Goodyear Serves Up Tires Made From Corn

    GENEVA, Feb. 28 Brace yourself for corny tire jokes and
puns (sample: it's "a-maize-ing").  Goodyear has introduced the world's first
tire with a compound derived from corn at Europe's annual major auto show
here.

    The new Goodyear GT3 is the first tire on the market using a new starch-
based filler material called BioTRED, which uses common corn as its
"feedstock."

    A patented innovation developed at the company's Luxembourg technical
center, BioTRED partially replaces more conventional carbon black and silica.
"This presents important environmental advantages, including remarkably lower
rolling resistance and as a result, less fuel consumption, noise reduction,
lower carbon dioxide emissions and less energy consumption in the production
processes," said Filomeno Corvasce, the Goodyear engineer who developed it.

    "Moreover," Corvasce said, "BioTRED uses renewable compounds versus
non-renewable sources. The starch used in the production of BioTRED is derived
from corn, in a process similar to the one used in food industries. Then it is
treated to obtain micro-droplets of starch.

    In a next step, these micro droplets are treated, transforming them into a
biopolymeric filler.  The end product has physical properties that differ
substantially from those of traditional fillers. The lower specific gravity of
this new material also reduces tire weight and rolling inertia, thus further
improving fuel efficiency.

    The tire is being introduced in Europe first, where Ford will use it as
original equipment on a new fuel-stingy version of its Fiesta. It then likely
will be made available in other regions.

    There are 17 GT3 sizes for compact to medium-sized vehicles. They range
from 155/70R13 to 195/65R15.