The Michelin Latitude Sport summer tire appeared due to the popularity of a new segment of SUVs that can develop high speed and demonstrate excellent handling on asphalt. However, these capabilities can only be realized with the presence of suitable tires. This is the main reason for the appearance of this model.
When developing this tire, the company's specialists used technologies previously applied in motorsports and models for sports cars. Therefore, the composition of the rubber mixture and the design of the tread were borrowed from the very successful sports tire Pilot Sport 2, which can be considered a standard in many ways.
However, the Latitude Sport model cannot be considered a ordinary copy of the Pilot Sport 2. This tire has been significantly modernized. Moreover, we are not just talking about the trivial increase in size and weight, but about much more significant changes in design.
When creating the Michelin Latitude Sport tire, the company's specialists had to solve several difficult tasks. First of all, it was necessary to compensate for the increased centrifugal force due to the greater mass, which causes deformation of the tread. Due to this, the size of the contact patch decreases, which negatively affects the handling characteristics.
To combat this phenomenon, a unique breaker layer was added to the tire design, which is extended into the shoulder zones, and the nylon threads are wound with a variable pitch and at an angle of 0 degrees relative to the axis of rotation. The increase in the area of the breaker layer made it possible to significantly reduce deformation, thereby maximizing the area of the contact patch. The arrangement of the nylon threads with a variable pitch and at an angle of 0 degrees allows for point and effective combat against the non-uniformity of the centrifugal force, which affects different parts of the tread in different ways.
The main features of the Michelin Latitude Sport tire
- A unique nylon breaker layer effectively combats tread deformation that occurs when driving at high speeds;
- Excellent directional stability is provided by the solid and rigid design of the central longitudinal rib;
- The optimized design of the asymmetric tread pattern made it possible to reduce rolling resistance while maintaining other characteristics at a high level.
Enlarge 
Enlarge 