People who feel the need to put special tires on their vehicles to deal with rainy weather will undoubtedly be heartened to learn that Goodyear has come out with a new version of its popular Aquatred model.
According to Jane Wilcox of Goodyear Canada, "Loyal Aquatred tire buyers will be amazed, since the new Aquatred 3 dual-aquachannel tire delivers greater water evacuating capacity than its predecessors, due in part to the 7.6 per cent greater aquachannel groove volume."
More than that, Wilcox says, the Aquatred 3 is actually better in all circumstances than the tire it replaces, and not only for the rain. This will indeed be big news to people currently using Aquatred 2s, since about two-thirds of them replace those tires with exactly the same ones, which is way above the industry average.
"To further whet (you knew that joke was coming) Aquatred buyers' thirst," says Bob Toth, the marketing manager for Goodyear auto tires, "Aquatred 3 delivers improved wet traction with a twist -- greater dry traction performance and a 130 000 km tread life limited guarantee. The tire will initially be available in 18 popular broad market sizes."
Prices are always tricky to pin down, since the retailers can pretty much charge what they want or can get away with it, but Wilcox says the new model will be about the same price as the current model. In general terms, that means about $600 for a set of four, plus taxes, though it could be more.