The remaining 40 percent, according to Montisano, will be split among other light truck and SUV on- and off-road applications. We anticipate the same will happen with the new (MT/R with Kevlar) tires.” The original MT/R has been prevalent in those types of applications because of its heavy-duty construction. These tires are also very good for mining and forestry applications because they’re so robust. During the week (truck owners) can use their truck for work and on the weekends they can go off-road. “They’ll be used for both work and recreational applications. “Pickup trucks are expected to be about 20 percent of the product range,” said Montisano. Jeep enthusiasts are expected to purchase approximately 30 percent, for models like the two-door Wrangler and four-door Wrangler Unlimited. Melissa Montisano, Goodyear’s general manager for light truck and SUV tires, said about 10 percent of the MT/R tires will be for purpose-built, core off-road applications, like custom rock crawlers or pre-runners. “That’s much more time than a passenger car tire,” Niedermier said.
“DuPont supplied us with some very exotic materials and polymers to try and meet our strength requirements, which may have future applications way down the road, but Kevlar worked best.”Įven with the extra computing horsepower and materials assistance, the new MT/Rs still took more than two years to develop. “Enthusiasts said sidewall strength was critical,” said James Niedermier, lead engineer for the Goodyear Wrangler MT/R with Kevlar. Goodyear and DuPont also attempted to set the bar higher than Kevlar during their joint research and development. Other companies that weave Kevlar into their rolling stock have to use its generic molecular name, aramid. It’s the first time Goodyear has used Kevlar in an off-road tire, the company said.Īccording to Viselli, Goodyear is the only tire company licensed to use the Kevlar brand in its tire names.
Kevlar, pound for pound, is five times stronger than steel. The chemical wizards at DuPont helped Goodyear ditch the old polyester sidewall bolstering and make the switch to Kevlar – the same Kevlar used in bulletproof vests - for 35 percent better puncture resistance than the old MT/Rs. It compresses our test time dramatically and (Sandia) can verify their models are accurate because the finished product that comes out the other is extensively tested by both of us.” They help us model our tires so we don’t have to keep building and testing (in the real world). “We’re the only tire company in the world that’s allowed to work with Sandia. “We wanted to innovate more quickly,” said Joey Viselli, brand director of Goodyear North America. They also digitally modeled various candidate tread patterns, seeking the right balance of rock crawling grip with the ability to quickly flush mud out of the tire’s deep grooves, without needing to travel to Moab or the Louisiana bayou to repeatedly test prototypes. nuclear arsenal to virtually model the real-time interaction of more than 25 different tire components as a tire rolls on and off the pavement. In designing and engineering the new MT/R tires to excel in the most primitive of off-road conditions, Goodyear partnered with some of the brainiest scientists on the planet.Īt Sandia National Labs, Goodyear borrowed time on the same supercomputers that have helped design key components of the U.S. To that end, they’ve developed the first all-new Wrangler MT/R (Maximum Traction/Reinforced) off-road tire in a decade.
If you’re going to get dirty in the wilderness, it better not be from having to fix a flat. What makes an off-road tire good? According to Goodyear’s research with off-road enthusiasts, the two most important things are: not getting stuck and not getting a puncture.