AKRON, Ohio — Goodyear says the G395 LHS steer tire the company introduced last year is proving to be one of its most successful truck tire launches ever.

The company says the G395 LHS is setting new standards in steer tire wear, durability and cost-per-mile. The tire is a standard spec’ on all new International and Volvo Class 8 trucks and will soon also come standard on Freightliner tractors as well. It is also available on all other Class 8 vehicles.

“The G395 LHS has exceeded our sales expectations by far,” said Goodyear’s Steve McClellan, vice-president, commercial tire systems. “It’s selling because it’s performing. When we introduced it, we offered fleets a no-risk guarantee: If the G395 LHS did not exceed the verifiable miles to removal of their existing steer tire, wed retread it for free. We’re happy to report that we haven’t had to do a lot of free retreading. The performance of the G395 LHS made that unnecessary.”

Ravens Trucking is a general freight hauling company that has seen its miles to removal increase since switching to the G395 LHS.

“On one of our trucks, the G395 is wearing at 21,000 miles per 1/32-inch of tread depth, which works out to a projected total of 252,000 miles when we pull them at 6/32-inch depth,” said Lloyd Ravens, fleet maintenance manager. “On another truck we’re getting close to 18,000 miles per 1/32-inch, and a total projected mileage of 216,000. Our previous tires were getting about 12,000 miles per 1/32-inch , totaling about 100,000 miles and we were often having to pull them at 10/32-inch because of shoulder wear.”

Goodyear attributes much of its performance success to its IMPACT manufacturing process which combines 12 tire components into one providing better uniformity and plant efficiency.

“We feel the G395 LHS is the best designed and manufactured steer tire in the industry,” said Joe Zekoski, Goodyear’s director of commercial tire technology. “IMPACT also greatly improves tire-building consistency, resulting in an improvement in overall tire uniformity. It’s been most evident to customers in the improved ride of the G395 LHS.”

Irregular wear is also addressed thanks to a special Pressure Distribution Groove on the shoulder of the tire.

“These grooves aren’t new, but the way we designed this one is,” explained Zekoski. “It has a larger groove bottom radius, which reduces the potential for tread damage due to curb scuffing and other tread-damaging maneuvers. Overall, the G395 LHS is a very robust tire. There’s also more even pressure distribution across the footprint and much more consistent uniformity from tire to tire. That all translates into longer tread life, producing savings which go directly to the fleet’s and owner operator’s bottom line.”