Goodyear’s new Assurance TripleTred All-Season is hitting the road – literally – by embarking on a grueling 16-city tour to support its official launch.
First shown at January’s Goodyear national dealer meeting in Dallas, the Assurance TripleTred All-Season will take center stage at a dealer-centric roadshow that kicked off in late July with a special event for media and select Goodyear dealers at the tiremaker’s Akron test track.
Goodyear officials said that dealers and local media would be invited to attend each roadshow stop, currently scheduled for Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Greensboro, N.C., Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Orlando, Toronto, Salt Lake City and Seattle.
The Assurance TripleTred All-Season replaced the original – and now seven-year-old – Assurance TripleTred. The tire is available in 22 sizes, covering 15- through 18-inch wheel diameters. The size array, claimed Goodyear, covers 85% of the tire’s target luxury/mid-size passenger market.
The 15 H-rated sizes carry an 80,000-mile limited treadwear warranty, while the seven V-rated sizes have a 70,000-mile warranty.
The Akron roadshow event pitted the Assurance TripleTred All-Season against the Michelin HydroEdge on identical Toyota Camrys. Participants drove hard on both tires, through dry pavement evasive maneuvers and panic stops and in wet conditions on a high-speed curve. Unfortunately, Goodyear could not replicate ice and snow on the sultry July day.
Goodyear has positioned the Assurance TripleTred All-Season as a premium tire. The tire features three tread zones, one each for dry, wet and snow/ice conditions.
The wet zone features a “sweeping tread pattern that helps evacuate water from the tread for enhanced wet traction,” according to the tiremaker. The dry zone has “large tread blocks along the outer edge of the tire to help provide confident handling,” and the snow/ice zone has “numerous biting edges to offer gripping power on icy and slick roads.”
One key feature of the Assurance TripleTred All-Season is its Evolving Traction Groove technology. The tire comes with hundreds of angled sipes. As the tire wears, many of the sipes actually get wider, offering greater traction even as tread depth diminishes.
Traction-enhancing particles and fibers made from volcanic sand and glass encompass the tread face, creating a “micro-texture” that aids in winter traction.
“Drivers everywhere are demanding true all-season traction and this tire brings it,” said Gary Medalis, Good-year brand general manager. “It is a tire that is right at home in both wet and snowy climates.
“We discover what consumers truly want through a market-back approach, then go to work to create products for drivers,” said Medalis. “With the new Assurance TripleTred All-Season, we sought to provide technology with meaning – innovative features for a premium all-season tire.”
