UNI-T® UNI-T®, the Ultimate Network of Intelligent Tire Technology, is a combination of technologies that work together to create the most advanced tires available. The three key technologies are: CO-CS® O-Bead® L.L. Carbon® Combined, these innovations give greater comfort and control. They also provide precise handling, reduced noise, outstanding durability, and a smooth ride.

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CO-CS® CO-CS® (Computer Optimized-Component System) technology uses a supercomputer to determine the ideal combination of tread design, casing shape, materials, and construction based on consumer benefit criteria. Performing thousands of what-if calculations and creating incredibly detailed tire simulations, CO-CS® takes the guesswork out of designing tires making it possible to create an endless diversity of tire designs.

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O-Bead® O-Bead® changes the way the tire interacts with the rim, creating a rounder assembly. The "bead" is a cable inside a tire that helps the tire grip the rim. On most tires, there are overlapped joints where the ends of the bead meet. O-Bead® eliminates the overlapped joints by using a single, continuous strand of cable. This helps eliminate tiny, unwanted gaps between the tire and the rim, and creates a rounder tire assembly for improved driving and handling stability on straightaways.

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L.L. Carbon® Carbon black is a reinforcing material that strengthens rubber. All tire manufacturers use it, but Bridgestone/Firestone tires with UNI-T® technology use L.L. Carbon®, an advanced form of carbon black that offers real advantages. Under a microscope, conventional carbon black particles look like clusters of grapes, but the L.L. Carbon® molecules resemble long chains. L.L. Carbon® can be compared to the long steel rods used to reinforce concrete. Because this molecular structure absorbs and spreads road stresses over a larger area, the tire is stronger and better able to resist cracking, chipping, tearing, and excessive wear.

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UNI-T AQ™ The newest technology from Bridgestone/Firestone is UNI-T AQ™. This major breakthrough helps improve wet breaking and maintain high levels of performance even as a tire wears by combining the revolutionary technologies EPO (Extended Performance Optimization) and EPC (Extended Performance Compound).

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Extended Performance Optimization (EPO) EPO is a combination of technologies that provides more consistent overall performance as a tire wears. EPO is made up of EPC (Extended Performance Compound) and Dual-Layer Tread.

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Extended Performance Compound (EPC) EPC is a unique rubber compound that fights the effects of friction-related rubber hardening. Friction-related rubber hardening is one of the reasons tires lose wet-surface performance as they wear.

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Dual Layer Tread Dual Layer Tread was developed to ensure that tires maintain wet performance as they wear. Tires with Dual Layer Tread have two kinds of rubber in the tread, both containing EPC. As the tire wears, a higher grip layer is exposed. This minimizes the effect of wear on worn wet tire performance and helps maintain more consistent handling. It also helps prevent the increase in noise that tends to occur as the tread wears. "It keeps wet performance up as your tread wears down."

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Sealix™ Sealix™ incorporates a patented sealant material that can seal most tread punctures up to 3/16" in diameter. When an object punctures the tire, the Sealix™ sealant material creates an instant seal around the hole. When the object is removed, the Sealix™ sealant is drawn into the puncture, creating a seal and preventing a loss of air pressure.

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Key Hole Sipe Conventional sipes are wide at the top, narrow at the base and decrease in size as the tread wears down, sacrificing wet performance with tire wear. Thus, as a conventional tire wears, it loses its tread pattern and looks more and more like a racing slick. Wet performance suffers because shallower, worn tread channels lose the ability to evacuate water efficiently. This means more water comes between the tire and the road, resulting in less actual contact and reducing wet traction and handling. Bridgestone/Firestone's Key Hole Sipe is a tread pattern feature that helps solve these problems. A Key Hole Sipe is a slot with a cylindrical channel at the base. In a cross section of the tire tread, this slot-and-channel configuration resembles a key hole. As the tread wears, the "key holes" emerge to help ensure a consistent tread pattern. These sipes help maintain continued wet performance and new tire appearance.

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5 Pitch Noise Reduction 5 Pitch Noise Reduction is a specialized approach to tread pattern design that reduces tire noise levels for quieter driving. Tread block elements are arranged to produce noise-canceling sound waves when the tire is in motion. Because the sound waves created by the individual blocks constantly cancel each other out, the noise of the tire moving on the road surface is significantly reduced.

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Power-V™ Power-V™ is a tread pattern design born of Firestone's Indy technology for rain tires. By dispersing water to the sides of the tire, the v-shaped pattern allows better water discharge and improves wet performance. By creating a tread that has grooves at varying degrees, the tire is better able to discharge water in the areas in which the tire is in contact with the wet road.

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Variable Radius Groove (VRG) Conventional tires evacuate water in a straight line. VRG (Variable Radius Groove) is a tread design that controls water displacement with a high-volume, side-to-rear spray. This unique pattern maintains a larger contact patch, which delivers excellent wet grip and dramatically reduces the risk of hydroplaning.

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Uni-Directional Pattern Uni-Directional Pattern is a tread pattern design that maximizes both wet and dry performance, as well as other tire characteristics. By specifying that the tread pattern is to be mounted on the vehicle in a single direction only, the many design compromises found in conventional tires which can be mounted in two directions are eliminated. This provides the ability to include a wider variety of specific performance characteristics such as high resistance to hydroplaning in each tire.

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BLIZZAK® BLIZZAK® winter tires feature a patented tread rubber compound developed by Bridgestone to deliver ice and snow performance without studs. Additional leading-edge technologies and tread pattern elements, including Zig-Zag Sipes, help improve performance in icy conditions.

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