Higher fuel prices and increasing concern about the environment are causing informed motorists to look carefully at the tyres they fit on their cars.

All tyres are not equal, and choosing the right tyre can have an immense impact on the vehicle’s fuel efficiency and impact on the environment, says Ary Coetzee, Technical Manager – Consumer Replacement (Sales) at Bridgestone South Africa.

“The fuel price goes up and down, but there’s no doubt that South African motorists are really feeling the pinch. The good news is that by choosing from the current range of Turanza T005 tyres, they can increase fuel efficiency without sacrificing performance — and also reduce their environmental impact,” he says.

“Bridgestone’s huge investments in R&D have created a tyre that truly ticks all the boxes for modern-day, aware motorists.”

Turanza T005 tyres – building on the legacy of the Ecopia range – is made with Nano Pro-TechTM rubber, a laboratory-developed material that contains high concentrations of silica.

By controlling material construction on a molecular level, reduced rolling resistance is achieved, which means reduced fuel per unit of forward motion. Tests show that the tyre has 4.3% better fuel efficiency than a comparable conventional tyre.

“It’s not widely known that the majority of the lifetime emissions attributable to a tyre — 87% – arise during its useful life, not during its manufacture,” Coetzee adds.

“Turanza T005’s greater fuel efficiency has an outsized impact on the environment, a key issue of our times.”

Coetzee further said that the Turanza T005 tyres are very long-lasting.