The first one to debut is the RHS II steer axle tyre, targeted at regional fleets. The manufacturer reckons it offers up to 10% better wet-braking performance and 25% more mileage than its RHS predecessor.

Grossing at 51 tonnes, and laden with 32,000 litres of water, a tanker in the hands of International Road Safety Training demonstrated RHS II's braking performance and grip to convincing effect at a former airbase at Bruntingthorpe in Leicestershire. Designed to train drivers to avoid rollover accidents, the triaxle tanker was fitted with outriggers and hauled by a Volvo FH12 420 4x2 tractor unit. Goodyear also claims that RHS II's mileage potential is 5% higher, and its rolling resistance 12% lower than that of its main competitor:

The US-owned tyre giant also released details of wet braking tests carried out using a 4x2 rigid with RHS II tyres fitted to each wheel. "The stopping distance from 60km/h down to 20km/h was about 4.3m shorter than that of its main competitor," says Travis Brown, marketing manager, truck strategic business unit. "That's approximately equivalent to the length of a car."

So what measures has Goodyear taken to achieve these improvements?

Among them is the extensive use of silica in the tread compound, along with polymers with a high molecular weight. Combined they make the tread stiffer and more capable of resisting damage and wear as well as enhancing wet grip, reducing rolling resistance, and improving handling and stability.

Complete with a stone penetration protection system. The wide, five-rib tread pattern contributes to better handling and stability too, as well as optimising the mileage. Work has been done to reduce drive-by noise and ensure that tread wear is even. Goodyear is also using Multi Radius Tread technology, whereby the tread shape is formed accurately, resulting in a bigger road contact patch and ensuring that pressure is more evenly spread across the tyre's entire footprint. Something else that contributes to the patch size is the tread width. Size for size it is up to 10mm wider than on previous tyres.

"Super tensile steel belts have been fitted", says technical product support specialist, Peter Wayte. "They're a lot stronger than the steel belts used previously so we don't have to use so many," he adds. "They're lighter too, and there is less risk of internal corrosion and cracking thanks to reduced internal strain."

RHS II is initially going on sale in 295/80, 315/70, and 315/80 R22.5 sizes, covering about 70% of the regional market. The remaining sizes, including 11, 12, 275/70, 13, and 305/70 R22.5, will soon go into production. A new drive axle tyre also aimed at regional operators is in the pipeline too under the RHD II banner, and that in turn will be followed by new drive and steer axle tyres designed to meet the needs of long distance hauliers.

Originally launched in 1999, RHS was upgraded in 2004 to offer better mileage, better wet braking, and more sizes.

If there is a drawback to RHS II it is that it is around 10% more expensive than its predecessors thanks to development costs and the rising price of raw materials and energy. That will not necessarily put it at a competitive disadvantage however because Goodyear's competitors all face the same pressures; and if the manufacturer's predictions prove correct, it should last longer than the tyre it supersedes.

Retread Programme

Goodyear's main rival is Michelin, said to have around 27% to 30% of the 1.1m to 1.2m-a-year replacement truck tyre market compared with Goodyear's 24% to 25%. Like Michelin, it has a retread programme, its Next Tread scheme offers four tyre lives, including regrooving, and its Wolverhampton plant produces around 108,000 retreaded tyres annually.

Goodyear would undoubtedly like to overhaul its key rival. 'It's an achievable target, but we don't want to be number one at the expense of profitability,' says truck strategic business unit director, Robin Sharpe.

• Nor is Goodyear neglecting the OE side of things. It is busy introducing Duraseal as an OE fitment, initially exclusively on Renaults from next April/May.

It's a built-in gel-like rubber sealant acting as an extra belt in the tread that prevents air from escaping from a tyre if objects up to 6mm in diameter penetrate the tread, allowing the driver to keep on driving. That's useful if your trucks are in and out of landfill sites or quarries all the time.

It can apparently do so again and again without the tyre needing to be repaired or the sealant having to be re-applied.

If the object is pulled out, the sealant simply flows into the void that has been created. Solvent-free and non-flammable, Duraseal does not affect a tyre's retreadability.

In a recent demonstration a truck tyre featuring Duraseal sustained 51 punctures, but did not deflate.

Volvo Group Deal

• Set up in 1999 when Goodyear signed a joint venture agreement with Dunlop owner Sumitomo, Goodyear Dunlop has recently inked a three-year OE supply deal with Volvo Group in Europe.

It covers a wide range of tyres to be fitted to both Volvos and Renaults. Embracing rim sizes down to and including 16in, they will be made in Luxembourg, Germany, Slovenia and Turkey.

With over 30% of the total European OE market, the tyre maker has worked with Volvo for many years, and designed and produced a 355/50R22.5 steer axle tyre specifically to meet its requirements. An unusual size, it was subsequently launched as a replacement tyre with the needs of car transporter and mega trailer operators particularly in mind.

Support services for hauliers are not being neglected, with a new scheme called Mobility on its way. Already available in mainland Europe, it allows hauliers to insure against the cost of emergency assistance if a truck has a puncture.

Dedicated to trucks, buses and coaches, Goodyear Dunlop's TruckForce network encompasses over 1,100 outlets Europe-wide. In the UK it offers a year-round, round-the-clock roadside assistance service under the TruckForce ActionLine banner, and it has developed an internet based tyre management system known as FleetOnlineSolutions.

If a customer sends his truck into a TruckForce branch that is some distance from his own depot, then the system will allow the local staff to obtain details of the agreement he is on and his technical requirements. That way, he will be charged correctly and his vehicle will be fitted with the right tyres.

The system also looks after invoicing and stock control.

• Looking to the future, Goodyear Dunlop predicts that trucks will have wider tyres and fewer of them, and that those tyres will be a lot cleverer than they are today.

It is working with Siemens VDO to develop the so-called 'intelligent' tyre, with a chip that will talk to the truck's on-board management system. It will check that all the vehicle's tyres are properly inflated and ensure that corrective action is taken should a fall in pressure or a rise in temperature be sensed.

The same chip will record tyre mileage and the distance the truck has travelled on under-inflated tyres, and make each tyre more easily identifiable too: Good news for hauliers, but bad news for thieves.