The Quatrac Pro UHP all-season tire evolved to meet the challenges of changing climate patterns. Rather than tweaking an existing model, Apollo Tyres’ engineers started with a blank slate and took a fresh approach tread design, materials and structure to eliminate the compromises often seen in ultra-high-performance all-season tires. The result is the Vredestein Quatrac Pro 2, which is set to launch this summer.

Following a three- to four-year development project, the company created a completely redesigned tread compound and structure, producing a tire that delivers reliable performance and safety across dry, wet and winter conditions.

TTI was invited to test Apollo Tyres’ latest UHP all-season Quatrac Pro 2, and spoke with Daniele Lorenzetti, chief technology officer at Apollo Vredestein.

Continue reading Interview: Tire development with Apollo Tyres’ Daniele Lorenzetti at Tire Technology International.

TTI speaks with Dr Antti Laukkanen, CTO of the Nemus business unit at Black Donuts, about his upcoming presentation at Tire Technology Expo Conference 2026, which will take place at the Deutsche Messe in Hannover, Germany, March 3-5

Dr Laukkanen and Black Donuts colleague Ilkka Lehtoranta, head of tire and material development, will give a presentation titled ‘Replacing carbon black and other fossil-based components with microfibrillated cellulose – a novel premix material for the tire industry’, on Day 2 of the conference.

Laukkanen has over two decades of experience in the field of industrial R&D in biomaterials, especially in cellulose nanomaterials and complex polymer systems.

Continue reading INTERVIEW: Dr Antti Laukkanen CTO, Nemus business unit, Black Donuts at Tire Technology International.

TTI speaks to Dr Pavel Ignatyev, R&D tire innovations and applied research at Continental, about his upcoming presentation at Tire Technology Expo Conference, which will take place at the Deutsche Messe in Hannover, Germany, March 3-5. Ignatyev will give a presentation on the second day of the conference on the parameters influencing tire wear and current tire development challenges under the latest European regulations

What will your presentation be about?

The presentation will examine the complexity of improving wear resistance, starting with Euro 7 testing and certification details.

Continue reading Interview: Dr Pavel Ignatyev, R&D tire innovations and applied research, Continental at Tire Technology International.

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.

Continue reading Continental details the innovative technologies behind its low-noise tires at Tire Technology International.

TTI speaks to Dr Noriaki Yukimura, vice president of advanced material at Bridgestone Americas, about his upcoming presentation at Tire Technology Expo Conference, which will take place at the Deutsche Messe in Hannover, Germany, on March 3, 4 and 5. Yukimura will give a presentation on the second day of the conference on the evolution of Bridgestone’s Enliten technology and its potential applications. 

What will your presentation be about?

Enliten is a next-generation technology, revolutionizing how Bridgestone engineers tires and helping deliver customized and uncompromised tire performance while promoting a focus on enhanced sustainability.

Continue reading Interview: Dr Noriaki Yukimura, vice president, advanced material, Bridgestone Americas at Tire Technology International.

Black is everywhere: car tires, cable coatings, printer ink, seals and flooring materials. Many everyday products owe their color and durability to industrial carbon black. This fine black powder improves stability, abrasion resistance and UV protection. But producing it from fossil resources generates massive CO2 emissions – placing a heavy burden on the climate and the environment

Carbon black is composed almost entirely of carbon and is produced through the incomplete combustion of heavy oil or natural gas. Approximately 15,000,000 metric tons are produced each year globally, with more than two-thirds of this used in tire manufacturing.

Continue reading rCB: Black gold from end-of-life tires at Tire Technology International.

In motorsport and automotive engineering, the pursuit of uplifts and efficiencies is relentless. Every element is scrutinized for its potential to deliver an edge. Tire intelligence, once limited simply to pressure and temperature analysis, has become central to this quest, evolving rapidly as new technologies emerge and old assumptions are challenged. Among these innovations, Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI) has developed Sensing Core, a non-invasive, intelligent approach to monitoring tire parameters. Its journey from passenger vehicles to the harsh environment of endurance racing offers a glimpse into how simple but effective innovations can deliver significant opportunities for manufacturers and race teams alike

Sensing Core’s unique advantage comes in the form of its multi-faceted measurement approach.

Continue reading Tire intelligence reimagined: Sensing Core hits the track at Tire Technology International.

Smithers recently announced the addition of three specialized rolling-resistance testing capabilities at its tire and wheel test center in Suzhou, China. These new capabilities enable more comprehensive insight into vehicle operating scenarios by recreating a wider range of real-world conditions in a controlled laboratory environment. ATTI speaks with Henry He, Smithers’ general manager of the materials science and engineering division for Asia-Pacific, about the expanded testing capabilities, the importance of rolling-resistance testing and what these advancements mean for future tire development

How do slip and camber angle variations in rolling resistance testing affect the evaluation of passenger car and light truck tires?

Continue reading Q&A: Inside Smithers’ new test facilities in Suzhou, China at Tire Technology International.

Michelin recently completed the rollout of its TreadEye system across its US retread network. TreadEye is a tread-depth and casing-condition measurement tool that records 1,200 measurement points per tire, offering fleets detailed insights into wear, damage and when a tire should be pulled. Scott Vanchoff, vice president of Michelin Retread Technologies, speaks with TTI about the technology, purpose and innovation behind the solution 

What are the key technological advancements in TreadEye that differentiate it from traditional retread processes? 

In a traditional retread process, the operator at the initial inspection post is tasked with manually measuring the tread depth of each tire that comes through their post.

Continue reading Interview: Michelin Retread Technologies’ Scott Vanchoff on the development and application of the tread depth assessment tool TreadEye at Tire Technology International.

In rubber processing and tire production, non-contact inline and offline measurement and inspection systems can provide significant benefits in process monitoring and quality control, says Glenn Wedgbrow, business development manager at Micro-Epsilon UK

Many rubber processing and tire manufacturing companies seek to use inline inspection and measurement equipment to provide continuous monitoring of the process to ensure quality at every stage.

Micro-Epsilon specializes in measurement technology and provides a range of non-contact, inline and offline systems for process monitoring and quality control. Their solutions include systems tailored for rubber processing, capable of measuring strip thickness, length, width and profile.

Continue reading Ensuring quality in tire production with non-contact measurement solutions at Tire Technology International.