The Wintrac Xtreme and its SUV cousin, the Wintrac 4 Xtreme courted the difficult market of the safety and style-conscious, being winter tyres designed in aesthetic partnership with Giugiaro Design – the Italian design engineering firm. The Quatrac 3, on the other hand, had designs on those wishing for the safety features of a cold tyre, but didn’t want the hassle of changing tyres come the chilly season.
This year’s launch is a different animal: leaving aside the convenience and aesthetic concerns of other ranges, the Arctrac is for the committed winter tyre user in truly hostile conditions; a studded tyre with sturdy angular shoulders, whose natural territory is upon the very heavy frosts of countries surrounding the Arctic Circle, such as Canada, Russia and the Scandinavian nations.
The tyre was officially unveiled at this year’s Reifen show in Essen as the product of extensive research and development in the Dutch manufacturer’s labs and out on the frost itself.
The extreme winter conditions and different types of snow and ice that occur in North American and northern European conditions were part of Vredestein’s design strategy from the off. The Arctrac underwent a series of extensive and gruelling practical tests and has performed extraordinarily well in each case. The graduated lateral groove provides significantly greater lateral grip, particularly on snow, while the angular shoulders provide extra stability in winter conditions. The firm promises that the Arctrac has maximum braking capacity and optimal tracking even on densely packed snow and ice.
What a stud
The Arctrac’s studs – original and unique to Vredestein – are distributed across the tread profile, increasing the Arctrac’s grip and traction properties. The tread structure is balanced in such a way as to ensure that the studs are extra firmly anchored in the rubber. This helps to achieve the joint new tyre stud raisons d’Êtres in gripping more effectively and minimising stud loss.
The toughness of the studs is perfectly matched to the hardness of Arctrac’s tread compound, ensuring greater safety and durability throughout the tyre’s life. The stud’s optional nature meanwhile allows the tyre to comply with European noise regulations, so that the vehicle carrying the Arctrac need not deafen anyone on the way to the next ice storm. The symmetrical, directional profile has been developed in accordance with the “Vredestein Centre Shift System,” helping to keep the level of noise production low.
In addition to the studs, the diverging lateral grooves provide optimal dispersion capacity, driving snow and mud quickly and efficiently out of the tread. These longitudinal grooves in the extra wide tyre surface disperse slush and water particularly fast, preventing the risk of aquaplaning.
In terms of handling, even at very low temperatures the Arctrac provides excellent performance, a short braking distance and fast acceleration in winter conditions. The composition of the rubber in the tyre’s tread compound is also entirely free of oils containing Polycyclic Aromatics, which pollute the environment. Vredestein attaches great importance to a clean and healthy living environment, so it has made sure that the Arctrac’s users will leave in the snow a stud-punctuated tread-pattern rather than harmful PCAs. (Tyres & Accessories/Staffordshire, U.K.)
