Piston Slap: Two Reasons For Tire Technology – Hagerty
Hagerty Media commentator DUB6 writes:
My question is about modern radial tires and their “toughness.” I once slid on an icy corner and hit a curb with a bias-ply tire. I was going maybe 5 MPH with a full-size ’60s Chevy when I hit at an angle of about 30 degrees. The brand-name tire developed a bulge and the tread separated at the sidewall juncture, and was thus ruined.
A friend recently hit a huge pothole on a nearby freeway going 75 MPH in a ’73 Oldsmobile, which wore new steel-belted radials, and try as we might, we couldn’t find even an indication of where it hit, let alone any damage.
Is tire technology THAT much better now?
Sajeev answers:
Oooooooh yeah, baby! There’s no other way to say it, because modern tire technology is downright amazing.
But tire companies are awfully secretive about the special sauce(s) they use to make their products. We may not know the exact reasons, but you can read between the tread patterns (as it were) to find the answer. So I did, and found two reasons for this impressive performance rise.
I’ve previously mentioned the benefits of CAD in automotive engineering during the Malaise Era, and it appears that Goodyear’s been using CAD in their tires for at least 20 years. Things like Z-rated tires (good for over 149 MPH) came out during the mass-adoption of CAD in the 1980s, so I reckon that 3D modeling of tire molds has…well…umm…
I cannot find the who/what/when/where or how 3D modeling has improved a tire’s overall performance. My journalistic shame aside, people are selling online classes to learn these details. (Attending such a class is beyond the scope of this weekly column.) So this is happening–somewhere–to the point we see rudimentary YouTube videos on how tires are modeled in a piece of software called CATIA.
CATIA has been around since the late 1970s, but it’s hard to know when the tire industry picked up what CATIA was putting down. But have a look at the LinkedIn profiles of engineers for major tire companies, and they openly admit to having this software in their toolkit.
Since I am getting no joy in researching 3D modeling for tire manufacturers, how about we find something similarly complex that’s been heavily documented in an outstanding YouTube video?
This is a long watch about Frank Gehry’s radical Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, and how it turned the industry on its head. While architecture and tires are not parallel industries, both require a complex pairing of 3D modeling with the engineering/construction knowledge needed to create a finished product.
The whole video is worth a look, as there are parallels between the crazy curves on CATIA-designed buildings (that became a tourist trap) and 50+ years of improvement in tire design. Adjusting a 3D model well before it’s needed to construct a finished product has likely spawned advancements we can only understand when we slam a 4000 lb utility vehicle with 20-inch rims into a pothole at 65 MPH…driving away like nothing happened.
Then we have the second notable advancement in tire technology in the last 20-40(?) years: polymers, more commonly known as plastics or synthetic rubber. From superior automotive waxes to higher-performance automobile speaker materials, the changeover from natural materials (carnauba wax, paper speaker cones) to polymers has revolutionized how we interact with the automobile.
The steps to synthesize fake rubber are well known, and tweaking the formula is relevant but too complicated for this article. The result is a material that makes tires into steroid-infused superheroes for your car’s suspension system. I come to this conclusion from firsthand experience, thanks to long-term ownership of several vehicles.
I will discuss two examples: one daily driver that sits outside, and one classic that lives in a garage. Both were owned from new, therefore experiencing the tire technology available at the time. Neither is old enough to experience the time before radial tires, but surprisingly, that is not an issue when discussing the improvements in tire technology.
The General Altimax tires on my 2011 Ranger (stored outdoors) lasted twice as long as the OEM Continental ContiTracs before dry rot (from UV exposure) claimed their lives. Even at the end of these Altimax’s serviceable life, they never triggered an ABS or active handling intervention on slick roads. That’s in stark contrast to the OEM Continentals, which activated the ABS with shocking frequency in the rain when brand-spanking new. Even more impressive, the Generals lasted 2+ years longer than the Continentals before needing replacement. (My daily commutes are short, so I can give a firsthand account of everything except tire wear.)
These Generals cost me an extra 1.5-2 MPG in fuel economy, but that was a worthy trade for the extra grip and longer usable/safe service life. The only reason I replaced these Generals (with the same Altimax tire family) was because they were getting noisy and stiffening (i.e. UV exposure) to the point of affecting ride quality.
The new Generals perform significantly better than the weathered ones, but I am absolutely blown away by the slow rate of performance degradation in the polymer-infused formula for this tire. And that slow rate of performance degradation is only magnified when your new, polymer-infused tires are on a classic car stored indoors and not used for commuting.
My 1988 Mercury Cougar XR-7 was bought new by my father with Goodyear’s famous high-performance Gatorback tires, and he loved the handling but hated the tread wear. Great tire, but it’s a surprising choice for a Mercury product.
Our Cougar now wears Kumho performance all-season tires with 2018 date codes, and possesses a shocking level of cornering grip, and unwavering assurance in standing water to this day in 2025. The only downside I feel is more road noise on the highway. Ride quality is likely degrading, but there is no sign of dry rot in the “rubber.”
That’s a shocking change to my perception of what a seven-year-old tire can do. Tires this old used to be deathtraps at anything more than half throttle on a dry surface. But I’d drive these old Kumhos anywhere, provided it isn’t on a road trip involving hours of driving on hot concrete at high speeds. (That will likely test the vintage polymers to an unsafe breaking point.)
But you likely don’t store a vintage Cougar in your garage, or do short trips in a Ford Ranger. I get it, so please don’t listen just to this wacky auto scribe. Instead, listen to Porsche when they partnered with Michelin to make new rubber for the 2003-06 Carrera GT with the latest polymers and construction techniques.
I wish we could peel back the tire manufacturer’s secretive polymer formulas and construction techniques to learn more, but perhaps this is akin to the recipe for Coke or Pepsi for good reason. But not all is well, as it’s been proven that polymers in modern tires are a considerable source of microplastics in our ecosystem. I’ve likely consumed tire microplastics just by living in a car-centric megacity where people love to do burnouts whenever they can. And also because of my love of sushi…but I digress.
Yes DUB6, tire technology really is that good now. And modern polymers paired with 3D models are likely the biggest reasons why.
Have a question you’d like answered on Piston Slap? Send your queries to pistonslap@hagerty.com—give us as much detail as possible so we can help! Keep in mind this is a weekly column, so if you need an expedited answer, please tell me in your email.
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
Sign up to receive our Daily Driver newsletter
Subject to Hagerty’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Conditions
source
This article was autogenerated from a news feed from CDO TIMES selected high quality news and research sources. There was no editorial review conducted beyond that by CDO TIMES staff. Need help with any of the topics in our articles? Schedule your free CDO TIMES Tech Navigator call today to stay ahead of the curve and gain insider advantages to propel your business!
My question is about modern radial tires and their “toughness.” I once slid on an icy corner and hit a curb with a bias-ply tire. I was going maybe 5 MPH with a full-size ’60s Chevy when I hit at an angle of about 30 degrees. The brand-name tire developed a bulge and the tread separated at the sidewall juncture, and was thus ruined.
A friend recently hit a huge pothole on a nearby freeway going 75 MPH in a ’73 Oldsmobile, which wore new steel-belted radials, and try as we might, we couldn’t find even an indication of where it hit, let alone any damage.
Is tire technology THAT much better now?
Sajeev answers:
Oooooooh yeah, baby! There’s no other way to say it, because modern tire technology is downright amazing.
But tire companies are awfully secretive about the special sauce(s) they use to make their products. We may not know the exact reasons, but you can read between the tread patterns (as it were) to find the answer. So I did, and found two reasons for this impressive performance rise.
I’ve previously mentioned the benefits of CAD in automotive engineering during the Malaise Era, and it appears that Goodyear’s been using CAD in their tires for at least 20 years. Things like Z-rated tires (good for over 149 MPH) came out during the mass-adoption of CAD in the 1980s, so I reckon that 3D modeling of tire molds has…well…umm…
I cannot find the who/what/when/where or how 3D modeling has improved a tire’s overall performance. My journalistic shame aside, people are selling online classes to learn these details. (Attending such a class is beyond the scope of this weekly column.) So this is happening–somewhere–to the point we see rudimentary YouTube videos on how tires are modeled in a piece of software called CATIA.
CATIA has been around since the late 1970s, but it’s hard to know when the tire industry picked up what CATIA was putting down. But have a look at the LinkedIn profiles of engineers for major tire companies, and they openly admit to having this software in their toolkit.
Since I am getting no joy in researching 3D modeling for tire manufacturers, how about we find something similarly complex that’s been heavily documented in an outstanding YouTube video?
This is a long watch about Frank Gehry’s radical Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, and how it turned the industry on its head. While architecture and tires are not parallel industries, both require a complex pairing of 3D modeling with the engineering/construction knowledge needed to create a finished product.
The whole video is worth a look, as there are parallels between the crazy curves on CATIA-designed buildings (that became a tourist trap) and 50+ years of improvement in tire design. Adjusting a 3D model well before it’s needed to construct a finished product has likely spawned advancements we can only understand when we slam a 4000 lb utility vehicle with 20-inch rims into a pothole at 65 MPH…driving away like nothing happened.
Then we have the second notable advancement in tire technology in the last 20-40(?) years: polymers, more commonly known as plastics or synthetic rubber. From superior automotive waxes to higher-performance automobile speaker materials, the changeover from natural materials (carnauba wax, paper speaker cones) to polymers has revolutionized how we interact with the automobile.
The steps to synthesize fake rubber are well known, and tweaking the formula is relevant but too complicated for this article. The result is a material that makes tires into steroid-infused superheroes for your car’s suspension system. I come to this conclusion from firsthand experience, thanks to long-term ownership of several vehicles.
I will discuss two examples: one daily driver that sits outside, and one classic that lives in a garage. Both were owned from new, therefore experiencing the tire technology available at the time. Neither is old enough to experience the time before radial tires, but surprisingly, that is not an issue when discussing the improvements in tire technology.
The General Altimax tires on my 2011 Ranger (stored outdoors) lasted twice as long as the OEM Continental ContiTracs before dry rot (from UV exposure) claimed their lives. Even at the end of these Altimax’s serviceable life, they never triggered an ABS or active handling intervention on slick roads. That’s in stark contrast to the OEM Continentals, which activated the ABS with shocking frequency in the rain when brand-spanking new. Even more impressive, the Generals lasted 2+ years longer than the Continentals before needing replacement. (My daily commutes are short, so I can give a firsthand account of everything except tire wear.)
These Generals cost me an extra 1.5-2 MPG in fuel economy, but that was a worthy trade for the extra grip and longer usable/safe service life. The only reason I replaced these Generals (with the same Altimax tire family) was because they were getting noisy and stiffening (i.e. UV exposure) to the point of affecting ride quality.
The new Generals perform significantly better than the weathered ones, but I am absolutely blown away by the slow rate of performance degradation in the polymer-infused formula for this tire. And that slow rate of performance degradation is only magnified when your new, polymer-infused tires are on a classic car stored indoors and not used for commuting.
My 1988 Mercury Cougar XR-7 was bought new by my father with Goodyear’s famous high-performance Gatorback tires, and he loved the handling but hated the tread wear. Great tire, but it’s a surprising choice for a Mercury product.
Our Cougar now wears Kumho performance all-season tires with 2018 date codes, and possesses a shocking level of cornering grip, and unwavering assurance in standing water to this day in 2025. The only downside I feel is more road noise on the highway. Ride quality is likely degrading, but there is no sign of dry rot in the “rubber.”
That’s a shocking change to my perception of what a seven-year-old tire can do. Tires this old used to be deathtraps at anything more than half throttle on a dry surface. But I’d drive these old Kumhos anywhere, provided it isn’t on a road trip involving hours of driving on hot concrete at high speeds. (That will likely test the vintage polymers to an unsafe breaking point.)
But you likely don’t store a vintage Cougar in your garage, or do short trips in a Ford Ranger. I get it, so please don’t listen just to this wacky auto scribe. Instead, listen to Porsche when they partnered with Michelin to make new rubber for the 2003-06 Carrera GT with the latest polymers and construction techniques.
I wish we could peel back the tire manufacturer’s secretive polymer formulas and construction techniques to learn more, but perhaps this is akin to the recipe for Coke or Pepsi for good reason. But not all is well, as it’s been proven that polymers in modern tires are a considerable source of microplastics in our ecosystem. I’ve likely consumed tire microplastics just by living in a car-centric megacity where people love to do burnouts whenever they can. And also because of my love of sushi…but I digress.
Yes DUB6, tire technology really is that good now. And modern polymers paired with 3D models are likely the biggest reasons why.
Have a question you’d like answered on Piston Slap? Send your queries to pistonslap@hagerty.com—give us as much detail as possible so we can help! Keep in mind this is a weekly column, so if you need an expedited answer, please tell me in your email.
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
Sign up to receive our Daily Driver newsletter
Subject to Hagerty’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Conditions
source
This article was autogenerated from a news feed from CDO TIMES selected high quality news and research sources. There was no editorial review conducted beyond that by CDO TIMES staff. Need help with any of the topics in our articles? Schedule your free CDO TIMES Tech Navigator call today to stay ahead of the curve and gain insider advantages to propel your business!
