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Product type | Tires |
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Owner | Michelin |
Produced by | Michelin |
Country | United States |
Introduced | 1870 |
Markets | Worldwide |
Previous owners | Goodrich Corporation |
Website | www |
BFGoodrich is an American tire brand. Originally part of the industrial conglomerate Goodrich Corporation, it was acquired in 1990 (along with Uniroyal, then The Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company) by the French tire maker Michelin. BFGoodrich was the first American tire manufacturer to make radial tires. It made tires for the then new Winton car from Winton Motor Carriage Company.
BFGoodrich tires have been fitted to several noteworthy historical vehicles:
BFGoodrich has been involved in several Baja California Competitions and enjoyed success with 28 overall victories at the Baja 1000 and 13 times winner of the Paris–Dakar Rally.
Founded by Dr. Benjamin Franklin Goodrich in 1870, the B.F. Goodrich Company, later known as BFGoodrich, was among the first rubber tire manufacturers to be located west of the Appalachian mountain range. In the previous year, Goodrich had purchased the Hudson River Rubber Company. Based in Akron, Ohio, the BFGoodrich Company began as a manufacturer of rubberized hoses, which were sold mostly as firehoses. The company also produced rubberized belts, similar to those used on modern vehicles as serpentine belts (fan belt). As the company grew, it began to manufacture pneumatic bicycle tires, eventually leading to the production of pneumatic automobile tires in 1896, making BFGoodrich the first company in the United States to manufacture this type of tire. [2]
BFGoodrich was not the only tire manufacturer in the United States at the turn of the 20th century. Among its competitors were Goodyear, Firestone, General and Uniroyal. Due to extensive research and scientific methods, such as tire wear evaluation and longevity testing, BFGoodrich was at the leading edge of the industry. Ford Motor Company, then owned by Henry Ford, chose BFGoodrich tires to be fitted in the new Model A Ford in 1903. That same year, the Model A, equipped with the tires, became the first car to cross the United States from east to west. This event made BFGoodrich a household name. [3] The Goodrich Corporation, formerly called B.F. Goodrich Company, stopped making tires in 1988 and sold the business and the B.F. Goodrich name to Michelin. Although Michelin purchased the rights and many of the factories of B.F. Goodrich within the United States, the Goodrich factories continued tire production under the parent company, Michelin. As of 2023 there are only two (2) of the B.F. Goodrich factories in operations producing tires, while still working under the original B.F. Goodrich name. These last two factory locations are Tuscaloosa, Alabama and Woodburn, Indiana.
Aside from being the first company in the United States to manufacture pneumatic automobile tires, BFGoodrich is also credited for introducing the rubber-wound golf ball, the first pressurized space suit and the use of synthetic rubber. Although significant, these innovations are not as well known as the company’s contributions to the tire industry. [4]
In 1947, BFGoodrich developed the first tubeless tire in the United States. The tubeless tire eliminate the need for an inner tube, which improves performance and safety, as well as enhanced comfort for the car's occupants. [5]
BFGoodrich produced the first radial tires in the United States in 1965. This innovation made tires even safer as radial tires have longer tread life and permit better absorption of road bumps. [6] The company patented an early sort of run-flat tire two years later, in 1967. This technology enables the vehicle to continue to be driven in emergencies by avoiding that the tire becomes flat instantly. [7]
BF Goodrich also developed the PF flyer shoe in 1933.
In 1909, BFGoodrich tires were fitted on a Curtiss airplane, thus marking BFGoodrich's entry in the aviation tire market. In this particular event, the plane, fitted with BFGoodrich tires, set a speed record of 75 kilometers per hour in Reims at the first international air race. BFGoodrich tires were also fitted to Charles Lindbergh’s plane, Spirit of St. Louis , when he completed the first solo non-stop transatlantic flight. [8]
In 1934, BFGoodrich produced a prototype for a pressure suit to be worn by airplane pilot Wiley Post at high altitudes. [9] This first prototype was made mostly of rubber, with the exception being the metal helmet and waist strap. The prototype suit was pressurized in an initial test, but it did not hold pressure as it was expected to. With improvements to the concept, a second prototype was made, using the same helmet, which successfully maintained pressurization. The second suit was successful, at least in holding pressure. The suit had shrunk around Post's body and was removed by cutting the suit apart. One year later, in 1935, another prototype was produced and is said to be the first practical pressure suit in the United States. Piloting his plane, the “Winnie Mae”, Post was able to fly to an altitude of approximately 50,000 feet, where he discovered the jet stream, paving the way for modern flight procedures. From this point forward, the suit created by BFGoodrich served as pattern for modern pressurized space suits. [10]
In 1946, B. F. Goodrich purchased the airplane, wheel, and brake division of Hayes Industries. [11] [12]
BFGoodrich is also known for their performance and racing developments and achievements. Its roots in racing can be traced as far back as 1914, when BFGoodrich tires were used by the winning car of the Indianapolis 500. This was just the beginning of victories in several competitions including the Baja 1000, Paris-Dakar Rally, World Rally Championships and many other prestigious racing competitions. [13]
BFGoodrich has been active on the competitive off-road scene in the USA since 1973, but it was only two decades later that the American brand got its first taste of the world’s longest and toughest cross-country rally – the Dakar. BFGoodrich, Official Sponsor and exclusive tire partner of the Rallye du Dakar since 2002’s edition, proposes to all competitors access to premium tires and to its racing service present on all the Rallye’s duration. [14]
BFGoodrich developed and markets its flagship All-Terrain T/A and Mud-Terrain T/A tires. Due to its unique tread design and known raised white letters on the tire sidewall, the tire consolidated a loyal customer base, especially among off-roading enthusiasts, its main application is pickup trucks and body-on-frame SUVs. In the more recent years, UTV winnings are becoming more synonymous with BFG and their custom specifications are greatly appreciated on race day, Class 1, Class 10, and Unlimited Spec Desert cars have also utilized BFGoodrich tires and have found a winning formula for over 30 races in a row. [ citation needed ]
Michelin, in full Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin SCA, is a French multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes région of France. It is the second largest tyre manufacturer in the world behind Bridgestone and larger than both Goodyear and Continental. In addition to the Michelin brand, it also owns the Kléber tyres company, Uniroyal-Goodrich Tire Company, SASCAR, Bookatable and Camso brands. Michelin is also notable for its Red and Green travel guides, its roadmaps, the Michelin stars that the Red Guide awards to restaurants for their cooking, and for its company mascot Bibendum, colloquially known as the Michelin Man, who is a humanoid consisting of tyres.
The Goodrich Corporation, formerly the B.F. Goodrich Company, was an American manufacturing company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Founded in Akron, Ohio in 1870 as Goodrich, Tew & Co. by Dr. Benjamin Franklin Goodrich, the company name was changed to the "B.F. Goodrich Company" in 1880, to BFGoodrich in the 1980s, and to "Goodrich Corporation" in 2001. Originally a rubber manufacturing company known for automobile tires, the company diversified its manufacturing businesses throughout the twentieth century and sold off its tire business in 1986 to focus on its other businesses, such as aerospace and chemical manufacturing. The BFGoodrich brand name continues to be used by Michelin, who acquired the tire manufacturing business in 1988. Following the acquisition by United Technologies in 2012, Goodrich became a part of UTC Aerospace Systems.
Benjamin Franklin Goodrich was an American industrialist in the rubber industry and founder of B.F. Goodrich Company.
B.F. Goodrich may refer to:
The Tweel is an airless tire design developed by the French tire company Michelin. Its significant advantage over pneumatic tires is that the Tweel does not use a bladder full of compressed air, and therefore cannot burst, leak pressure, or become flat. Instead, the Tweel's hub is connected to the rim via flexible polyurethane spokes which fulfil the shock-absorbing role provided by the compressed air in a traditional tire.
The company formerly known as the United States Rubber Company, now Uniroyal, is an American manufacturer of tires and other synthetic rubber-related products, as well as variety of items for military use, such as ammunition, explosives, chemical weapons and operations and maintenance activities (O&MA) at the government-owned contractor-operated facilities. It was founded in Naugatuck, Connecticut, in 1892. It was one of the original 12 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and became Uniroyal, Inc., as part of creating a unified brand for its products and subsidiaries in 1961.
Low rolling resistance tires are designed to reduce the energy loss as a tire rolls, decreasing the required rolling effort — and in the case of automotive applications, improving vehicle fuel efficiency as approximately 5–15% of the fuel consumed by a typical gas car may be used to overcome rolling resistance.
Charles J. Pilliod Jr. was an American business executive and diplomat. He was ambassador to Mexico from 1986 to 1989.
The Yokohama Rubber Company, Limited is a Japanese manufacturing company based in Hiratsuka, Japan. The company was founded and began on October 13, 1917, in a joint venture between Yokohama Cable Manufacturing and BFGoodrich. In 1969, the company expanded to the United States as Yokohama Tire Corporation. It primarily produces tires, rims and golf equipment.
The Mercury space suit was a full-body, high-altitude pressure suit originally developed by the B.F. Goodrich Company and the U.S. Navy for pilots of high-altitude fighter aircraft. It is best known for its role as the spacesuit worn by the astronauts of the Project Mercury spaceflights.
Coker Tire Company is a Chattanooga, Tennessee-based company that manufactures and sells vintage-style Michelin, Firestone, BF Goodrich and Uniroyal bias-ply and radial whitewall tires for collector automobiles. The company was originally a tire and service center founded in 1958 by Harold Coker. He would later give his son Corky Coker the opportunity to manage the antique division, which was a small percentage of the company's earnings. Corky devoted 40 years to growing the antique division of the business, eventually making it the company's primary focus. Corky retired in 2014, and he appointed Wade Kawasaki as President to oversee the operations of six companies and numerous brands under the Coker Group. In November 2018, Corky sold Coker Tire and its parent company, Coker Group, to Irving Place Capital.
Airless tires, non-pneumatic tires (NPT), or flat-free tires are tires that are not supported by air pressure. They can be used on small vehicles such as ride-on lawn mowers and motorized golf carts. They also are used on heavy equipment required to operate on sites where risk of tire punctures is high. Tires composed of closed-cell polyurethane foam are also made for bicycles and wheelchairs.
A tubeless tire is a pneumatic tire that does not require a separate inner tube.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to tires:
The Dominion Tire Plant, later known as the Uniroyal Tire Plant then the Uniroyal-Goodrich Tire Plant and today known as AirBoss Rubber Compounding is a rubber and tire company located on Glasgow Street in Kitchener, Ontario. It is the largest independent rubber mixing plant in North America.
The Charles Goodyear Medal is the highest honor conferred by the American Chemical Society, Rubber Division. Established in 1941, the award is named after Charles Goodyear, the discoverer of vulcanization, and consists of a gold medal, a framed certificate and prize money. The medal honors individuals for "outstanding invention, innovation, or development which has resulted in a significant change or contribution to the nature of the rubber industry". Awardees give a lecture at an ACS Rubber Division meeting, and publish a review of their work in the society's scientific journal Rubber Chemistry and Technology.
Frank Herzegh invented the first successful tubeless tire.
The Budd–Michelin rubber-tired rail cars were built by the Budd Company in the United States between 1931 and 1933 using French firm Michelin's "Micheline" rail car design. Michelin built its first rail car in 1929, and by 1932 had built a fleet of nine cars that all featured innovative and distinctive pneumatic tires. In September 1931, an agreement signed between the two companies allowed Budd to use the new rubber rail tires on its shot-welded, stainless-steel carbodies, and at the same time allowed Michelin to expand into the American market.
Tire lettering is the practice of putting, or drawing visible letters on the sidewall of an automobile's tires. In modern usage, the lettering is often big car brands or tire brands names, with custom lettering being a much smaller niche of that. It can also refer to other after market customizations to the side wall of the tire, such as the "white wall tire" look, but any color of the spectrum is available now, including "rainbow wall tires".
The Diamond Rubber Company was a manufacturer of vehicle tires and other rubber products at the end of the 19th, and into the early 20th century in the United States.