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Article: Round and black ... (postscript).
- Article from:
- European Rubber Journal
- Article date:
- April 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Crain Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A few years ago I used to be a bit cynical about the tyre industry, regarding tyres as little more than round and black. This feeling was reinforced whenever I attended the launch of a new tyre.
Usually there would be a technical presentation to support the practical driving experience. Some of the journalists would jokingly run a sweepstake on how quickly the company would show a spider diagram. This is a way of comparing five or six properties of the tyre with those of its predecessor, or of competitors' tyres. Usually they recorded a five percent improvement in most properties, with maybe 10 percent in a couple and zero percent in some less important property.