DALLAS, TX – Michelin has introduced a new drive tire, the XDA-5, which incorporates several new advances to boost its expected life by 30%, yet also “regenerates” new tread over time.
“We’re using a collection of technological advances – what we call our Michelin Durable Technologies (MDT) package – to deliver improved truck tire performance in a number of areas,” said Marc Laferriere, vp-marketing for Michelin Americas Truck Tires.
MDT advances in casing and tread design allow the tires to handle more load without the need to increase size or air pressure, allowing it to last longer, he said. Michelin is backing the XDA-5 with a guarantee that it will outlast the drive tire it replaces by at least 30%. If it doesn’t, Michelin will credit double the amount of the price difference between the XDA5 tire and the tire it replaced.
Don Baldwin, Michelin’s product-marketing manager, said the XDA-5 offers improvements in three dimensions. First, as the tire wears, the tread reveals new grooves and tread blocks effectively giving the tire a second life—self-regenerating to improve traction. This design keeps the tire in service longer before retreading.
Second, the XDA-5’s tread is wider, offering better stability and more even wear. Matrix siping within the tread blocks helps not only to prevent irregular wear, but also maximizes the tire’s fuel economy profile. Finally, new compounding in both the casing and tread help the overall tire last longer.
Baldwin said the real key to longer life is the double-wave Matrix sipes, which give the XDA-5 tire’s 30/32-in.-deep tread blocks the ability to lock together in all directions, delivering amazing rigidity, resistance to scrub, and minimizing irregular wear normally associated with deep tread block designs.
At the base of the Matrix siping, a raindrop groove is molded into the tread block that reveals a new groove when the tread has 10/32 remaining, a feature of self-regenerating tread. This mechanism enables the XDA-5 to offer renewed grip, enhanced worn traction and more usable tread, which ultimately results in longer life, according to Baldwin.
Laferriere added that the XDA-5 will to cost 5% to 10% more than Michelin’s current drive tire.
