Around the world on DuraSeal tires from Goodyear

“Around the world with the fire fighter truck!” is the name of the project that Goodyear is supporting as main sponsor with special truck tires.
Jan Riedel and Esther Krings, who are based in Darmstadt, Germany, are setting off on March 21, 2009 on a trip around the world in a 33-year-old former Swiss fire truck. The first stage of the trip will take the team from Germany to Southeast Asia, all the way to Singapore. The vehicle is equipped with special Goodyear DuraSeal tires with built-in sealants.
As a mode of transportation and mobile living space for the extraordinary project, the team will use a converted fire fighting vehicle of the type Magirus Deutz 170D11FA, built in 1975. The team converted the former engine for the trip on their own. The retrofitments included installing special Goodyear truck tires: the Omnitrac MSD with DuraSeal technology, in the dimension 13R22.5. DuraSeal tires have an additional layer in the tread surface. The extra layer consists of a special gel-like rubber mixture. When the tire is damaged by an object, such as a nail, the gel flows into the puncture hole and forms an airtight plug. Goodyear DuraSeal even creates an airtight seal in the entire channel caused by the puncture when the nail is removed. The sealant material can plug puncture holes of up to six millimeters in diameter – and it can do so repeatedly. This enables drivers to continue driving and using the tire until it is repaired or retreaded. In a test, a Goodyear DuraSeal tire withstood 51 punctures with a nail gun without losing air pressure.
Thanks to the innovative Goodyear tires, the two explorers will be able to continue their trip with no problem even if their tires are punctured. And that’s an important factor, because their planned route – from Germany through the Balkans, Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, India, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Malaysia to Singapore – will take the world travelers over often poor roads and rough terrain. Fast roadside assistance will probably not be available there. The tour is scheduled to last twelve months, and if a tire should be needed during this period, Goodyear will provide a replacement, regardless of the country.
En route, Jan Riedel and Esther Krings will also support social projects in various countries. Via a nonprofit association they co-founded, the two of them will offer local people alternatives to the use of fossil fuels, such as production of biogas or use of solar ovens, with the aim of helping them to help themselves. “Without the commitment of our main sponsor and tire partner, Goodyear, and the support of others, our world journey would not be possible in this form,” Riedel explained.
DuraSeal technology proved its outstanding performance back in 2007, at the Dakar Rally. Two Renault Kerax 6x6 trucks with DuraSeal tires finished the 20,000-kilometer route as service vehicles without once needing roadside assistance. Thanks to Goodyear and DuraSeal, the team for the “Around the world with the fire fighter truck!” project will be ideally equipped to reach Singapore without tire problems.

Source: Transportweekly