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| THE TUBELESS REVOLUTION - From the cross-ply to the radial to the tubeless | ||
| Things changed dramatically in 1980s with the advent of the Marutis and also the ushering in of the radial revolution. Suddenly we started hearing things like grip and steering responses and ride comfort and fuel efficiency and not just tyre life. More than anything else, it was growing awareness levels among car users that saw many veering towards the radial tyre. The compromise between comfort (radial deflection), and steerability (sideways stiffness) was not possible with the traditional (read that as cross-ply) tyre structure as with the radial ply tyre. A radial casing alone offers no improvement but if it also comes with a reinforced belt structure it retains the high comfort factor of its radial-ply nature with the added virtues of steering controllability. Moreover,
it allowed designers to adjust the two factors in relation to each other
as required for a particular type of car. In contrast to the radial, the
cross-ply is now comparatively limited as far further development is concerned,
even in India. I qualify this by suggesting this statement holds good
for passenger car application tyres only.Radials may be about 25 per cent costlier than similar sized cross-ply tyres but they may give upto 8-0 per cent more mileage and also afford the other intangible benefits in superior ride quality and better grip and control, factors which have become common-speak even in India today. With the advent of radials came the stylised looks as well. Of course this came thanks to the wide squat rubber used by racing cars but automotive stylists were quick to pick these cues and design them into their new automobiles. The designers wanted wheels of a certain overall diameter but they wanted them to also accommodate the brake discs and part of the hub carriers. This helped give us the lowered height-width ratio and even though we have had low profile cross-ply tyres as well, the radial handles low profiles infinitely better-just ask Ferrari or Mercedes-Benz or BMW or Porsche. It
was this battle for low profiles and great grip with better cornering
stability which brought the tubeless tyre to the fore. In the early days
thanks to rubber compounds and tyre constructions being at the technological
levels prevailing then, the tubeless tyres took some time perfecting.
But once the virtues of lower unsprung weight, easy repairability, better
ride quality and many more factors which only magnified the radial tyre
advantage became apparent, the tubeless radial has gone on to capture
market share in the developed lands. |
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