Hankook Tire has announced a new addition to its expanding Truck, Bus & Radial (TBR) product line with the SmartFlex DL15+ tire for the U.S. market. The SmartWay-approved tire features several new tread design features to enhance overall traction performance and increase fuel efficiency for regional and long-haul fitments.
At its core, the enhanced SmartFlex DL15+ product comes equipped with an optimized bead profile along with a carcass structure to minimize tire deformation and improve overall energy dispersion when under heavy loads. Combined with a newly formulated belt structure, the tire reduces heat generation for greater durability and extended casing life for retreading.
The tire is developed using Hankook’s Smartec TBR technology, which is based on five main performance features: Safety, Mileage, Anti chip-cut, Retreadability and Traction. This process enables new tire tread technologies to be discovered and introduced through the DL15+ product. Most notably, the tire’s 3-dimensional and self-regeneration sipes that turn out at mid and latter stages greatly improve traction performance and reinforce interlocking components between blocks until end of wear. Additional design elements include a combined rib and semi-block pattern to provide added stability and handling, along with fuel efficiency, further enhanced through a wide closed shoulder pattern at the tire’s edges, allowing for smoother wear throughout its lifecycle. As a result, the SmartFlex DL15+ touts a 12-point increase in its rolling resistance coefficient compared to its predecessor, as well as securing SmartWay certification.
