If we consider John Dunlop to be the inventor of the pneumatic tire, then the modern tire has a history of almost 130 years: the Scot received a patent in 1888. However, Robert William Thompson patented a similar idea even earlier - in 1846. And although no one was interested in the invention at that time, I suggest that this article about tire production is dedicated to their 170th anniversary.

To follow all stages of the process, I visited the largest Italian plant of the company Pirelli, which is located in Turin, and then looked at the Russian production of Pirelli in Voronezh.

It all starts with making the rubber compound. The characteristics of the future tire depend on its composition. Natural and synthetic rubber, polymers, oils, resins, sulfur, soot and other substances are mixed. Not a single tire manufacturer reveals the exact recipe - this is know-how and a secret sealed with seven seals. Much like with Coca-Cola: the ingredients are listed on the label, but it’s unlikely to be possible to prepare the desired product from them.

The lion's share of components is obtained artificially, and they have an expiration date. If it has expired, the material is disposed of - substandard material does not enter production. In addition, all raw materials are tested in the plant’s laboratory for compliance with the recipe.

Inspected batches are sent for mixing. The output is a semi-finished rubber tape, rolled out by the rollers of the machine into a thin layer. The blanks are stamped and colored with information about the composition and production date.

The main material for the tire industry has been and remains rubber. Summer tires use more artificial rubber, while winter tires, for which softness is important, use natural rubber. Natural rubber is mined mainly in Asia and Latin America. More than half of its volume is spent on tire production. And the world's first plant for the production of synthetic rubber was launched in 1932 in Yaroslavl.

The tire consists of a carcass, several layers of belt, tread and sidewalls. Each of these components has its own path. Textile and polymer cords are covered with a layer of rubber, and the parameters of the tapes emerging from the equipment are controlled by a laser. Each tire model and its standard size requires its own width, so automated lines with a drum of variable sizes are used for production. This is the frame of the future tire, its inner layer. True, it is not he who comes into contact with the air pumped inside, but the so-called hermetic layer - a thin rubber sheet that ensures the tightness of modern tubeless tires. In fact, it replaces the camera and, accordingly, must have all its properties.

A rubberized steel cord - breaker - is applied to the frame. Usually several layers are laid at an angle to each other. They provide the tire's ability to withstand impacts and help it maintain its shape.

The top layer is a protector. It comes out of the machine again in the form of a rubber band of the required width, only much thicker than the frame and breaker. At the same stage, color stripes, well known to all motorists, are applied, by which you can find out the parameters of the tire by looking at its working surface, and not at the sidewall - this makes it easier to identify the wheels in the warehouse.

The tread must be wear-resistant and at the same time provide reliable traction on different surfaces and in a wide range of temperatures. Hence the special requirements for the rubber mixture, and its composition varies significantly in different parts of the tread. Soft rubber is in contact with the asphalt, the inner one, more rigid, withstands impacts, third-grade rubber, on the shoulder, is needed for the transition from the contact surface to the sidewall.

The sidewall of the tire absorbs shock loads and plays an important role when cornering. In the area adjacent to the wheel rim, the bead ring is hidden behind the thickening. These are several layers of strong wire, also rubberized.

When all the elements are ready, they are fed to the primary assembly machine. It connects the protective layer, frame, breaker and protector, wraps the “wings” of the latter and connects them to the sidewalls. The result of the work is the so-called “green” tire. It has already taken the desired shape, but its sides are swollen, the tread is smooth, and the rubber itself is very pliable: it can be damaged literally by pressing your hand. However, at this stage it is already possible to carry out the first visual quality control.

The last stage is vulcanization. The “green” tire is treated with a compound that prevents rubber from sticking to the mold during heat treatment, and is fed to the machine platform in a horizontal position. A rubber chamber is inflated inside the future tire. First, a small pressure - about 0.3 bar, in order to ensure uniform pressure of the diaphragm to the workpiece, then it increases to 15 bar or more. On the outside of the tire there is a mold with a tread pattern and inscriptions on the sidewalls.

“Baking” with the supply of water steam at a temperature of about 170–200 ºС takes from 3 to 35–40 minutes, depending on the type of tire. At the Turin plant, it takes an average of about 17 minutes to create a tire blank, and about 15 minutes to vulcanize.

At the exit, the tire is again subject to control - visual and instrumental. Moreover, they check the product while it is still hot: after cooling to room temperature, not all defects are visible, so a defective wheel may end up on sale or on the assembly line. The tire is weighed and checked with an X-ray machine and a laser scanner for internal uniformity. In addition, several copies from each batch are sent for endurance testing.

Finally, about one more interesting fact from the world of tire production. A tire is not as specific a product as its carrier - a car. Therefore, despite the current crisis, the Russian factories of the world's giants are not idle and are not reducing the number of employees. On the contrary, they are working in an intensive mode, supplying Russian-made tires, which have suddenly become very profitable at the current exchange rate of the ruble, for export around the world.

IN THE DUNGEONS

A special pride of Pirelli is the laboratory of the Turin plant. We managed to look into some. They are located, as befits secret objects, underground, on the ground floors. There are 85 installations here, allowing for up to five thousand different tests. A significant staff works on tires for Formula 1. As you know, Pirelli is the exclusive supplier of the “royal racing”.

In one of the laboratories they are applying tread patterns to prototype tires. A high-precision laser is used only for preliminary marking - the beam burns only the outlines of the design (the depth of these strokes is no more than 0.1 mm), which the master then “cuts” manually. This work cannot be completely entrusted to automation: due to exposure to high temperatures, the chemical composition of the rubber and its properties will change. And making a mold for each sample is expensive and troublesome.

Noise measurements are carried out in an isolated anechoic chamber. The wheel installed on the car rotates an electric motor located outside the room. This allows you to analyze the sound only from the tire, without filtering out noise from the engine, transmission and other sources.

Pirelli has a unique setup that allows it to measure more than a hundred different tire parameters. It occupies several floors and weighs 250 tons, but only the lever with the wheel attached to it and the drum underneath are visible. Under the tread there is a very aggressive “paper”. Due to the moving elements, the rolling speed and clamping force are changed, tilts, turns, and braking are simulated. Characteristics are taken in real time. All this is needed to form a virtual model of the bus. It is transferred to the customer, who uses the data when fine-tuning the real car. After all, many sports and premium cars use tires with special characteristics. Their sidewalls may bear the designation of a standard model, but an additional letter or index will indicate to the connoisseur that this particular tire was created by order of one of the automakers and differs from those sold on the secondary market. For such products, Pirelli has a separate workshop for small series, where tires are produced for Ferrari, Maserati and other brands of comparable level.

Photo: Kirill Mileshkin and Pirelli

Pirelli tires are popular among car owners, and this is not surprising. They are of high quality, because the company that produces them has a hundred-year history. In 1872, in Italy, Giovanni Battista Pirelli established the production and sale of elastic rubber. The company was named "G.B. Pirelli & C". At the end of the nineteenth century, his plant began producing Ercole tires for cars and Milano tires for bicycles. The Pirelli company received a patent for the production of car tires in 1901. Today it has factories in Eastern Europe, China, USA, South America and Western Europe. In terms of revenue, it ranks fifth in the world among tire manufacturers. Follow the link to read reviews of Pirelli tires in the Tire&Servise online store.

Country of origin marking

Tires produced by any manufacturer have markings that indicate in which country the rubber was manufactured. Thus, the following markings are accepted for Pirelli tires:

released in the USA - CH;
released in Italy - XE, JR, XD, XA, 8U, XC, XB;
released in Argentina - XM;
issued in Germany - CE;
released in Greece - ХН;
released in England - XP and XN;
released in Brazil - XL and XK;
released in South Korea - YO;
produced in China - 4T;
issued in Venezuela - 1B;
produced in Turkey - XJ;
released in Spain - XF.

The marking is located on the side of the tire. The country in which the manufacturing plant is located is indicated after the DOT. In this case, all symbols are written in a ring. In addition to the country of origin, the tire will indicate the manufacturer, model, width, and profile height.

Other markings on the tire

The profile height and width are marked 192/60, for example. In this case, the width should be measured in millimeters, and the height as a percentage. In our case, the number 60 is the ratio of the height of the tire to its width. The higher this indicator, the higher the tire will be. Next to these numbers there will be the letter R and, for example, the number 17. This indicates the tire size (rim diameter). The designation 90T will indicate the speed index.

After these designations, the inscription “reinforced” is usually indicated - reinforced tire. If there is no such inscription, then the tire is not reinforced with additional frames and auxiliary elements. You also need to pay attention to the design of the tire. If a tire is marked with the letter R, it means it is radial; if it is D, it means it is diagonal. The latter are not very popular today.

Closer to the rim there is information about the permissible maximum load. This could be an inscription of this type: “Max pressure 300 kBs” or “Max load 520 kg”. For passenger cars, this index is indicated with a small margin. When choosing tires, this indicator should not be decisive and decisive. On both sides the tire has the inscriptions "Inside" and "Outside" - the inner and outer sides. But the “M&S” marking means that the rubber can be used in slush and rain conditions. "Tubeless" means the tire is tubeless. If this inscription is missing, then there is a camera inside. The ECE conformity mark is also required on tires, which may look like this: 11022142. If there is a snowflake “*”, then the tire can be used at high temperatures in winter.

Pirelli tires are a product of the highest quality. Since 2011, this company has been supplying tires for the GP2 and Formula 1 championships. Tires of this brand are used in transport systems, agriculture, and construction. The largest percentage of consumers of these tires are, of course, car owners. These tires are distinguished by their reliability, good performance and technical characteristics.

Domestic consumers rate Pirelli as one of the best tires in the world. This is a fact, since the Italian company occupies a leading position in the ranking of automobile magazines, horns and other popular resources. Therefore, their cost is quite high, but the quality is also at the highest level.

Pirreli tire production

The Italian company is one of the world's largest tire producers. They began their activities in 1894, when the world's first bicycle tire was created.

Now the Italian brand has about 24 factories around the world. Two factories for the production of Pirreli tires have been built in Russia. The company also has a large logistics system in Russia.

If we are talking about tire models produced in the domestic space, then it is worth highlighting Pirelli Winter Carving and Pirelli Ice. Since studs are prohibited in European territory, many companies followed the example of Pirelli and began producing tires in Russia.

As for other models, they are produced in Italy, Germany, England, and Turkey. It all depends on the model and size of the tire.

Pirelli Ice Zero

High-performance Ice Zero is a well-balanced winter tire. They belong to the products of the first category. Technological tires are characterized by high grip on ice and excellent resistance to winter frosts.

On the asphalt road of the Central European winter, they behave assertively thanks to high grip and excellent handling.

The tread pattern is identical to the “European” style. Here you can see the special direction of the middle part of the tire, and the small diagonal grooves have a slightly larger cross-section in the shoulder area. This tread quickly removes water and snow cover from the main surface of the tire.

According to a review of Pirreli Ice Zero tires, soft tread zones can increase the contact area with the surface. Older versions of Ice Control have round spots, while Ice Zero has almost square spots.

Among other characteristics, it is worth highlighting the balanced pressure distribution upon contact with the main surface. These functions are quite relevant when driving on a regular highway and in the snow.

Specialists took care and developed soft rubber for the tread. For maximum adhesion, silicon dioxide and large lamellas were used. The so-called elements open up on a slippery road and form effective traction.

On open asphalt, the blocks become rigid and the sipes turn off or become blocked under the influence of increased lateral forces. Thus, the behavior and controllability of the car improves.

Main characteristics of Pirreli Formula Ice winter tires from the manufacturer:

high level of stability on the track and ice, good handling;
safety of the highest category, thanks to highly efficient execution;
test drive of tires in various climatic conditions;
new version of RUNFLAT.

Based on the data presented, we can safely call Pirelli tires the most reliable and safe.

Marking and test drive of Pirelli tires

The clearly marked Made in Russia marking will answer the question of car enthusiasts about where Pirelli Ice Zero tires are produced.

Russian production of famous tires should not scare away buyers. Since all products manufactured at the Kirov and Voronezh plants meet international standards of quality and reliability.

The renewed Voronezh Pirelli plant began producing high-quality Pirelli Ice Zero tires for winter driving. A test drive on ice showed that tires with figured studs seriously compete with analogues from other manufacturers.

Nevertheless, on compacted snow the tires are slightly inferior to their competitors, since the car’s handling deteriorates slightly.

According to the results of the race on snow, the car with Pirelli tires ended up losing about 3 seconds over a distance of 1.5 km. However, when testing in deep snow, the tires were seriously ahead of their competitors.

Confident grip on wet roads and regular asphalt. However, the tires make a serious noise. They are perfect for poorly cleared and icy roads. For normal city driving, they can also be used if the car is insulated from extraneous noise.

New versions of tires from Pirelli

The most interesting and attractive development of the company was the Formula Ice tires. They are used for passenger vehicles and small SUVs. The concern offers its customers about 20 tire sizes for all types of winter roads.

The new Pirreli Formula Ice tires are manufactured and manufactured in Italy. These tires can be used in difficult climatic conditions, where there is severe frost and icy, snowy roads. The designers took into account the fact that recently Europe began to be “conquered” by snow, which is no longer a rarity.

The Italians, to a large extent, when designing and creating Ice Zero tires, counted on the large Russian market. And the local climate allows us to create high-quality tires for domestic roads.

Tires are made with the expectation of long-term use, and the manufacturer guarantees that the original characteristics and parameters will be maintained for a long time.

Tire studding is performed using aluminum products with special tips and reinforced elements. Formula Ice Zero tires have high directional stability thanks to their knurled ribs.

This design ensures a high level of safety on winter roads and good vehicle control.

The tread depth on the Formula Ice tire is 9.5 mm. In addition, the tread has a directional pattern, which ensures high grip on ice. Despite the soft rubber mixtures, the finished tires are quite resistant to wear.

This is a slightly modified and updated tread pattern used on other name brand tires. The protectors have shown themselves to be excellent in effectively removing snow and water.

Initially, the tires were designed for the Scandinavian countries. However, the tires have already proven themselves well in the difficult climatic conditions of Russia, and their affordability has begun to attract an increasing number of local buyers.

By choosing Pirelli tires, every car enthusiast guarantees a safe ride and good handling.

Technical specifications Pirelli Ice Zero

How will you feel when you find the “made in Russia” mark on the products of a foreign brand that you just purchased? Moreover, you specifically made a purchase abroad in order to get a truly “branded” item. Will you feel confused or, conversely, proud of the country? A Lenta.ru correspondent once heard a similar anecdotal story about the purchase of tires in Europe by an unlucky Russian car owner. As a result, the tires ended up being exorbitantly expensive, which gives the incident an instructive twist.

The logic of those who choose a foreign-made product is clear: after all, for how long the inertia of thinking forced, for example, to treat domestically assembled foreign cars as “sturgeon of the second freshness.” Perhaps only the current crisis has put everything in its place: cars of foreign brands that were not sold within the country are now being exported. This is perhaps the best proof that the quality of localized cars is not inferior to the original. But what about tires? A Lenta.ru correspondent visited Pirelli factories in Voronezh, Milan and Turin to compare the production process.

It's not robots who burn the pots

In Italy, a lot is connected with the famous company; after all, it has existed since 1872. A street in Milan is named after its founder, Giovanni Battista Pirelli. And the first skyscraper that was allowed to rise above the famous Milan Cathedral was the Pirelli Center. At the company's headquarters, they take care of their own history - a large archive has been created that serves as a museum. And the old concrete cooling tower (that is, a tower for cooling water) is skillfully integrated into the modern ensemble of steel and glass office architecture.

A similar combination of technologies from the past and present centuries exists in production. Serial tires are made by robots, but experimental models are made the old fashioned way, by hand. It’s reminiscent of an art school: workers with chisels, like sculptors, slowly gouge out tread grooves on a bare tire clamped in an old, battered vice. This is cheaper than immediately making a mold for vulcanizing a tire with an experimental pattern, which may have to be modified after testing.

So high technology is technology, and no one has yet canceled the golden hands of experienced craftsmen. This is especially felt at the Pirelli research center, where, in particular, tires for Formula 1 cars are developed. It is necessary to design not only the tires themselves, but sometimes also auxiliary equipment. For example, in the past, something like carbon paper was used to measure the contact patch of the wheels with the road - Pirelli borrowed this technology from manufacturers of running shoes. However, as demands grew, the center’s employees had to independently develop special measuring instruments.

Mechanical Waltz

Of course, pilot production has little in common with in-line production, where robots rule the roost. The birth of a tire begins with the creation of a multicomponent rubber mixture. The main ingredient is rubber, both natural and synthetic. The tire consists of approximately 80 percent of it. Sulfur and carbon black, as well as various chemical additives, are added to rubber. The exact composition of the mixture is the main know-how of the manufacturer.

To reduce costs, Pirelli strives to make maximum use of localized components - for example, Russian rubber is used in Voronezh. And like the creators of fine wine, who mix grape varieties to achieve the same taste, despite the difference in harvests, the Italians are forced to strictly ensure that the mixture at all 22 factories is identical. For this purpose, a chemical analysis is carried out, and the device is connected to a central server in Milan: if the sample differs from the reference one, the conveyor stops.

The finished tire in cross-section resembles an onion: a sealed layer, textile cord and metal cord, a shielding layer and, finally, a tread. Each layer requires its own rubber mixture. The finished components are sent to assembly machines that resemble giant looms. Winding the cord, by the way, is also one of the secrets of production: the angle at which the textile tape, consisting of rubber-coated threads, is fed, regulates the contact patch of the future wheel.

After assembly, the tire takes on an almost finished appearance, but it feels like a piece of chewing gum - sticky and easily deformed. To give it strength, vulcanization is required. The tire is clamped with metal plates with a relief imprint of the tread and placed in an autoclave, where under the influence of pressure and temperature the rubber becomes elastic.

A few minutes pass - and with a hiss, in a cloud of steam, the finished wheel rolls out into the light, only to immediately get back onto the conveyor - to the control area. As in Italy, in Russia the tire is checked in three stages: visual, instrumental inspection and x-ray to identify hidden defects. A high-quality tire is delivered to the finished product warehouse, the defective one is immediately cut and then disposed of. If the percentage of defects in a batch exceeds the calculated value, the conveyor is stopped until the reasons are clarified.

Social issue

Production in Turin and Voronezh is quite identical, the same can be said about the equipment - except that minor processes, such as tire sorting, are more automated in Italy, in accordance with the large production volume. The company's social policy towards employees is also similar.

At the Russian plant, the abundance of information posters dedicated to safety precautions seems to be evidence of a low culture of local production. However, in Milan and Turin there are no less such posters - Pirelli's safety requirements are very strict. A journalist from the group accidentally demonstrated this by stepping over the limit line in front of the machine. The photocell worked and the line froze.

Perhaps, if there is anything that distinguishes Russian and Italian production, it is the working conditions: the Voronezh Tire Plant was created back in the 1950s, it went through the fever of the 1990s, lack of money and bankruptcy. And although about 100 million euros were spent on modernization, its interior is strikingly different from the spacious, bright and well-ventilated workshops of the enterprise in Turin. The magnificent canteen deserves special mention, where lunches for Italian employees are partially subsidized by the company. Excellent working conditions, however, are the merit not only of Pirelli, but also of the workers themselves - Italy is famous for its strong trade union movement. So Voronezh tire makers have something to learn from their foreign colleagues, in addition to knowledge of hardware.

About company Pirelli (Pirelli)

Pirelli Tire ranks fifth in the world among tire manufacturers, and the company's profitability level is one of the highest in the industry.

Pirelli Tire today:

Today Pirelli Tire is the holding company of a group of companies that design, develop, manufacture and supply tires for a variety of vehicles, including passenger cars and motorcycles (the consumer market accounts for 70% of the company's sales), buses, trucks, agricultural and quarrying equipment , as well as production and sales of steel cord (industrial supplies, up to 30% of total sales). In this market segment, Pirelli Tire's activities are characterized by the use of advanced technologies, and today Pirelli Tire is rightfully the leader among manufacturers of tires for passenger cars and motorcycles: Pirelli tires are associated with such concepts as quality, reliability and excellent technical characteristics.

Currently, 85% of the Group's industrial operations are concentrated outside Italy, 50% outside the continent. The group is rightfully considered a “citizen of the closed world” of transnational corporations. Since its founding, Pirelli has been committed to geographic diversity. At the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. The group had already achieved this goal, but continued to move in this direction throughout the following decades. Today, the sales network is deployed in 120 countries, the production base includes enterprises in 20 countries on five continents.

Pirelli's tire sector has 23 factories and more than 21 thousand employees in Italy, Argentina, Brazil, Turkey, the USA and Venezuela. The company's market network covers more than 120 countries. Pirelli is one of the world's six leading tire manufacturers with sales of approximately $3.2 billion. USA. Pirelli actively acts as a partner in technical improvement of major auto manufacturers. The product range is one of the most comprehensive in the industry, including tires for cars (standard and sports), for tractors, buses, agricultural equipment, graders, motorcycles and other vehicles. From a technological point of view, the company has been a leader in the international market for many years, making a significant contribution to the development of the quality side of tire production.

Technology and quality.

The Pirelli Group has focused on strengthening its competitiveness through continuous development of the production process and innovative approaches. 2,000 specialists in 6 research centers located in Italy, France, Germany, Great Britain, the USA and Brazil continuously address the challenge of preserving Pirelli's leading role in production and technology throughout the world. Proof of the Pirelli Group's attention to research is the amount of financial investment in this area: it amounts to 3% of the company's annual turnover. Based on a platform of advanced technology, the Pirelli Group works in collaboration with leading automobile and motorcycle manufacturers. Partnerships have allowed Pirelli to develop a range of special names. Another trump card of the Pirelli group is the highest standards of professionalism, which are fully met by 38,000 employees at all levels. Professionalism is the main guarantee that the company's competitiveness in production, marketing and research will grow.

History of Pirelli Tire:

The history of the company goes back more than a hundred years and in many ways the history of Pirelli is closely connected with the development of the automotive industry. The history of Pirelli began in 1872 in Italy. On January 28, 1872, on the initiative of Giovanni Battista Pirelli, a company for the production and sale of elastic rubber was founded under the name "G.B. Pirelli & C." Until the beginning of the century, the company produced a wide variety of rubber products for different fields of activity, and tire production began at the end of the 19th century. In 1901, Ercole tires were offered for the first cars, and the company produced Milano tires for bicycles since 1890. The company's first bicycle tires were patented in 1894, and the first patent for passenger car tires was received in 1901. In 1905, the company reorganized the sector of production of tires for cars and motorcycles and brought this production to an industrial scale. The company's first victory occurred in the events of 1907 - the Beijing-Paris motor rally. From that time on, the countdown of successful performances of racers on four and two-wheeled carriages began. The company's products became famous famous racers - Nuvolari, Ascari and Fangio.In 1950, the production and sale of all products, except tires and cables, were reconstructed into separate companies under the direction of the "Sundry Items Office".

Over a hundred years of fruitful work and improvement of technology, the company produced new products, starting with the pre-war Stella Bianca series and ending with Cinturato radial tires - modern tires with an ultra-low profile. Today, the company's business is truly international: Pirelli operates in Europe and South America, the United States, China and Eastern Europe.