch,” Kramer said.

Vredestein engineers worked with Giugiaro Design to create the Wintrac Xtreme’s tread pattern, which features 2,000 shoulder-to-shoulder zig-zag sipes cut at variable depths to maximize traction and minimize wear, he said.

The tire’s wide footprint enhances stability and handling, while three circumferential grooves and a W-shaped groove pattern helps evacuate water and slush while adding tractive properties, Kramer noted. The tread compound features the tiremaker’s “optimum silica processing” technology, which, according to Kramer, allows the tread to remain flexible in extreme conditions and deliver long treadlife in normal use.

Kramer said that, while the Wintrac Xtreme carries both the M+S and snowflake symbols, designating mud and snow as well as pure winter capabilities, the tire’s water evacuating properties and wet, dry and winter traction make it an ideal four-season tire, as well.

The W- and V-rated tire is now available in 13 sizes, covering 16-, 17- and 18-inch wheel diameters – all extra load. More sizes will be forthcoming, as well as an SUV version of the Wintrac Xtreme this spring.

You May Also Like

Continental’s ContiConnect Lite to allow digital tire management for OTR tires

Continental said ContiConnect Lite helps fleet managers monitor the condition of their tires via bluetooth.

ContiConnect-Lite-OTR

Continental launched ContiConnect Lite, a new version of its digital tire management app, which the company said creates a bridge between tire sensors and professional tire management and offers a free-of-charge gateway to selected ContiConnect features. Continental said it can also now be used on tires with an integrated Gen2 sensor. Since this year, Continental has been delivering its off-the-road (OTR) radial tires with a bluetooth-enabled sensor. In addition to OTR tires, Continental said it also offers digital tire management to its truck tire customers.

Hana Technologies signs license agreement with Michelin for RFID tire tags

Since its inception, Hana Technologies has spearheaded the manufacturing of over 150 million RFID tire tags.

Handshake agreement
Continental debuts new sustainably-focused U.S. headquarters in South Carolina

The building’s 840 solar panels are capable of offsetting up to 25% of its total energy consumption.

Front-of-Continental-Americas-HQ-1400
Yokohama Rubber reveals 2024 motorsports activity plan

Yokohama said participation in motorsports activities is crucial to its efforts to strengthen the Advan and GeoLandar brands.

Yokohama-Nitrocross
Tesla Model 3 TPMS service

Resetting and programming TPMS sensors for a Tesla is a lot like any other vehicle, and the challenge is still the same: keeping the light off.

bendpakEVgarageTPMS-1400

Other Posts

TIA’s Advanced Farm Tire Service training to take place in June

The training class for technicians in the agricultural and farm tire industries is set to take place June 11-14.

TIA_training-
Three spark plug service and replacement tips

How to avoid and overcome roadblocks that may come up during the removal or installation of spark plugs.

Continental-sparkplug
Maxxis-sponsored athletes make podium, overall top 10 at Mint 400

Maxxis athletes Michael McFayden, Ethan Ebert and Trey Gibbs had podium finishes at the Mint 400 on Maxxis RAZR XT tires.

2024-mint400-maxxis
Sun Auto Tire reveals winner of Ford Bronco Sport giveaway

Lowell Anderson entered the giveaway at his local Sun Auto Tire & Service store while receiving a routine oil change.

Sun-Auto-Bronco-giveaway