Sentury adds mud-terrain LT tire to GroundSpeed brand

Sentury Tire North America L.L.C. is adding a mud-terrain light-truck tire, the Voyager MT, to its GroundSpeed tire brand, completing the year-old brand's range of passenger, SUV and light truck tires.

The new tire line will debut at the 2017 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas.

LaGrange.-based Sentury Tire North America, a subsidiary of China's Qingdao Sentury Tire Co. Ltd., launched the GroundSpeed brand at the 2016 SEMA Show.

Sentury said the Voyager MT is designed to "churn through mud, over rocks and other off-road challenges...regardless of terrain and weather."

Sentury said it uses an exclusive rubber compound to ensure the tire delivers superior performance on the road to and from the trail. The MT launches with eight LT sizes — in 15-, 17-, 18- and 20-inch rim diameters — and is backed by Sentury manufacturer warranty.The GroundSpeed line is manufactured at Qingdao Sentury's plant in Thailand, but plans call for it to be produced at the 1.4 million-sq.-ft. plant that Sentury is building in LaGrange once that factory in on stream in 2019, the company said.

According to Sentury, the GroundSpeed Voyager MT features:A "self-cleaning" design that combines a balanced void ratio and special corner cut edges to remove mud and dirt from the tread;Deep center sipes for traction and reduced hydroplaning risk on wet or slick, snow-covered roads;Deep-cut shoulder blocks with alternating cut-outs to reduce noise and to provide grip in muddy, sandy or snowy terrain, along with increased off-road traction;Wide-block Max Traction tread design for extreme mud and rock crawling, while retaining civil on-road driving performance; andA sidewall design that prevents damage and delivers optimum grip during deep mud motoring and rock climbing.