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'All Goodyear Run-Flats are Black'

28 April 1998

'All Goodyear Run-Flats are Black'

    AKRON, Ohio, April 28 -- Driving on a flat tire with a 4-inch
gash in the sidewall, noted author Jim Schefter arrived at the airport with
time to spare.
    That's because Schefter didn't have a spare -- tire, that is.
    Nearly 42,000 Chevrolet Corvette owners have experienced Goodyear's line
of run-flat tires, but not to the extent of someone who wrote the book on
Corvette.
    Schefter, best known as the author of All Corvettes Are Red, was riding on
four of the 167,500 Goodyear run-flat tires that have come as optional or
standard equipment on new Corvettes since 1994.  He was on his way to the Salt
Lake City airport from his home in Park City, Utah, when the Eagle tire on his
Corvette struck a basketball-sized rock at 70 mph that ripped the sidewall.
    "I'm still impressed when I think back to how the tire performed.  The car
was totally in control.  When the low-pressure warning lights came on, I said,
'Aha, this will be a good test.'  I had a plane to catch in an hour.  Without
the tire, I would have missed the plane," Schefter said.
    Schefter said he was familiar with the Eagle F1 GS EMT run-flat tire,
having written an account of the genesis of the fifth generation Corvette.
His book is available now in paperback.
    The low-pressure warning system, available on Corvettes since 1989,
notified Schefter that a tire had lost air.  He continued driving 25 miles to
the airport and boarded the plane; then five days later after his return
flight home, he drove another 25 miles to a Goodyear dealer for a replacement
run-flat tire.
    "That's one amazing tire.  I still have a hard time believing what it did
for me that day," he said.
    Goodyear is the world's largest producer of run-flat tires, with fitments
on Corvettes, the Plymouth Prowler and all-terrain vehicles.  The tiremaker
also makes the industry's only run-flat winter tire, the Eagle M+S EMT.
    This month, the company has begun shipments of a new run-flat replacement
tire for the family car and minivan, the Eagle Aquasteel EMT, which is capable
of running fully loaded up to 50 miles at 55 mph without air.  The tire
features ultra-tensile steel in its carcass, the strongest tire reinforcement
material ever made, to improve run-flat performance, handling and treadlife.
It also works so well that a low-pressure warning system is required to notify
the driver that a tire has lost inflation pressure.
    Schefter said he's seen the television commercials for the new run-flat
tires.  "Since the new tires seem to be for lots of cars, I'd suggest a tag
line something like 'Goodyear Run-Flats.  Not just for Corvette.'"

SOURCE  Goodyear Tire & Rubber