Optima Sports is reporting that its new patented CamberTire invention introduces a trapezoid profile and asymmetrical sidewalls into conventional tire design, bringing extensive benefits including handling and braking performance, safety and fuel efficiency.
Camber designs can be utilized on any on-road and off-road vehicles with independent suspension or those with non-driven solid axles, “virtually impacting every tire category on the market today,” according to company owner John Robinson Scott.
“This advancement will revolutionize the tire industry and we are ready to bring it to market,” Scott reports. “The benefits this design offers are significant to a traditionally slow changing industry – we have, literally, reinvented the wheel.”
It brings “major benefits to the automotive, over-the-road and trailer industries without production and distribution barriers, requiring only tire mold alterations and adjustments to alignment settings,” he says.
Introducing camber into a tire and eliminating the need to have toe-in alignment settings provides improved fuel efficiency, enhanced handling and performance, and heightened safety with a decreased chance of rollovers when applied to SUVs, Scott explains.
“Environmental benefits are significant as well, with improved realized mileage due to a reduction in rolling resistance and wind profile, extended tire life and less material usage,” he adds. The design allows narrower tire profiles to achieve desirable handling characteristics with less weight.
The revolutionary camber tire design has broad market applications for every automobile category, over-the-road semi trucks and vehicles with non-driven solid axle vehicles, such as trailers or mini-vans, according to Scott.
The engineering brings “a new level of control, traction and sensitivity to high performance, touring and every-day tire applications including automobiles, SUVs, conventional trucks, recreational vehicles, semis, trailers, and a number of other off-road applications such as outdoor sports vehicles, construction equipment, and lawn and garden and agricultural equipment,” he says.
Scott’s CamberTire patent includes any tires with a constantly decreasing diameter from one sidewall to the other, covering any tire manufactured with s degree of camber. A recently filed second utility patent covers all conceivable methods for uniform camber tire production.
The company has been in prototype partnership with M & H Racemaster, a division of Interco Tire Corp., under a cooperative development agreement to produce prototype tires and conduct the first industry testing.
The first round of two-degree camber tires produced easily passed DOT testing. High speed tests met V-rated performance requirements, the highest test rating available through M&H, but the prototype tires were built to meet or exceed Z rated performance, Scott says.
Optima is working with M&H to contract-manufacture jointly branded performance street CamberTires in multiple categories. M&H plans to license CamberTire rights for its drag racing line.
“We have seen excellent results so far as we have optimized the production process,” says Tom Lorden, M&H’s general manager. “Adopting the camber tire technology can provide us with the competitive edge we are looking for in several types of racing,” he notes
“The camber tire design is likely to be the most significant advancement to tire performance since the introduction of radial tires,” says Lorden. “We are researching applications in all of our product lines.”
Although Scott’s company is initially going to market with several sizes targeting the high performance niche, its near-term plans include producing additional molds to expand the product line into more conventional tire size applications, as well as additional licensing agreements with tire manufacturers and exclusive OEM fitment agreements with car, truck and trailer manufacturers. Optima is also considering outside investment opportunities to rapidly expand its operations and market penetration.
Based in Wales, Wis., Optima Sports, LLC was originally incorporated in 1986 as Evolution Sports and reincorporated in 1994 under its current name.
For more information, visit www.cambertire.com.
