Tire Technology Goes Super-Tech

While highly visible technology in communications and navigation gets all the attention, there's a quiet revolution where the rubber meets the road.

Tires are getting safer and smarter.

The first breakthrough was the realization that tires wear as you use them. The tire industry's response is to alter the composition of the tire as the tread wears down, to keep the tire 'grippy' and quiet. Traditional tires have a lifespan that is shortened by heating and cooling cycles, effectively hardening the rubber over time. You can see this effect by pushing a fingernail into the tread of a new tire and one that is several years old. This hardening reduces road grip and overall vehicle safety. Look for technology that compensates for wear next time you buy a set of tires. It's a new development with important benefits you will realize years down the road.

The next new technologies that are going to appear are: flat prevention, enhanced run-flat capabilities and embedded sensor monitoring.

Flat prevention requires rethinking the tire, completely. There is upcoming technology that eliminates the need for air pressure, creating a tire that has a flexible filling rather than air. Look for that on the market in '08. Run flat technology has been around for over a decade, but there is a second generation of run flat tires coming that will extend the safe driving distance beyond the few miles currently recommended.

Finally, the idea of sensor monitoring of tire pressure is not new, but the idea of putting the sensors in the tires themselves produces multiple benefits. Not only can pressure be monitored, but tire heat - the leading cause of tire failure - can be reported.

Tire tech is constantly being developed on the racetracks of the world. where once there were "dry" tires and "rain tires" there are now hard and soft compound dry and hard and soft compound wet as well as intermediate tires for less-certain track conditions. The race track is a proving ground for the new compounds and technologies that will appear next on street tires.

The history of the tire may be long, but the evolution of the tire is far from over.