Tyres fitted at OE have to meet a balance of performance in many key areas:
- Handling/grip in wet and dry
- Ride comfort and noise
- Rolling resistance (fuel consumption)
- Snow traction
- Resistance to parking flat spots (vibration)
- Tyre pressure optimized to meet requirements for speed and tyre loading
The construction and materials of the tyre are tuned to optimise the driving dynamics, while maintaining good tyre life. Testing and development is carried out around the world on a variety of tracks and road surfaces.
Winter performance is also an important feature for all-season and winter applications. To make sure these tyres meet Jaguar winter traction requirements, rigorous testing is carried out in Sweden under extreme conditions.
Because the tyres interact directly with the safety systems within the vehicle (Antilock Breaking System (ABS), Dynamic Stability Control (DSC), Roll Stability Control, etc.) exhaustive testing in both laden and unladen conditions is conducted to validate the performance.
The wheel design also has to be strong enough to carry the front and rear axle loads of a car loaded to GVW condition. To make sure the wheel paint finish meets a stringent corrosion resistance specification, an exacting test programme is performed on each wheel to ensure its strength and resistance to corrosion.