At the American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council Annual Meeting in Atlanta Tuesday, Cooper Tire added a new long haul steer (LHS) tire to its PRO Series product line.
Joining the Cooper PRO Series long haul drive (LHD) tire that was introduced last year, the new Cooper PRO Series LHS steer tire will initially be available in size 295/75R22.5. Other sizes will be available in June.
Executive Director of Cooper’s Global Truck and Bus Tire Business Gary Schroeder says the Cooper PRO Series LHS was designed to offer long miles to removal, fuel efficiency, and includes design elements to help ensure uniform wear and retreadability. The new tire features Cooper’s Energy Conservation Optimization (ECO) technology that combines tire design, compounding and construction to provide an ultra-low rolling resistance tire that exceeds SmartWay standard requirements by 15 percent and meets the EPA’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions requirements set for 2021.
The Cooper PRO Series LHS, with 18/32nds of tread depth, features a wider footprint than most steer tires on the market – a full inch in many cases, Schroeder says.
Cooper’s Wear Square on the tire’s shoulder ribs is a visual indicator showing the tread depth through five different evolving image icons.“The wide footprint puts more rubber on the road. A bigger contact patch helps [improve] wear, longevity and mileage,” he says, adding it also provides better traction. “But it doesn’t sacrifice fuel economy.”
The tire features a decoupling groove to minimize shoulder wear and a unique feature on Cooper’s new steer tire is a patent-pending stone ejector design with a stepped groove wall in the tread pattern to help prevent stone drilling, ensuring the integrity of the casing for retreads.
Helping improve tire maintenance is Cooper’s Wear Square located on five places on the tire’s shoulder ribs. This is a visual indicator shows the tread depth through five different evolving image icons.
A square shows full tread depth, while an “L” shape shows half the tread is left. An exclamation point icon also shows when the tire should be pulled from service. Since the Wear Square is placed on both sides of the tire, Schroeder says it’s also an alignment indicator. If the icons don’t match, that tells the driver or technician that there is an alignment problem or uneven tire issue.
The Cooper PRO Series LHS features four-belt steel design construction and a seven-year, two-retread warranty. The tire is also warranted for full replacement value for the first 50 percent of tread life.
