After winter is before winter

After winter is before winter

Frozen ground with shallow slush above, garnished with a few fresh flakes from the gray February sky – the ideal conditions for a winter tire test. The Semperit team does a slalom on a spacious meadow and puts three powerful street cars at the start that have three completely different drive systems: a Ford Mustang with a V8 engine, 418 hp and rear-wheel drive, a Subaru WRX with 300 hp and all-wheel drive and a Golf GTI with 220 hp and front-wheel drive. Driving fun is guaranteed, and it is clearly primarily up to the skill of the test pilots as to who achieves the best lap time with which vehicle. In any case, the grip of the new Speed-Grip 3 proves to be impeccable and cuts a fine figure on all three cars. On the subsequent road trip through the villages of the Styrian Enns Valley, he proves his mettle even on dry and partly icy roads. “The predecessor Speed-Grip 2 already demonstrated excellent values ​​on all surfaces, with the Speed-Grip 3 we were able to slightly improve the performance on ice in particular,” explains Semperit managing director Kristjan Ambroz. 

80 years of winter tires

The traditional Austrian brand Semperit has been producing tires for around 111 years and winter tires for around 80 years. With the “Goliath”, the Austrian company introduced the world’s first winter tire in 1936, an innovation that is still groundbreaking today. Advertising posters from this era show a driver struggling with his snow chains on the side of the road while a car with “Goliath” tires effortlessly climbs the steep, snowy road. “The alpine DACH region is still the most important sales market for Semperit today,” says Ambroz. “With the new Speed-Grip 3 we will secure an even larger piece of the pie.” To increase the performance of the new Semperit winter tire, the engineers have developed a special, directional tread design and added new tread elements. For example, they increased the number of wiping edges of the blocks and sipes in the transverse direction of the tire tread so that the water film that forms when braking on ice is drained away more quickly.

There are also now fine cuts on the outside of the profile, reminiscent of a mountain silhouette, which provide additional grip when driving off in deep snow. The number of tread blocks was increased for more efficient braking, and so-called “snow hooks” were inserted into the shoulder grooves for better handling. When driving on wet roads, the Speed-Grip 3 drains water through a multitude of deep tread grooves, and the tread blocks also provide good grip and safe handling on dry, cold asphalt. Conclusion: If you compare the new Speed-Grip 3 with its predecessor, it improves especially in terms of winter properties. It shortens the braking distance on ice by four percent, while snow traction and snow handling increase by one percentage point each. It also slightly outperforms its predecessor when it comes to aquaplaning, while it maintains the high level of its predecessor when it comes to dry handling, dry and wet braking, as well as mileage and rolling resistance.

Extensive delivery program

The delivery range of the new Semperit winter tires is based on standard cars and SUVs and also includes super sports cars such as the Audi R8 or luxury SUVs such as the Porsche Cayenne. Also available is the previously quite exotic, very low rolling resistance size 195/55 R 20, which is specially tailored to the new Renault Scenic. The models for passenger cars are available for rim sizes between 15 and 20 inches with cross-sections between 55 and 35 percent and approvals of up to 270 km/h. Tires with diameters between 17 and 20 inches with cross-sections between 55 and 45 percent and with approvals of up to 240 km/h are manufactured for SUVs. In total, the new Speed-Grip 3 is available in 42 dimensions for cars and six sizes for SUVs. The brand now covers 95 percent of the dimensional needs in the winter tire market. In order to make drivers aware of the special properties of winter tires and their use, the new products from Semperit have two tread indicators.

On the one hand, they indicate the “four millimeter tread limit” below which winter tires are no longer permitted in snow or ice in Austria. The second tread depth indicator indicates the legally required minimum tread depth of 1.6 millimeters. However, experts recommend that winter tires with a remaining tread depth of less than four millimeters should no longer be used in winter conditions, as they significantly lose their safety reserves below this limit. Semperit also has a new winter tire in its range for vans, minibuses and transporters: The Semperit Van-Grip 2 is equipped with more grip edges for better snow grip even under increased loads, as well as widened grooves for good aquaplaning behavior and an optimized rubber compound to reduce rolling resistance and thus reduce fuel consumption. Semperit supplies the Van-Grip 2 for rims with a diameter of 14 to 16 inches with cross sections between 80 and 60 percent and speed ratings of up to 190 km/h.