Advances made in compact car tyres - the new Semperit Comfort-Life

Hanover, spring 2005. Semperit is introducing the Comfort-Life, its new tyre for minis, small and compact cars. This tyre represents substantial advances in terms of safety, comfort and economy, achieved through its ellipsoidal tread pattern design, which provides good grip on wet and dry roads, plus a highly comfortable ride.

The new Comfort-Life offers high safety reserves. In the rain three wide circumferential grooves pick up water and channel it out of the ground contact patch. A large number of tread lug edges with double sipes between the lugs, combined with a particularly flat tyre contour, ensures very good grip - important for positive handling characteristics and short braking distances. When the brakes are fully applied, the new Comfort-Life reduces the braking distance by up to 5% (compared with its proven predecessors).

Ellipsoidal tread lugs

The unique, ellipsoidal tread lugs on the new Comfort-Life provide even ground contact, which reduces rolling noise by two per cent and also makes the Comfort-Life a very comfortable tyre. "The tread pattern is designed to fit in with the flowing, rounder shapes of modern cars, which stand in clear contrast to the angular, sharp edges of previous years" is how Heike Schöpper, Product Manager for the Semperit brand, explains this design approach. She expects the new tyre design to achieve high awareness among young, design-conscious vehicle owners and goes on to say: "The new Comfort-Life features the most striking tyre design in Semperit's long history and we have managed to achieve this whilst at the same time fulfilling high demands in terms of safety and mileage performance".

Economical tyre choice

The compound used was optimised to achieve minimum rolling resistance and wear, enabling the Semperit tyre developers to reduce rolling resistance by three per cent. This means lower fuel consumption, an aspect that is particularly important in times when fuel prices are continually rising. At the same time tyre wear was reduced, extending the service life of the new Comfort-Life by around 3% versus its predecessors.

The Comfort-Life will be introduced in spring in 28 sizes, thereby covering 97 per cent of market requirements from the very outset.

Size range...

 Semperit is a tyre brand of Continental AG. The Continental Group is a leading supplier of braking systems, suspension components, vehicle electronics, tyres and technical elastomers. In 2003 the company achieved a turnover of 11.5 billion euros and currently employs around 74,000 staff worldwide.