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Show Synthetic Tire Skids Farther Safety Council Cites Driving Test on Ice The National Safety Council warned motorists that the war-born use of cold synthetic rubber in most tires now being produced has increased in-creased the danger of skidding because be-cause of less effective stop-and-go traction ability on snow and ice. As an early winter battered much of the nation, the council said exhaustive ex-haustive winter driving tests conducted con-ducted earlier this year had proved the need for motorists to drive more cautiously with synthetic tires. Prof. A. H. Easton, director of the University of Wisconsin's truck research project and chairman of tests for the council's committee on winter driving hazards, was technical tech-nical supervisor of the latest series of experiments on stopping and traction trac-tion abilities of various types of tires on hard-packed snow. Natural rubber tires, manufactured manufac-tured before defense requirements forced tire companies into using more synthetic rubber, were eight per cent superior to similar present day synthetic tires in stopping on hardpacked snow and 47 per cent better in traction ability. On glare ice, natural rubber treads were 10 per cent better in stopping ability and 16 per cent better in traction. The tests indicated that on snow and ice even the specialized winter tires now appearing on the market showed relatively little overall improvement im-provement over conventional tires in comparison with the stopping and traction ability possible by using reinforced tire chains, Prof. Easton said. The test report defined three types of special winter tries: "winterized" "win-terized" tires of conventional tread containing embedded materials or fine lacerations and cuts; "mud-snow" "mud-snow" tires characterized by a deep tread pattern or lug design; "winterized "win-terized mud-snow" tires combining deep tread with the lacerating treJt-ment. |