FINDLAY, Ohio — Goodyear's Cooper Tire subsidiary is upgrading its PRO Series Long Haul Steer line with a second-generation model, which the company said will save costs for fleet owners.
The tire is available in size 295/75R22.5 (load range G and H), with additional sizes available in October.
Cooper said the PRO Series Long Haul Steer 2 features a patent-pending shoulder decoupling rib that provides toughness on the edge of the tire to minimize irregular wear and damage caused by curbing.
The product also has Cooper's ECO (Energy Conservation Optimization) technology, which the company said combines design, compounding and construction for an ultra-low rolling resistance tire that exceeds SmartWay standard requirements by 15%.
Cooper said it has lower rolling resistance than EPA greenhouse gas (GHG) standards set for 2027.
The tire has 18/32nds-inch of tread depth and features a wide footprint, helping to distribute weight more efficiently, causing long and even wear, as well as enhanced traction.
"This is a premium steer tire designed to lower costs for our customers through fuel efficiency and long miles to removal," Gary Schroeder, executive director of Cooper's global truck and bus tire business, said. "We've built on the success of this new tire's predecessor and continued to innovate with improvements made on this new product."
Mr. Schroeder said the new decoupling rib has a distinct size and shape that adds to its rigidity, allowing irregular shoulder wear to be minimized, resulting in durability in highway applications. The tire also has a stone ejector design with a stepped groove wall in the tread pattern "to ensure the integrity of the casing for multiple retreads."
The tire comes with Cooper's Wear Square, a visual indicator that shows tread depth through five different image icons, on the tire's shoulder ribs.
A "square" shape indicates full tread depth, while an "L" shape shows only half the tread remains. An icon also shows when the tire should be pulled for retreading or replacement.
According to Cooper, since the Wear Square is on both sides of the tire, it serves as an alignment indicator. If the icons on each side don't match, the tire technician knows there is an alignment problem or an uneven tire wear issue.
The Cooper PRO Series Long Haul Steer 2 tire has a seven-year, two-retread warranty, and is warranted for full replacement value for the first 50% of treadwear.