Michelin introduces X ONE XDN2 tire at GATS
The tire combines the best of both worlds, designed to both improve fuel economy and improve tire life, said Don Baldwin, product market manager for Michelin North Americas Truck Tires.
The Trucker News Services
8/22/2008
DALLAS — Michelin Americas Truck Tires today unveiled the latest tire in its X One wide single tire line —the MICHELIN X One XDN2 — at the Great American Trucking Show here.
The tire combines the best of both worlds, designed to both improve fuel economy and improve tire life, said Don Baldwin, product market manager for Michelin North Americas Truck Tires.
It is the first X One tire in North America to utilize multiple MICHELIN Durable Technologies (MDT). The tire will be available to end-users in November 2008.
“This tire takes the traditional compromise between traction, long life and fuel efficiency, and throws it out the window,” said Marc Laferriere, vice president of marketing, Michelin Americas Truck Tires. “By utilizing two different MICHELIN Durable Technologies, the X One XDN2 tire delivers significantly increased tire life and exceptional, uncompromised traction, complementing the significant fuel efficiency gains of a Michelin X One wide single tire.”
According to Michelin, the X One XDN2 compromises neither traction nor mileage, and also delivers fuel efficiency levels approaching Michelin’s most fuel efficient truck tire—the X One XDA.
Through MDT, the X One XDN2 tire is able to reduce the number of flexing sidewalls from four to two, when replacing dual tires, which significantly lowers rolling resistance—15 percent lower than its dual XDN2 tire counterpart. The MICHELIN wide single tire is made possible by the Infini-Coil technology—more than a quarter-of-a-mile of steel cord wrapped circumferentially around every X One tire from sidewall to sidewall. The Infini-Coil reduces casing growth and stabilizes the contact patch, reducing irregular wear.
The XDN2 tread pattern incorporates Matrix Siping Technology — corrugated grooves in the tread block that provide a zigzag appearance. These wavy grooves lock the tread block as it moves through the contact patch, providing both tread block rigidity and exceptional traction, while resisting tread scrubbing, as is the normally the challenge with deep-treaded, heavily-siped tires. Also a first for an X One tire is the X One XDN2 tire’s open shoulder tread design for additional traction.
The MICHELIN X One XDN2 tire will be available to end-users in November 2008 in a 445/50R22.5 size (equivalent to a 275/80R22.5 size), with a 455/55R22.5 size (equivalent to an 11R22.5 size) becoming available in December. The X One XDN2 tire will replace the MICHELIN X One XDA-HT™ Plus tire. Michelin offers X One tires for various applications such as on-highway, off-highway, urban, waste hauling and recreational vehicles.
Dedicated to the improvement of sustainable mobility, Michelin designs, manufactures and sells tires for every type of vehicle, including airplanes, automobiles, bicycles, earthmovers, farm equipment, heavy-duty trucks, motorcycles and the space shuttle. The company also publishes travel guides, hotel and restaurant guides, maps and road atlases. Headquartered in Greenville, S.C., Michelin North America (click here) employs more than 22,300 and operates 19 major manufacturing plants in 17 locations.