Special tires for light commercial vehicles…
It would seem, but why are they needed at all? “Heels” and vans drive on the same streets and highways as cars. In the same conditions and, in general, at the same speeds, and there are no special differences in the size of the tires used. So I went to any tire shop, chose a kit within my means, and go! But everything is not so simple…
What is the difference between light commercial vehicles and passenger cars?
First of all, the fact that they are optimized for the transport of goods. Passenger cars also sometimes load that your donkeys, but not all owners do this, and this does not happen so often.
This means that LCV tires are regularly subjected too much greater loads. And this requires that appropriate changes be made to the design to allow them to withstand these loads.
The Daily Mileage
And secondly, as a rule. The daily mileage of commercial vehicles is many times higher than the mileage of passenger cars, unless, of course, this passenger car works in a taxi.
As a result, the issue of wear resistance and mileage comes to the fore. Because the system of priorities between private car owners and LCV operators has very significant differences.
For the owner of a passenger sedan, hatchback or crossover, acceleration and braking dynamics, handling, comfort and noise will be in the foreground. Customers are willing to pay for the improvement of these indicators, and sometimes quite serious money.
Owners of commercial vehicles also pay attention to these parameters. But the main issues for them are related to the economy: the initial price and mileage, that is, the service life.
In The Case Of the Development of Winter Tires
It is clear that many of these parameters are in conflict, and these contradictions become especially striking in the case of the development of winter tires. Judge for yourself: to ensure maximum grip at low temperatures, the tread compound must be as soft as possible.
But in order to provide the best abrasion resistance, and therefore a long service life, this compound must be tough!
To reduce fuel consumption (and this parameter is also critical for LCV owners) it is required to reduce rolling resistance. But a hard rubber compound is also better suited for this.
Fuel efficiency
And the following picture emerges: they improved fuel efficiency. At the same time increased mileage, and at the same time, grip and handling deteriorated.
A softer mixture was used, increased comfort, reduced noise, and increased handling on wet pavement and in slush – performance deteriorated.
The nose was pulled out – the tail got stuck, the tail was pulled out – the nose was stuck. As a result, the development of a perfectly balanced product becomes an incredibly difficult task. Requiring the use of all available intellectual and technological resources.
Judge for Yourself:
How tire manufacturers solve the tasks assigned to them, we will look at the example of Toyo Tires. Back in 2011. It introduced the Toyo H09 commercial winter tires.
This model embodied almost all the technologies available at that time: the tread rubber compound with improved wear resistance and the carcass profile for uniform distribution of contact pressure guaranteed a sufficiently long service life.
The tread pattern with wave sips provided high lateral and longitudinal grip on wet and snowy roads, and strong steel breakers, together with a reinforced bead structure, minimized internal stress in the carcass during movement.
Individual Models of Tires
Speaking about the Toyo Nanoenergy Van summer tire. We have already noted that the life cycle of individual models of tires for light commercial vehicles. Turns out to be much longer than in the case of tires for passenger cars.
In passenger car lines
Manufacturers try to introduce a successor every 5 years. But the average life of a commercial tire model is ten years. So the replacement for the H09 model appeared in the expected time frame.
Working on a new model, called the Observe Van, the designers set themselves the following tasks: to improve the performance of the tire on wet surfaces, in particular, to reduce the braking distance.
As well as to increase handling and stability, to improve handling when driving in snow, to increase tire life for by strengthening the carcass and increasing the wear resistance of the tread.
At the same time, rolling resistance had to correspond to categories C ~ E, wet grip – category B (according to the European tire labeling system), and the noise level should not exceed 72 dB.
And the designers successfully coped with these tasks! Well, now let’s see how they managed to achieve the set targets.
Let’s Start With What Any User Sees First Of All
From the tread pattern. At first glance, the tread pattern is very similar to the new Toyo Nanoenergy VAN summer tires. Which went on sale in the spring of 2020.
The same four rows of blocks. Two rows of central ones connected into a double central rib with a zigzag groove, and two rows of wide shoulder blocks. Such a pattern increases the overall rigidity. Which means controllability and wear resistance.
Difference between
The main difference between the winter Observe Van and the summer Nanoenergy Van. Is the presence of many wavy 3D slats that cut through both the central and shoulder blocks.
On closer examination, other differences can be found. The edges of the transverse grooves separating the tread blocks are stepped, which improves the transfer of traction on snowy surfaces.
The Performance of a Tire Depends Not Only On the Tread Pattern
But also on its internal structure.
In this case, the winter Observe Van and the summer Nanoenergy Van are structurally very similar.
Under it there are layers of metal cord with high tensile strength, under the metal cord there is a multilayer frame made of high rigidity polyester.
But the main design feature of the Observe Van tires is a powerful bead reinforcement built into the sidewall of the tire. When compared with Toyo H09 tires, it turned out that this structural element is able to reduce internal stresses and the amplitude of the strain energy density by 75%,
Tread Pattern
It is worth noting that the development of both the tread pattern and the internal structure of the Toyo Observe Van were carried out using the T-MODE computer-aided design and simulation system. We have already talked about what this system is and what advantages it provides, and in sufficient detail…
We only want to emphasize that one of its blocks is a mathematical model that describes the interaction of a tire with snow and allows real-time prediction of the behavior of a tire on snow, as well as assessing the friction forces between snow and rubber under conditions of loads and speeds corresponding to the conditions for using a real car. .
At the same time
Snow is a very complex environment in terms of modeling its interaction with the tire. There are a lot of parameters to take into account, including snow particle size, density and water content…
But all these difficulties have been successfully overcome, and now T-MODE technology allows you to visually evaluate tire characteristics that are difficult to measure during the experiment: for example, how the tire deforms and how pressure is distributed in the contact patch at speeds above 100 km / h.