Michelin's WRC-derived road car tyre
Michelin North America in Greenville, SC, yesterday launched its 'Pilot Exalto PE2' passenger car tyre, which has been engineered directly from developments by its French parent company in the World Rally Championship. The tyre features Michelin's patented 'Variable Contact Patch' technology - like the 'Pilot Sport PS2' (launched earlier in 2004) which was derived from F1 tyre developments. Its 'Life Maximized Adherence' (LMA) tread compounding is also competition-developed
'Exalto PE2' also has an asymmetric tread design with more grooves for water evacuation on the inside shoulder, and big tread blocks on the outer shoulder to enhance grip in both wet and dry conditions. Its 'Rayon' carcass has heavily reinforced sidewalls and lightweight rim protectors. The tread design is supported by two high-tensile, lightweight, steel-cord belts that are further reinforced by size-optimised 'BAZ' technology (spiral-wrapped nylon 'Banded At Zero' degrees to the tyre's rotation) to control the shape of the tyre and improve handling characteristics by resisting high-speed centrifugal deformation.
Michelin is a technology partner of the Citroën, Ford, Mitsubishi and Peugeot factory teams, which have dominated this year's WRC by winning four of the first five rallies.
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