Innovative rubber compound coupled with novel tread design enables new car tyre to provide both wet grip performance and higher fuel efficiency
Combination of wet grip performance, reduced rolling resistance and clever features to extend the tyre’s life sets FALKEN’s new ZIEX ZE914 premium tyre apart.
Offenbach, March 27th 2012: Advances in both the chemical formulation of the rubber and the tread design have enabled Japanese tyre maker FALKEN to create a new road tyre that provides both wet weather grip and better fuel efficiency. Until now, tyre engineers have struggled to offer lower rolling resistance and the highest levels of wet weather grip, finding attributes to be usually mutually exclusive. To be able to achieve this challenging balance, Falken had to look at alternative ways to reduce the heat and therefore the energy required to deliver the desired grip performance required for a European premium tyre.
The solution was to use silica in combination with long, modified polymer chains, a new rubber compound has been developed which reduces excess heat generation and therefore, rolling resistance. By using silica in combination with long, modified polymer chains, the new rubber compound reduces excess heat generation and therefore, rolling resistance. The result is a 3.8 percent fuel saving compared with a non-optimised tyre. The strain characteristics of silica have the additional effect of increasing the contact area and grip for the same tyre diameter. Enlarging the contact area also provides car drivers with an additional benefit. By reducing the contact pressure, the tyre’s operating life is also extended, a handy advantage for the vehicle’s running costs.
Falken’s engineers also looked closely at using the tread pattern to get better wet weather performance. The answer was a total of four wide tread grooves in the tyre cap design to allow for efficient water deflection and achieve superb hydroplaning resistance. Additionally, the staggered sipes integrated into the first tread block at the shoulder break up the water film more effectively than conventional tread patterns.
Like its predecessor ZIEX ZE912, the new ZIEX ZE914 comes with tread wear indicators to precisely monitor tyre wear. The Falken “Special Eyes” indicators change shape with increasing wear letting drivers know when it is time to rotate the tyres to maximise tyre life further. The “Special Eyes” change shape twice: from round to square and ultimately to a smooth surface.
The ZIEX ZE914 will be available in ten sizes with speed ratings of V, W and H at launch, offering the ideal replacement for cars such as the VW Golf or Ford Mondeo. By 2013, Falken will expand the range to include 70 versions.
The ZIEX ZE914 is the third tyre launched in Europe by Falken in as many months and aims to compliment the significant growth the firm achieved in Europe in 2011.
Tyre dimensions available as of spring 2012
From spring 2012 the new Falken ZIEX ZE914 will be offered in ten different dimensions with V, W and H speed ratings. Two new sizes will be available:
| 205/55R 16 91W | Ford Mondeo, Mazda 5, Skoda Octavia, VW Golf |
| 215/55R16 93W | Peugeot 308, Volvo V60, VW Eos/Passat |
