Continental has announced it is developing tires with low rolling noise to help reduce traffic noise and enhance in-vehicle comfort. Using innovative tread designs and technologies, the tires are designed to address noise pollution and air pollution, which are major environmental and health concerns. The World Health Organization (WHO) ranks traffic noise as Europe’s second-largest environmental health risk, and it is a daily challenge in megacities across Asia and Latin America.
Tire noise typically becomes audible to the human ear at moderate driving speeds. At lower speeds, engine noise dominates. With the shift toward electric vehicles – and the quieter motors of electric cars and buses compared with combustion engines – the importance of low-noise tires has grown significantly.
“Noise, especially traffic noise from cars, buses and delivery vehicles, is a major burden for people and the environment. With tire technologies like ContiSilent and innovative tread designs, we are actively reducing rolling noise without compromising safety,” said Achillefs Tsotras, head of Continental’s tire-vehicle interaction department. “This makes every ride noticeably quieter, benefiting drivers, pedestrians, residents and the environment alike.”
Rolling noise is generated when tires contact the road and is typically audible from 30-50km/h up to 80-100km/h. The exact level depends on factors such as road surface, drivetrain, tire type and driving style. At lower speeds, engine noise usually masks tire noise, while at higher speeds, wind noise tends to dominate.
The EU tire label shows how noisy a tire is. Noise levels are typically classified into categories and measured in decibels (dB).
Silent pattern tread design
To specifically target tire noise audible to humans, Continental has developed the Silent Pattern tread design, which is already featured on the EcoContact 7 and EcoContact 7 S models. This tread is optimized for sounds that occur at around 50km/h, the speed at which rolling noise is most noticeable. To reduce this noise, the spacing and angles of the tread blocks have been deliberately varied.
The irregular arrangement of the Silent Pattern blocks is designed to break up the regular rhythm often heard with regular pattern blocks, reducing the humming noise. In addition, the pattern is tuned to cancel out noise emitted by the different tread elements – similar in effect to noise-canceling headphones.
ContiSilent
To reduce noise inside the vehicle and enhance comfort, Continental offers its ContiSilent technology. This can reduce rolling noise in the vehicle cabin, caused by air vibrations inside the tire, by up to nine decibels.
The ContiSilent technology uses a special, ultra-light polyurethane foam applied to the inside of the tire during production. This foam absorbs part of the tire’s vibrations, preventing them from reaching the vehicle interior. Driving performance, fuel efficiency, load capacity and top speed remain unaffected. Designed for summer tires, ContiSilent is available on various products, including the ultra-high-performance SportContact 7.
Continental’s VanContact A/S Eco meets the highest EU labeling standards for rolling resistance, wet braking and external rolling noise (A/A/A). Designed for energy-efficient and low-noise driving, this van tire is especially suited for urban environments.
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