LANGLEY, B.C. — A cross-Canada program for Yokohama heavy truck tire dealers and fleet customers is intended to showcase a new tire technology that has been designed not only to save operating costs, but to offer environmental benefits as well.
 
The Yokohama Zen Road Show is a combined trade show and information session that is being promoted to highlight the company’s new Zenvironment tire manufacturing process, and its contribution to fuel economy, improved tire life, and other environmental benefits, the company has announced.
 
The company’s claim is supported by what it terms a “unique cost-per-kilometre performance guarantee for its new truck tire line that promises a minimum 15% improvement, versus competitive products.”
 
The meetings and displays will be staged for dealers and fleet customers in 11 locations from Vancouver to Quebec City, beginning March 3, and will illustrate the new Zenvironment manufacturing technology, states the company. Special offers for dealers and fleet customers will provide savings on the premium line.
 
While the cost savings are appealing to buyers, the environmental benefits inherent in the new line provide a selling advantage that operators can use with their customers, according to Jonathon Karelse, manager of marketing for Yokohama Tire.

“Many companies are looking through their entire supply chain to ensure they are meeting high standards of environmental performance, and that includes transportation,” Karelse says. “Tires that offer the key trio of truck tire attributes – high mileage, long casing life and low rolling resistance – demonstrate tangible environmental benefits, too. Trucking companies can show they’re doing their part.”
 
The new Yokohama 703ZL truck tire has earned the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) SmartWay designation, he points out.

“Trucking companies that can demonstrate SmartWay compliance have a tangible advantage,” Karelse says.
 
New technologies in the tire manufacturing processes, along with new designs and new construction, have contributed to the improved performance, Karelse says, but the common factor in all the Zenvironment tires is the rubber mixing process, he adds.
 
That process uses a lower temperature/higher torque mixing technique, which creates a better and more uniform dispersion of carbon in the rubber, states the company. This results in rubber that is more pliable yet maintains its strength, and helps create a casing with improved durability and longevity – which the company adds is crucial for many cycles of retreading. The confidence in this new process has lead Yokohama to offer a seven-year limited warranty with unlimited retreads for highway-use tires.
 
Furthermore, newly-developed tread compounds have been employed to extend mileage and reduce rolling resistance, without sacrificing important factors such as wet performance, or the specific characteristics demanded of each highly specialized tire such as cutting/chipping resistance, according to Yokohama.
 
The theme of environmental responsibility pervades the entire road show, Karelse adds. Program materials from recycled paper to displays made of bamboo products are used throughout, he says.

“Even the ballpoint pens are made of a corn-derivative product. Put them in your potted plant and they dissolve.”