UNI-T AQ: INTRODUCTION

Bridgestone is proud to introduce UNI-T AQ™, an upgraded version of our UNI-T technology. AQ stands for Advanced Quality. In 1996, we successfully launched UNI-T technology in North America. It features three key breakthroughs in tire technology: CO•CS, O-Bead, and L.L. Carbon. These breakthroughs affected overall tire design, tire bead configuration, and the structure of the carbon black used to strengthen tires. Together, they created a dramatic improvement in tire performance. UNI-T AQ takes UNI-T another step ahead, using the latest technological advances to make great tires even better.

UNI-T Technology took tire performance to a whole new level.
UNI-T AQ helps maintain more consistent performance over the life of the tire.

UNI-T AQ Technology retards the gradual performance deterioration that can occur over the life of the tire. Tire wear is unavoidable. Tire Performance can change, and in some situations, decline as the tire wears. But we were determined to find ways to prevent or at least restrain changes that can occur in tire performance. Today, we've succeeded. We've even made further improvements in new tire performance along the way!

L.L. Carbon® (Long Link Carbon)
Innovative Compound Reduces wear and rolling resistance.

CO•CS® (Computer Optimized Component System)
Innovative Tire Design Improves handling stability and produces a smoother, quieter ride.

O-Bead®
Innovative Roundness Makes tires rounder and enhances straight-line performance.

UNI-T AQ Technology delivers new advances in tire design, including features for counteracting the effects of tire wear.

By supplementing our original technologies with a compound element and multicompound tread structure, we have helped minimize the effects of wear. In addition to L.L. Carbon, CO-CS and O-Bead, we've added:

EPO™ (Extended Performance Optimization)
Innovative Concept-A combination of technologies more consistent overall performance as the tire wears.

EPC™ (Extended Performance Compound)
Dual-Layer Tread™

UNI-T AQ : WEAR vs. PERFORMANCE

Winning The Battle of Wear Vs. Performance. Tire wear is inevitable. But we can minimize the effects of wear on tire performance. Here's how tire wear can affect performance:

EPO (Extended Performance Optimization), an element of UNI-T AQ Technology minimizes the adverse effects of tire wear on wet-surface braking and handling. Ride comfort and quietness.

UNI-T AQ : E.P.C.

Motorists around the world report that wet-surface performance is a major concern when purchasing new tires. Our EPC Compound reduces friction-related rubber hardening creating more consistent wet braking and handling.

This illustration dramatizes the effects of rubber compounds and tire wear on wet braking performance.

EPC Suppresses Sulfur Re-Crosslinking, Which Results From The Heat Of Friction And Causes An Increase In A Tire's Surface Deformation Hardness.

Sulfur re-crosslinking increases the surface-deformation hardness of a tire by "crosslinking" more- numerous rubber polymer molecules. Bonding among the rubber polymer molecules is an important factor in rubber elasticity. Tire manufacturers promote that bonding during the vulcanization process by adding sulfur and applying heat to the rubber. But subsequent sulfur re-crosslinking due to the heat of friction when a tire is in motion can produce an increase in surface-deformation hardness.

In a new tire ... Sulfur bridges strengthen the tire by linking the rubber polymer molecules. The polymers also bind to the particles of carbon black in the rubber, which strengthens the tire further.

When heat arises from friction in a tire in motion ... Re-crosslinking by the sulfur molecules creates additional links between the polymers and increases rubber hardness.

Our EPC reduces hardening by suppressing the re-crosslinking of sulfur molecules. Less re-crosslinking means more consistent wet-surface braking and handling performance as the tire wears.

When a tire contains EPC ... Our technology reduces hardening by suppressing the re-crosslinking action of sulfur molecules. Even when friction generates heat in a tire in motion, the sulfur re-crosslinking is minimal, and so is the increase in surface-deformation hardness.

EPC keeps rubber compounds softer which helps provide more consistent wet braking and handling as the tire wears. Less surface-deformation hardening occurs when tires contain EPC. We have already put this compound to work as a key factor in reducing deterioration of performance. We are currently exploring ways to use EPC to produce a quieter, more comfortable ride.

UNI-T AQ : DUAL-LAYER TREAD

Our Dual-Layer Tread structure exposes high-grip rubber as wear progresses. We use a hybrid tread structure with two kinds of rubber in the tread.

The two kinds of rubber used in Dual-Layer Tread design both contain EPC. But we employ a higher-grip rubber for the base layer under the cap (shown in red in the diagrams). And we shape the base layer to mound up under each of the tread blocks. So as the tread wears down, the higher grip rubber underneath is exposed. The higher-grip rubber helps minimize the effects of wear. It also helps maintain more consistent wet braking and handling throughout the life of the tire. And it helps prevent the increase in noise levels that tends to occur as tire tread wears away.

After 50% of tread has worn away ...
Wear exposes the higher-grip rubber of the base layer, located under the cap, which helps maintain more consistent wet braking and handling as the tire wears.

After 70% of the tread has worn away ...
The mounded shape of the base layer ensures broader amounts of high-grip rubber become exposed as the tire wears away.

Note: The red coloration of the base layer in these diagrams is for purposes of explanation and illustration only. It does not indicate the actual color of the rubber in the tire.

UNI-T AQ : CO-CS, O-BEAD & FLAT-FORCE BLOCKS

CO•CS, O-Bead, And Flat Force Blocks: Rounding Out Consistent Performance. CO•CS: Optimizing Tire Design With Neural Networks.

A tire consists of several structural components, including the carcass, the bead, the belts, and various types of rubber. The designs used by tire manufacturers to combine these elements determine the majority of a tire's performance characteristics ... including handling, comfort, noise levels, and more. This means better designs can bring out previously untapped performance potential found in the various elements of tire construction.

We now optimize tire design in CO•CS through the tire industry's first application of neural networks. Those networks mimic the parallel processing characteristics of the brain to handle vast amounts of calculations. Neural networks have supported unprecedented advances in tire design, especially in the area of surface contact with the road. That has led to improvements in tire performance, especially in regard to handling stability.

Optimizing the contact surface using advanced CO•CS technology. The computer diagram to the right shows a simulation of the distribution of pressure on the tire contact surface.

We have improved on our O-Bead technology and supplemented it with our Flat Force Block configuration to make tires even rounder.

In the O-Bead component of UNI-T technology, we have improved the structure of the bead wire to keep tires even rounder. Our improvement stiffens the bead shape, which enforces a more precise roundness. We have accompanied O-Bead with and improved design for tread blocks that improves roundness. Tire manufacturers vary the shape of the tread blocks on tires to reduce noise. But the different-sized tread blocks tend to differ in hardness and even - under the pressure of contact with the road - in thickness. Our Flat Force Block configuration helps maintain consistent hardness and thickness among all the tread blocks, maintaining tire roundness. This results in improved handling stability.