Testing of solid steel cord tires produced by Nizhnekamsk SSC Tire Factory of the JSC TATNEFT’s Petrochemical Complex by truckers has been successfully completed. The testing has demonstrated that the life index of SSC tires produced at Nizhnekamsk is at the level of world's best tire products.
The project of testing the truck solid steel cord tires produced by OOO "Nizhnekamsk SSC Tire Factory" was launched in 2010. The purpose of the performance tests was to determine the tires operating life.
The following SSC KAMA tire models were selected for testing: KAMA NT-201 in size 385/65 R22,5 - semitrailers (trailer axle); KAMA NF-201 in size 295/80 R22,5 – long-haul trucks and suburban/intercity buses (steering axis); KAMA NF-201 in size 315/70 R22,5 – long-haul trucks (steering axle); KAMA NR-201 in size 315/70 R22,5 – long-haul trucks (drive axle); KAMA NR-201 in size 315/80 R22,5 – long-haul trucks and tourist coaches (drive axle) and KAMA NF-201 in size 315/80 R22,5 – long-haul trucks and tourist coaches (steering axis The tires were tested in real traffic conditions on vehicles of OOO "Kama-Trans Logistics" and OOO "Techno-Trans" performing cargo transportation in Russia.).
Employees of trucking companies carried out monthly inspections of tires used for vehicles and collected information about the tire mileage and pressure level and also evaluated the degree of the tread wear. The tires were removed from the vehicle based on the remaining tread depth data by the TWI indicator (tread wear indicator).
The actual data on mileage or performance SSC tires are as follows: KAMA NT-201 385/65 R22,5 - 256 thousand km, KAMA NF-201 295/80 R22,5 - 214 thousand km, KAMA NF-201 315/70 R22,5 - 220 thousand km, KAMA NR-201 315/70 R22,5 - 219 thousand km, KAMA NR-201 315/80 R22,5 - 272 thousand km and KAMA NF-201 315/80 R22,5 - 272 thousand km.
The experts of the "Kama" Scientific and Technical Center responsible for carrying out these studies pointed out that the Nizhnekamsk produced SSC tires had been successfully tested and demonstrated the life index at the level of the best world models of tires.
It is worth noting that the resource of the solid steel cord tires is not limited to this. All of these tires can be retreaded maintaining the tread pattern and increasing the operational resource of these tires. The test will be continued after retreading. Both cold and hot tire retreading can be applied in case of SSC tires which allows bringing the total road running mileage to about half a million kilometers.
The advantages of SSC KAMA tires include high speed performance, increased capacity and environmental friendliness. These tires allow reducing fuel consumption by up to 10 percent.
Currently, OOO "Nizhnekamsk SSC Tire Factory" produces products for the assembly of all types of trucks, buses and semi-trailer equipment. There are 49 SSC tire models in the mass production. The plans provide for starting production of 23 more models before the end of 2013.
