Michelin working on doubling the life of tires

[Just_me]

Tires are often overlooked when it comes to upgrading a car’s performance but even the most powerful car is only as good as the rubber it’s wearing. Tires can also dramatically affect a car’s mileage and according to Michelin’s own studies 20% of the energy consumed by a car comes from tire rolling resistance alone.

That’s why the tire manufacturer is concentrating its efforts on reducing rolling resistance by up to 50%, while at the same time improving tire life and cutting down on braking distances. Michelin’s U.S. Chief Jim Micali has revealed to Edmunds that developers are looking at new tire chemistry, construction and tread design that could potentially double the life of the average tire.

One important aspect, Micali stressed, is that any improvements must not sacrifice other performance measures, such as wet traction and overall road-holding.

Michelin has already developed a range of low-rolling resistance tiers, which it claims saves about 0.2L of fuel per 100km and reduce CO2 emissions by up to 4g/km. The specials tires aren’t available at tire resellers as yet but Michelin expects to make them available by next year.

[NarutoRamen]

They should've been doing that a long time ago. I just hope they don't charge an arm and a leg to get them though.