Goodyear has added a second vehicle dynamics area at its San Angelo facility – a 324,000 square foot paved pad – and is currently building an additional evaluation facility for off-road products.
The company established its largest tyre evaluation centre in 1944 in San Angelo and built its first test surface there in 1957.
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The San Angelo Proving Grounds facility, with an assortment of tracks and test labs, provides the company with the ability to conduct extensive on- and off-road testing.
“This enormous testing facility is vital to Goodyear’s product development process and we are continuing to invest in its capability to bring innovative tyres to customers,” said Goodyear CTO, Chris Helsel.
“Countless applications in consumer and commercial tyres, including the use of sustainable materials, fuel efficiency technologies and even tyres that can operate with no air have been tested at San Angelo.”
The San Angelo facility covers 7,250 acres and includes 58 miles of roads and track, 14 miles of fence and more than 200 test vehicles.
Staff test around 20,000 tyres annually. There are 53 different test surfaces, ranging from asphalt and concrete to bricks, blocks, dirt, and mud.
The new vehicle dynamics area is optimised for tyre testing in extreme wet conditions and is a paved surface with a one degree slope to enable constant water flow across the surface. All water is recycled and reused.
In addition to improvements in the testing and analysis of large off-road tyres, Goodyear recently added a 250-ton, 25-foot-tall earthmover haul truck to its fleet.
Goodyear also operates testing and proving grounds in many global locations, including Brazil; Akron, Ohio; Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg; Mireval, France; Wittlich, Germany and Ivalo, Finland.
