AKRON, Ohio — As Goodyear celebrates the fifth anniversary of its DuraSeal tire sealant technology, the company says it is seeing strong interest in the product.

Goodyear says its DuraSeal tires are the only truck tires with a built-in sealant, which instantly seals punctures of up to a quarter inch. It was first rolled out for the waste industry and later expanded to tire applications.

“Growth for DuraSeal Technology has been tremendous, and day-in, day-out, it’s helping to prevent flats for our customers,” said Bruce Woodruff, director of marketing for Goodyear. “We’ve seen our sales nearly triple on our trailer tires with DuraSeal Technology in the past year. What’s more, our G288 MSA – a mixed service tire for use in the waste industry, especially transfer dump operations, as well as in construction applications, has doubled in sales in the past 12 months.”

Goodyear officials say the DuraSeal technology is well-suited for trailer positions.

“Our research, analyzing all flats that are processed through fleetHQ, our emergency roadside service program, showed that a majority of flats occur in the trailer position,” Woodruff said. “Trailers not only pick up nails and other debris on the road, but when backing into loading docks.”

Ajax, Ont.-based National Waste Services has been testing Goodyear’s DuraSeal tires on the drive position of its roll-off truck based in Lindsay. Over two years, the tires have run 175,000 kms without a flat, which maintenance manager Steve Cooke says is “extraordinary” given the application. Previously, Cooke said the company’s trucks would commonly get two or more flats in a week.

Because of the success of the test, National Waste Service now uses the Goodyear G177 with DuraSeal on the drive positions of trucks that operate in rural areas. It has also begun using DuraSeal tires on its eight UAG open-top and four compact trailers.

“It’s critical for those highway units not to have any downtime,” Cooke said. “It’s a time-sensitive run because the drivers have just enough time to make one trip down to landfills and then drive back to load up for the next morning. We can’t have the drivers sitting on the side of the 401 waiting to get a flat tire repaired.”