The Goodyear UltraGrip Ice+ winter tire is one of the successful attempts by the North American manufacturer to create an ideal tire for the harsh winter conditions of Scandinavian countries and, of course, Russia. This model is produced in more than two dozen of the most popular sizes from 13 to 17 inches, which allows it to be used on most modern models of small and medium-sized cars.
ActiveGrip Technology
This tire is one of the first winter models where the North American tire giant applied one of its latest developments, namely the ActiveGrip road grip technology. This technology is a complex of technical solutions aimed at providing excellent operating characteristics in harsh Scandinavian winter conditions.
DualCapCompound
As you know, at low temperatures, rubber loses one of its main advantages - elasticity, which has a negative impact on traction. That's why all tire manufacturers add special components to the tread compound that provide the necessary level of elasticity at negative temperatures. Goodyear is no exception. Unlike many competitors, the Goodyear UltraGrip Ice+ tire is equipped with a tread consisting of two layers. The upper layer is made of a more elastic rubber compound, which allows the tread to more closely follow all the irregularities on the road surface at low temperatures. The lower layer is made of a more rigid and hard rubber compound. This layer provides the tire with excellent operating characteristics on dry roads at higher temperatures due to its rigidity.
Hybridsipes
This term hides two different types of lamellas that were used simultaneously in this model. As described in the previous paragraph, the tread of this tire has a two-layer structure. At the same time, each of the tread layers is equipped with lamellas of a certain type. The lower layer of the tread has a multitude of prism-shaped lamellas. These lamellas are a further development of the 3D-BIS technology. The main design feature of the prism-shaped lamella is the presence of protrusions and depressions on its walls. This allows the lamella walls to be tightly fixed to each other when in contact with the road surface. Due to this, a high structural rigidity of the lower layer of the tread is achieved, which significantly improved the handling characteristics on dry surfaces.
The upper layer of the tread is equipped with zigzag-shaped lamellas, which are also arranged transversely to the direction of movement. Like prism-shaped lamellas, zigzag-shaped lamellas also increase the structural rigidity of the tread blocks due to the denser fixation of their walls. Their main difference is that they, in addition to increasing the rigidity of the tread blocks, form a multitude of sharp edges that can easily penetrate the water film on the icy surface and grasp even very small irregularities. This allows the Goodyear UltraGrip Ice+ tire to compensate for the lack of numerous steel spikes.
Snow Grasper
This innovation is a further development of another famous technology from this North American tire giant, namely the V-TRED technology. Like its predecessor, the Snow Grasper technology represents a new V-shaped design of the symmetrical directional tread pattern. The main design difference from the previous version of the tread is the increased number of sharp edges. This was achieved by reducing the size of the tread blocks, which made it possible to significantly increase their number.
The increased number of tread blocks made it possible to significantly improve all the main operating characteristics of the tire, especially on slippery surfaces. In addition, due to this, the tire's drainage system now has a significantly larger number of channels, which made it possible to significantly improve the efficiency of its operation.
Main features of the Goodyear UltraGrip Ice+ tire
- ActiveGrip technology, thanks to the two-layer tread with two types of lamellas, provides optimal contact with any icy surface;
- The two-layer structure of the tread provides excellent traction and handling characteristics in any winter conditions, while ensuring excellent handling on dry roads at high temperatures;
- Prism-shaped and zigzag-shaped lamellas, due to the high rigidity of the tread throughout its depth, allow the tire to demonstrate excellent traction on snow and ice throughout its entire service life;
- The optimized V-shaped design of the symmetrical directional tread pattern with wide transverse grooves provides effective removal of water and slush from the contact patch;
- The multi-radius tread profile with a small radius of the shoulder zones made it possible to achieve a long and wide contact patch, as well as an even distribution of pressure over it, which ensured improved traction with any type of surface and even tread wear.
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