Goodyear has announced that its Metro Miler G152 and G652 tires will now utilize fewer petroleum-based materials.
Aiming to fully replace petroleum-derived oils by 2040, the tire maker has replaced some of the petroleum-based materials in its Metro Miler city transit tires for the first time. The tires now use a bio-based soybean oil compound made from a readily available surplus of soybean oil from the food industry. Goodyear states that the commercial truck and bus tires will still provide the same level of performance.
The Metro Miler G152 and G652 also feature reinforced shoulders and steel sidewalls to ensure durability and long casing life. Furthermore, a multi-compound, scrub-resistant tread helps to extend tire life by resisting chipping, cracking and chunking of the tread.
“The use of soybean oil in the majority of the Metro Miler G152 and G652 tires in production today is a significant Goodyear innovation that reduces the amount of petroleum-based material needed for production,” said Dustin Lancy, commercial product marketing manager at Goodyear North America. “In these tires, soybean oil replaces about 11 liquid ounces of free-flowing petroleum oil per tire – almost as much as a traditional soda can. Multiply that by a bus fleet of 1,600 buses, about the size used by some major metropolitan cities in the US, and that could mean the use of around 20 fewer barrels of oil.”
