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I know more than I want to. :^) ...actually I know enough and am learning more. I am currently running a test of GD tires. I was contacted and asked to run an evaluation over the winter. The quick story, is it is a process pinoeered in Iceland to imbed industrial carbide bits into a tire , to replace the need for studs. The process uses cores of old tires. The bonding process is such that making a new tire would be more difficult than it is worth, and there are millions of cores available. I think the word is 80% post consumer waste in the tire. When new, you can't see the bits of green diamonds, but within a few hundred miles (like 80 on the fronts for me) the bits start to show. The non bit layer is there to protect the molds in the make and bake process of producing the tire. Without this layer, the cost of making the tire becomes absurd, as it eats molds.
So.. I have been given three sets to work with. I have the first set on now, and I will say here, that I have no complaints and that so far so good. To hear more, you're gunna hafta wait for the full writeup in Nines. I haven't started the wrting process yet, but have a good base of feedback to start with...
I like the concept of no studs, and better traction on ice. I like waste reduction. So far, I find no fault with the all-season radial version I am running, they run very smooth and the sound level is not loud enough to bother.... I have run Pilots and Yokahamas on the 97 Aero, as well as dedicated snows in the past year , and these are a bit noiser than the pilots, but less than the others... I can't wait for the first good snow! Then I get to wallow ( perhaps not ) around on the 16"'s and then go to a narrower version of the same tire in a 15", and then in a month or so, when we start getting serious snow, I'll slap on the 15" dedicated snow tread design.
There is plenty of reading on the Net
<A href="http://www.vti.se/pdf/reports/N43A-2001.pdf">PDF of the Swedish traffic report on the Green Diamond Tire</a>
Green Diamond is also a sponsor of TSN... (applause)
Jason
posted by 206.26.227...
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