The Art of tyres

Using the passenger tyre as a reference point, I feel the need to just talk about how the tread designs of tyres have since evolved into a form of art, but the art of selling and marketing however seems to be lacking way behind.

Design evolution
What used to be simple ribs and blocks, is now an abstract concoction of slits and slash, tapered corners and flowing lines. The traditional design for commodity sizes used to center around the “wave” pattern, which is good for mileage and promotes low rolling resistance, and most importantly gives a good ride quality and facilitates rotation. The traditional design for good wet and dry performance used to be the “directional” pattern which prevents aquaplaning, is reasonably good in the dry albeit compromising on the comfort level. In the recent decade, we saw the emergence of the “asymmetric” tread design, an in between of the wave and directional design. It combines the comfort factor of a commodity tyre, and the performance factor of a directional tyre.

Tyre design is a maze
If you combine the number of brands available in the market, with the number of patterns available from each brand, it is quite a maze for consumers who suddenly have to buy tyres once every few years. In Asia, it is made worst because tyre retailers do not have prices labeled, and also because recommendations are usually centered on what they have in stock- which could be heavily bias.

A good friend of mine, Gerald Wee who is in the legal profession, in a recent conversation demonstrated this point perfectly. He had issue with a European asymmetric make of tyre, compared to a present set of Japanese directional make of tyre. He claims that not only is the European make much higher in price, it does not even grip as well. My first few questions naturally was whether he drives hard and had encountered issue with the tyre on a wet day. His profile in the end naturally does not blend with an asymmetric design- which is suppose to give reasonably good performance in wet and provide a good comfortable ride. These factors in an asymmetric tyre naturally were not what he wanted.

Matrix for consumer tyre requirement
I suppose the art of tread design has progressed tremendously, and I believe each new design, pushes the performance of tyre further. What is lacking is however the education of our end consumers, and the professionalism of the tyre retailers. If only we can have retailers understand the need and characteristic of our consumers, and tie in a brand/design/budget to their requirement. Better still, if only manufacturers in the tyre industry can come up with a matrix to profile the consumer based on his or her characteristics and budget so that the best option of tyre is presented to him or her.

This is article 5 by Ler Hwee Tiong, Managing Director at Tyrepac Pte Ltd in his 7 part-series on Selling and marketing tyres- How difficult can that be?