At the beginning of January, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company revealed a demonstration tire that was made up of 90% sustainable materials. This specific tire successfully passed all applicable governing testing. Along with Goodyear’s normal internal testing. Some of the tests included comparing it to a tire that was made with traditional materials. The sustainable tire being evaluated proved to provide lower rolling resistance, meaning the new sustainable tire has more potential to save fuel and reduce carbon footprint.

In January of last year, Goodyear demonstrated a tire made of 70% sustainable material - that indicates a 20% improvement in just one year! The strides they made in 2022 were crucial to achieving the 2030 sustainable goal. In 2022 Goodyear employees researched new technologies, found opportunities to collaborate with other teams, and utilized their team’s determination to make sustainable tires. This just proves how committed Goodyear is to provide a better future for the tire industry. 

The 90% sustainable material tire is still in the works and will not be released into the market yet. This is due to needing to collaborate with the company’s supply base to figure out the volume of sustainable material they would need to make these specific tires at high capacity. This 90% sustainable material tire includes 17 featured ingredients across 12 different components. Below are just a few of the changes made to help ensure these tires are the most sustainable option for customers: 

• Carbon black is one of the ingredients they used in the past for compound reinforcement, but that was made by burning various types of petroleum products that were not good for the environment. In the new tire, they are using four different types of carbon black produced from methane, carbon dioxide, plant-based oil, and end-of-life tire pyrolysis oil feedstocks. Carbon black produced in these ways will help reduce carbon emissions while still delivering accurate performance.
• The use of soybean oil is also used to make the sustainable tire by helping keep the rubber mixture pliable with changing temperatures. Using soybean oil resources has helped reduce Goodyears use of petroleum-based products. While almost all of the soy protein that is produced goes towards making food/animal applications, many times they have an excess amount of soybean oil that is available to use in industrial applications like a tire.
• Silica is an ingredient often used in traditional tires to help improve grip and reduce fuel consumption. To use a sustainable substitution Goodyear uses high-quality silica produced from rice husk waste residue. This is a byproduct of rice processing which usually is just thrown into the landfill, but now they have found a way to put it to good use. Polyester is another ingredient used in the new tire which is made from post-consumer bottles. They turn the bottles into a chemical base to make technical-grade polyester used in tire cords.
• To help improve and enhance tire traction resins were made out of traditional petroleum for traditional tires which were not helping reduce carbon emissions. In this new sustainable tire, they use bio-renewable pine tree resins that provide the same amount of tire traction as petroleum resins.
• Bead wire and steel cord steel with high recycled content are used in the sustainable tire to provide support to the structure of a radial tire. The body ply of a radial tire is made up of a single layer of steel cord wire. The wire runs from bead to bead horizontally in the direction of motion. Radial tires offer lower fuel consumption, better traction, and improved cut resistance in the tread area. That is why Goodyear structured the sustainable tire the same way as a radial tire. Lastly, bio and bio circular feedstock polymers are also used as sustainable tire ingredients.

Goodyear's goal is to produce the first 100% sustainable material tire in the industry by the year 2030. The shift Goodyear is making to sustainable materials has already been shown in some of their product lines. Since the beginning of January, eight product lines and some racing tires already include soybean oil in their production process. Goodyear has also doubled the use of rice husk ash silica in their product lines since 2018 reducing the use of petroleum. 

Thompson Tire & Retread is one of the leading Goodyear truck tire dealers in the area and we are watching this technology very closely. We have access to a wide selection of competitively priced tires that make it easy to find the right application for you. Thompson Tire & Retread also has access to a lot of other tire brands with competitive prices that you can check out, including our state of the are retread facility, which offers a great alternative to buying new tires due to cost savings, eco friendly, reliability, and more.