Goodyear Run-Flat Tires Flat-Out Win Competition

Name: North American International Auto Show Returns to Detroit
Uploaded: 2023-03-02T00:39:09+00:00
Duration: T0H3M37S
Description: 2022 Overview report by Mark Ducker and Wild Road Pictures.
22 December 1998
Goodyear Run-Flat Tires Flat-Out Win Competition
    AKRON, Ohio, Dec. 21 -- A leading Canadian automotive
magazine deflated several run-flat tires and pumped up Goodyear's entry in the
process.
    The January edition of World of Wheels magazine called the Goodyear Eagle
Aquasteel EMT "the decathlete of run-flat tires.  When deflated, we noticed
less steering 'pull' or noise and vibration, compared with the other tires
when deflated."
    In every objective test, the magazine said, the Goodyear was most
successful at maintaining its performance when deflated.  The tire finished
first in seven of nine categories.
    Bob Toth, marketing manager for Goodyear high-performance tires, said the
World of Wheels findings coincide with other media reports that compared run-
flat tires.
    "Running Goodyear run-flat tires without air is a good way to show their
capabilities," Toth said, "as well as the safety and convenience of never
being stranded along the highway with a flat tire."
    World of Wheels writer Jeremy Sinek said the Michelin portion of the test
had to end prematurely, because "the deflated tire appeared in danger of
rolling off the rim."
    This is the second time a competitor's run-flat tire fell flat in a media
test.  A television news report in Davenport, Iowa, in April compared Goodyear
and Michelin run-flat tires.  At just 33 miles, an automotive technician on
the program described "the smell of burning rubber" from a deflated Michelin
tire.  The Goodyear tire, meanwhile, performed well without air.
    Replacement market run-flat tires promise up to 50 miles at 55 mph without
air in fully loaded conditions.
    Sinek concluded that run-flat technology is a spectacular advance in
automotive technology.  "The potential benefits in safety and convenience are
so obvious that we hardly need to repeat them here," he added.
    Goodyear's Toth, with his engineering background, said he is drawn as well
to the run-flat tire's technical merits.  "Although we're by far the world's
largest producer of run-flat tires, we're still on the cusp of major
development breakthroughs.  For example, the invention of ultra-tensile steel
construction makes run-flats practical for higher sidewall mainstream sizes."
    Goodyear recently expanded its replacement market Eagle Aquasteel EMT run-
flat tire to eight popular family car sizes.  About 250,000 of the award-
winning run-flat tires have come on Chevrolet Corvettes alone.  Automotive
News magazine recently named Goodyear and its run-flat tires as a finalist for
its prestigious PACE Awards.
    The company has won five major awards for its run-flat tire technology and
innovation.  The Eagle GS-C EMT run-flat tire, exclusive as original equipment
on the 1994-96 Corvette gained double honors in 1993 with the Discover Award
for Technological Innovation and the Society of Automotive Engineers named the
run-flat as one of the top 50 products of 1992.
    Last year, Goodyear's extended mobility technology won the prestigious
"Best New Technology Award," presented by the Automotive Journalists
Association of Canada.
    This year, the technology received the EDI Innovation Award from a
Cleveland-based business consortium.  Goodyear's Tracker P EMT all-terrain
run-flat tire won a product innovation award from ATV magazine.  England's
AutoExpress magazine named the Eagle F1 EMT run-flat tire as the Accessory of
the Year.
    Standard equipment run-flat tires on the Corvette and Plymouth Prowler
operate so effectively deflated that they come without a spare tire, wheel and
jack in the trunk, Toth said.