UHP winter tires aim to provide premium handling

AKRON—In the midst of the hot summer, it may be hard to realize that in a few months (in the northern regions) customers will be pulling into the dealership with their high-performance vehicles and deciding whether to purchase ultra-high-performance (UHP) winter tires to maintain the driving attributes to which they've grown accustomed over the summer.

As UHP tires are showing up as OE fitments on more and more vehicles, the UHP winter tire segment appears to be maintaining stable demand, according to tire makers.

The UHP winter tire caters to owners of high-end, high performance vehicles that run on V-, W- and Y-rated summer tires. It's a low-volume niche as "touring" claims a larger market with the more common T- and H-rated tires.

"When we look at the demand in the volume, most of it is in the (Michelin) X-Ice, or touring, by large amounts," said Ron Margadonna, Michelin North America Inc.'s winter tire expert.

"That's where our largest concentration is in winter appeal. We certainly do not ignore the vehicles that are high-performance that want a high-performance tire… Both of those are probably growing with the market. We're not seeing any unusual spikes or blips, as they say. Let's just say it's more of a stable market growth for the coming years. We're not seeing anything on the horizon that would give it a spike….

"Most of our efforts are concentrated in the touring area X-Ice, but we do not ignore people who own Porsche Cayennes or Mercedes AMG products or BMW M-series products that demand the ultimate in handling and precision in driving and that's where our Pilot Alpin tires come in," he said.

"Performance winter tires represent a small portion of the winter tire segment in North America, but we feel that it's an important part of the market," said Daniel Kelly, product planner for Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations.

"The Blizzak LM line is developed in Europe, primarily for sports cars and sports sedans, with the purpose of providing winter traction while still being capable of running at Autobahn speeds. In the North American market, these kinds of vehicles are being driven by enthusiasts," he said.

"In terms of the market, as far as we see, the market is niche going off the last few years' consistent performance, however it is a great opportunity in specific areas of the United States (Northern United States) and for car dealers," said Roberto Vezzoli, product marketing manager for Pirelli Tire North America.

Recently Apollo Tyres Ltd. unveiled the Vredestein Wintrac Pro, a UHP winter tire that will be available in the North American market this year.

"It's obviously a niche product and probably, we're guessing, there's a million, an educated guess, in North America," said Steven Smidlein, senior vice president, Apollo Vredestein Tires Inc.

"Currently, we view winter performance tires as a niche segment in North America," Bridgestone's Mr. Kelly said.

"While the overall UHP tire market remains strong, performance winter tires apply to a niche group of performance-oriented consumers who live in areas that get a lot of winter weather. It's also worth keeping in mind that in North America, drivers often change their driving habits in winter conditions. Many enthusiasts choose to keep their sports cars parked during winter months," he said.

The U.S. and Canada winter tire markets are a different, considering some Canadian provinces require vehicles to run on winter tires during certain months, noted Continental the Americas' Joe Maher, product manager for passenger and winter tires.

"And that definitely drives demand more than in the U.S., where there are not any regulations requiring winter tires that I'm aware of, other than a few roads during certain types of conditions.

"The winter market as a whole is pretty steady. It's not really a growth market," he said. "Although, inside the winter market, like the rest of the market, higher rim diameters are growing, higher rim diameters and higher speed symbols are growing. And of course, the lower speed symbols and lower rim diameters are shrinking.

"So if there is a place in the winter segment that is growing, it's the high-performance or ultra-high-performance types of sizes that would be the area that is growing," Mr. Maher said.

Market growth?

"We actually do expect (the market) to grow, probably by double digits (10-12 percent) in the coming years," Mr. Smidlein said. "I think with the high-performance cars growing, that segment is growing.... That's a segment we expect to continue to grow and therefore requiring more technology and more performance in the tire."

"Trends show that the 18-inch-and-over (rim diameter) tire market is almost double vs. five years ago (2013) and Pirelli has targeted this segment having a winter premium product range with two out of three items 18-inch and up," Pirelli's Mr. Vezzoli said.

"With a baseline coming from these demanding markets (typically the Northeast and Great Lakes), we see demand for winter UHP tires in the stable to expanding range, based on possible harsher conditions and a growing UHP car parc," Mr. Vezzoli said.

"I don't think demand is going to change. I think as vehicles continue to come with higher speed ratings, we're going to continue seeing the need for that type of tire and performance," noted Mr. Margadonna.

"Sometimes it's hard to see the demand (for UHP winter tires) because the size isn't available in the market," said Mr. Maher.

"I do believe that for consumers who buy premium vehicles that safety is a high priority, and that they will purchase the best performing tire in the conditions they are looking for. So, for example, a winter tire, as long as they know what the best performance is, a winter tire in conditions where you have snow and ice are much better in performance than the typical all-season tire. In performance I mean in traction, in grip and therefore can result in safety.

"We do believe there is a market there. The perception of the consumer is that the tire isn't as an important feature as all-wheel-drive, traction control or ABS, which is not true. But because there is no regulation that says 'between October and March you need to have winter tires on your vehicle,' since there is no regulation, there's nothing that really reinforces that fact to the consumer. Then it all becomes the tire dealer and their communication with a consumer," Mr. Maher said.

OE-approved options

Several luxury vehicle OEMs have designated certain UHP winter tires as "approved" aftermarket winter fitments.

OEM "approved" tires usually have OE markings, such as "MO" for Mercedes,"N" for Porsche and a star for BMW, according to Mr. Margadonna.

"When Mercedes or BMW or Audi develop a vehicle, in many cases it comes with a summer tire or maybe an all-season tire, but the car manufacturer knows the car will be sold in markets that require winter tires," noted Conti's Mr. Maher.

"So in the same process, they will develop a winter tire approved for that vehicle. It will have the same size application so when a consumer pays for a premium vehicle, they will also be able to get the premium performance in winter when the vehicle comes to market. If they weren't doing this development, and it's a new size, it may take the tire manufacturers two or three years before they actually have that size available in the (aftermarket)."

While UHP winter tires don't have the mass appeal like the touring tires do, they still carry the winter tire designations and deliver winter driving performance — but less so than a touring winter tire, according to Mr. Margadonna.

"You're giving up a little of that white-road (snow handling) for a little more handling, a little bit more grip that's maybe in the wet and dry performance area," he noted.

"There are climates that demand the ultimate in winter safety — what I call white-road safety — and that's what winter tires are designed to do. They're optimized for temperature and they are optimized for precipitation difficulties during the winter season," Mr. Margadonna said.

Vehicle owners with UHP tires as original equipment "are pretty much locked in to having to buy a high-rim diameter winter tire, a 17- or 18-inch," noted Mr. Maher. "Most vehicles that come with 18- or 19-inch tires come with brake calipers that are large enough that the minimum wheel size could be an 18-inch or a 17-inch wheel."

UHP vs. all-season

The trend for the last 10 years has been to use all-season UHP tires as OE fitments on premium vehicles, noted Conti's Mr. Maher.

"But all-season UHP has a varying degree of winter performance.... You can have an all-season tire that is designed to be very summer-like and then you could have an all-season tire that's designed to be a really good balanced performance between dry, wet and snow….

"This is where I believe there are a lot of misperceptions from the consumer, ... if I have an all-season tire and ABS and I have all-wheel drive and I have traction control, there is no need for a winter tire.

"And clearly — I haven't tested every tire in the world so I can't make a blanket statement — but when we test all-season tires vs. a true winter tire, the winter tires in snow and in ice clearly outperform the all-season tires. Whether you have all-wheel drive or ABS or traction control, the amount of grip the tire has to the road surface is the key to grip, not how many wheels are driving or whether you have traction control or not," Mr. Maher said.

"That's why, without regulations, a lot of consumers with all-wheel-drive vehicles think they're invincible. The most important thing for safety is stopping, and an all-wheel-drive vehicle and a two-wheel-drive vehicle have the same number of brakes."

Although all-season UHP tires can be an attractive choice, it all depends on the daily driving conditions the vehicle owner will face in his or her region, according to the tire makers.

"We request that the consumer talk to their tire dealer or tire retailer when they purchase tires and talk about tires for the winter season. It comes down to that personal choice," Mr. Margadonna.

"I think the biggest thing is education in informing your regular customer…. I think it is important to demonstrate how much safer you would be in winter tires and we have some data suggesting — like on stopping distances and things of that sort — the advantage could be the difference between an accident and not having an accident....

"Do not depend on four-wheel-drive, all-wheel-drive, all these systems that people think are designed to take the place of winter (tires). The tires are the only thing in contact with the road. Why not have the best grip for the condition and with all those other enhancements and be the safest you can? To me it's all about the education and awareness of winter tires and how much safer you will be," Mr. Margadonna said.

"We really don't see them (winter and all season) competing because they're going to different segments," noted Apollo's Mr. Smidlein. "The American all-season is more skewed towards a summer tire as opposed to a winter and the all-season is good for the majority of the U.S.… UHP winter is a niche market and more for high performance vehicles."

Mr. Maher also noted that all-season tires vary in their attributes.

"The key to an all-season tire is that it does take some research because...you can have an all-season tire that will lean towards dry and wet and you'll have an all-season tire that will lean towards wet and snow. And then you'll have tires in the middle. If the consumer does some research, then they can determine the best tire for their types of conditions," Mr. Maher said.

He said it comes down to tire dealers helping their customers qualify their desires for safety and performance and then choosing a tire to meet those needs.

Design challenges

The main challenge in designing a UHP winter tire is to achieve the optimum balance of performance in two very different weather conditions in the winter, according to Pirelli.

"The customer expects a true UHP level of performance from the vehicle on dry or wet roads when no snow or ice is present. This means that the tire performance levels (steering response, lateral grip, wet braking, etc.) must be at a very high level to meet the customer expectations," noted Steve Carpino, senior consultant, product design and development for Pirelli Tire North America.

"When the snow and ice appear on the roads, the customer also expects a high level of traction to allow them a confident driving experience."

He said the two key factors in achieving that optimum balance of performance are related mainly to the tread compound and tread design.

The tread compound must be balanced to provide an optimum level of performance across a very wide range of road conditions.

"It will not be a true 'summer UHP-type' compound, since it has to perform at much lower temperatures. That means optimizing the UHP winter tire compound to perform across a wide range of temperatures, but still maintain the 'UHP feel' in the steering and braking," Mr. Carpino said.

"In this area, the new materials that are available today allow us to really tune the performance of these UHP winter tires to a very high level of performance in a wide range of weather conditions."

Meanwhile, the tread design needs to achieve the right balance of performance on both dry/wet conditions, as well as in snow/ice conditions.

"Here again, it is a process of optimizing the type and amount of siping, tread depth and groove placement to give winter performance that meets the customer expectations, while maintaining that 'UHP feel' that they expect in wet and dry conditions," Mr. Carpino said.

"A lot of the traditional trade-offs in tire design are especially relevant in performance winter tires," Bridgestone's Mr. Kelly said.

"Technology has become more advanced, and between tread pattern design, compound technology and tire construction, we are able to make a tire that performs in winter weather, while still maintaining the ultra-high-performance attributes the car was designed for."