As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the current South African policy is to buy local products to protect the economy, says Sumitomo Rubber SA, as reported by SA Treads.
Trucking Industry Supported by Dunlop Tyre in South Africa
The new premium Drive truck tyre launched by Sumitomo Dunlop is being produced in the state-of-the-art Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal Truck Bus Radial manufacturing plant, specifically to meet the needs of the “always on the road” trucking industry.
“The SP835A is a big deal for both the company and the trucking industry,” said Riaz Haffejee, CEO of Sumitomo Dunlop. “The launch of the SP835A sees the beginning of a new era where we are now able to supply a full set of locally produced tyres for the entire truck, for all positions – from Steer, to Drive and Trailer.”
The new Drive tyre has been locally researched, produced and tested to tick all of the essential boxes when it comes to the long haul, highway trucking fleet The premium Drive tyre, the SP835A was developed for improved Cost per Kilometre (CPK), high mileage in long-haul highway applications. Exhibiting even tread wear and low rolling resistance due to DECTES* technology (reducing fuel consumption), the tyre has been manufactured using a cut resistant compound and has a Heel and Toe resistant pattern. Better heat dissipation is achieved using base tread material in the tread construction which enhances re-treadability.
The key features include a reinforced bead, with nylon reinforcements to make for better wear performance, as well as an optimised breakers angle, which creates a better distribution of ground contact pressure, resulting in a more uniform tread wear performance. On top of this the pattern highlights include a lug groove angled differently designed to minimising retention of stones, as well as maintaining block stiffness. There’s also reduced abrasion during block movement for even wear and higher mileage, tie-bars on the shoulder blocks to reduce heel and toe wear and a performance improvement between wear, cut/ chipping and driver comfort. The aim is to provide extended driver comfort.
Sizes come in 315/80R22.5 and 295/80R22.5. In house field application tests on 315/80R22.5 showed the best performance in the Drive application for the SP835A versus 31 competitors and 19 Dunlop tyres in three different fleets, which in turn show an improvement of as much as 18% on mileage.
Visit https://www.dunloptyres.co.za/Tyre-Range/BusTruck for more information.
* DECTES – Dunlop Energy Control Technologies
