Orange &Green

From environmentally friendly laundry detergent to air travel carbon-offsets, green products continue to dominate the consciousness of consumer products marketers in the Great Recession. Why? One reason is the ability to drive environmentally-sensitive consumers into products that feel good without the guilt associated with the traditional carbon-spewing vehicle footprint. But what about tires? Yokohama has launched a new eco-product that may be the most environmentally benign tire ever produced. Tire & Wheel Canada recently tested Yokohama’s new dB super E-spec on, appropriately, a Toyota Prius over a typical urban/suburban/rural course through Ontario’s picturesque Niagara wine country.

The dB super E-spec is the first in Yokohama’s Eco-motion line of green products, and unlike previous low-rolling resistance tires, is the first tire in Canada targeted specifically as a replacement tire for hybrid vehicles. And like the vehicles they’re designed to fit, the dB super E-spec is technology loaded with some interesting design features. The tire is built with a substantial amount of natural materials (in a carbon-neutral factory) replacing traditional synthetics. In fact 80 per cent of the tire is non-petroleum, including natural rubber, charcoal-derived carbon black, rayon ply fabric and most surprisingly, orange oil. The oil, extracted from orange peel, replaces the usual petroleum oils used in raw rubber processing and combined with natural rubber and silica, produces what the firm calls “Super Nano-Power Compound.” The concept is to create a green rubber compound that will allow normal levels of grip in a tire with the low rolling resistance required for ultra high-mileage vehicles.

Overall weight has also been addressed, as has pressure loss with a new lightweight low-permeability inner liner. Yokohama claims rolling resistance that’s 11 percent better than Michelin HydroEdge and 22 per cent better than Goodyear Integrity. While neither the Michelin nor Goodyear products are marketed as hybrid tires, from a dealer perspective the point is clear: hybrids need replacement tires that match or exceed the OEM fitments for both economy and grip.

The “dB” in the tire’s name alludes to the other design target for the super E-spec: low noise. While all quality mainstream tires include noise reduction as an important design attribute, modern true hybrids are capable of electric-only running modes, making road noise much more noticeable than in conventional vehicles. The tread pattern minimizes noise with a twin solid centre rib and very small tread blocks interlaced with rounded sipes. Almost unnoticed is a slight offset between the left and right halves of the tread pattern, which Yokohama calls “5-pitch variation,” a technique that retains the traction and cornering performance of a symmetrical pattern while reducing road noise.

How does it drive? On the test Prius, the tire is indeed quiet, with a smooth ride that would normally suggest a very soft compound and compliant sidewalls. This is not a performance tire and while cornering forces won’t challenge a 911, they’re entirely consistent with quality “conventional” touring radials … which is the point of the dB super E-spec. There are 25 thousand hybrids on Canadian roads; this product gives Prius owners a replacement option that greatly reduces the low grip, harsh ride penalty for low rolling resistance tires. It’s also a choice that’s politically highly desirable for the kind of consumer that drives a hybrid. The dB super E-spew is available for Prius as you read this, with more sizes rolling out later this year.

SSGM