Michelin promises tyres that get better with age

From the country that brought us anti-ageing creams comes the anti-ageing tyre. French tyre maker Michelin has come up with a "regenerative tread" that effectively prolongs the tyre's wet weather grip as it gets older.

Ironically, to achieve this minor miracle Michelin added extra 'wrinkles' to the tread pattern and made a series of surgical incisions to the skin of the tyre.

The top secret Michelin tyre is due out in the next two years -- and unlike the promises from most cosmetic companies, it has visible, measurable results.

Conventional tyres lose their wet weather grip because, as the tread wears away, the grooves that channel water get smaller. But technology introduced by Michelin on truck tyres three years ago has countered the effect of wear and the company is now developing a similar design for use on passenger cars.

"With this tyre technology we've been able to do what was once thought impossible," Michelin Vice President of Technical Communications, Pascal Couasnon, told the Carsales Network at this week's Michelin Bibendum energy conference in Brazil.

"It is not announced yet but it is hoped you will see this technology in passenger cars in the not-too-distant future ... but still perhaps more than a year away".

The technology works like this: a 3.5mm hole (equivalent to the size of a headphone socket) is 'drilled' horizontally like a tunnel across the full width of the tyre, just beneath the tread blocks. These are positioned evenly around the tyre, spaced about 5cm apart (see photo). Directly above each tunnel and also across the full width of the tyre tread is a wrinkle-cut groove in the shape of a saw tooth. As the tyre wears, it gradually exposes the 3.5mm hole and allows water to channel out at an increasing rate.

This structure has the net effect of enabling the tyre to maintain its grip for longer -- although it does not mean the tyre itself will last longer. The wear rate is the same as for conventional tyres.

"But this still means the customer is getting more safety and optimum grip out of their tyre for longer," Couasnon says.

The company calls it Michelin Durable Technology (MDT) and truck tyres using this "regenerative tread" technique, first went on sale in 2007.

Michelin would not speculate on the likely price of the possible passenger car application for the tyre, but the spokesman said the MDT truck tyre has approximately a 10 per cent price premium compared with other truck tyres.