New Ultra Low Profile Wide Base Single Tires

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New Ultra Low Profile Wide Base Single Tires

• or, what we call
• X-One

by Mike Hurley Segment Manager Michelin NA Bulk
Fleets
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(No Transcript)
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New Wide Single topics

• What are they all about ?
• What are their advantages ?
• What are their disadvantages ?
• Are they here to stay or are they just a flash
  in the pan?

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What are they all about ?

• The Premise
• To increase the overall productivity of the
  trucking industry by optimizing the vehicle /
  tire / wheel configuration.

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What are they all about ?

• These are NOT Super Singles
• 445/50R22.5 is 4 less in O/A Diam than
  425/65R22.5
• 5.3 less than 445/65R22.5

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• Genesis
• Conceived in Europe
• Developed and tested in the US
• Introduced in fall of 2000 at the Great American
  Truck Show, Dallas, TX

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• Testing
• Thousands of tires over hundreds of millions of
  miles in both internal and fleet testing
• Track testing to evaluate vehicle dynamics
  including sudden failure conditions
• Ensuring retreadability

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• Market
• Hundreds of thousands of tires on hundreds of
  thousands of wheel positions
• Hundreds of BILLIONS of road miles since launch
• Later introduced in Europe
• New markets / vocations underway
• Urban Buses, Refuse Vehicles, Concrete Mixers,
  Military and ... ?

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Converter Dollies

• Dramatically reduces effort needed to handle /
  turn dollies
• 2 pivot points instead of 4

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New Wide Base Single Tires

• Are there advantages?

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New Wide Base Single Tires

• There are 2 core advantages and several secondary
  advantages
• Fuel Savings
• Weight Savings

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Fuel Savings

• Documented, demonstrable fuel savings of 4 when
  converting from comparable tire types
• ie fuel efficient duals to fuel efficient wide
  single tires
• ie high mileage tires to high mileage wide
  single tires
• DONT FORGET THE TRAILER!!! (with one exception
  presently)

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Example 1

• T/A tractor trailer converted from an 18 wheeler
  to a 10 wheeler _at_ 150,000 mi/yr _at_ 6.0 mpg
  _at_3.90/gal
• LP 22.5 energy efficient drive and trailer tires
  to energy efficient wide base singles

Fuel Savings of 4,970 per vehicle PER YEAR!
Comparing Michelin XZA 3 / X One XDA / X One XTA
with XZA 3/ XDA 3 / XTA Energy
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Example 2

• T/A tractor trailer converted from an 18 wheeler
  to a 10 wheeler _at_ 150,000 mpy _at_ 6.0 mpg
  _at_3.90/gal
• LP 22.5 high mileage drive and trailer tires to
  high mileage wide base singles

Fuel Savings of 2,778 per vehicle per year
Comparing Michelin XZA 3 / X One XDA-HT Plus / X
One XTE with XZA 3/ XDA-HT / XTE
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Weight Savings

• Replacing dual assemblies with wide base single
  tires delivers significant reduction in unsprung
  weight
• Increased payload increased revenue

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Example 1

• T/A tractor trailer converted from an 18 wheeler
  to a 10 wheeler
• LP 22.5 energy efficient drive and trailer tires
  to energy efficient wide base singles all on
  aluminum wheels

Weight Savings of 768 lbs. per vehicle per
year
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Example 2

• T/A tractor trailer converted from an 18 wheeler
  to a 10 wheeler
• LP 22.5 high mileage drive and trailer tires to
  high mileage wide base singles all on aluminum
  wheels

Weight Savings of 796 lbs. per vehicle per
year
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Do they offer any other benefits

• Improved ride comfort
• The new generation of wide base singles
  dramatically improve spring rate relative to
  traditional dual fitments
• 15 Improvement (validated by on-board
  accelerometers)
• Improvement in subjective ride quality similar to
  changing from leaf spring to air ride suspensions

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Do they offer any other benefits

• Improved Handling
• Higher cornering stiffness delivers improved
  handling response
• Subjective feel of improved control in curves
• Actually lower the center of gravity of a vehicle

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Do they offer any other benefits ?

• Improved Stability
• New generation wide base singles increase lateral
  stability and lower vehicle center of gravity

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Do they offer any other benefits

• Easier Maintenance
• One tire to mount vs two
• Reduced inventory tires wheels
• One pressure check per axle end
• no more ignored inside duals

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Do they offer any other benefits

• Reduced FET

18 wheeler on LP22.5 454.14
10 wheeler on 445/50R22.5 303.74
Net reduction of 150.40 per vehicle
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What are the disadvantages?

• Fewer Miles
• Depending on the nature of the application
• Low scrub long haul service /- 10
• Higher scrub regional/highway service - 10 to
  30

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What are the disadvantages?

• Flats on the Road
• Fleets report fewer flats with new wide base
  singles
• Easier pressure maintenance
• 2 extra layers of steel in crown
• Different mechanical reaction to penetrating
  objects

When compared to traditional duals
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What are the disadvantages?

• Flats on the Road
• Michelin Commercial Truck dealers and many
  mainstream Travel Plazas like Flying J, Loves
  and Pilot are stocking the tires.
• Michelin OnCall statistics report only an
  additional 10 minute average time to complete ERS
  calls for wide base singles compared to
  traditional duals.

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Are they here to stay ?

• Yes !
• The benefits are real and cannot be ignored in
  todays competitive environment
• reduced fuel consumption
• improved ride and handling
• weight reduction increased payload
• Michelin North America has committed 80
  Million USD to expanding X One capacity

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Whats Next ?

• Optimizing vehicle design around the technology

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Whats Next ?

• Developing new tire technologies that capitalize
  on the wide base single design