Fleets and Farmers Welcome More Natural Choices for Driving with Soybean Oil in Their Tires

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company recently announced that the Wrangler® Workhorse® HT is Goodyear’s eighth line of tires that contain a soybean oil compound. This builds upon the company’s 11-year-old relationship with U.S. soybean growers through their soy checkoff.

“Innovation and agriculture grow together with soy checkoff investments like our work with Goodyear,” said United Soybean Board Director Todd Hanten who grows soybeans in South Dakota.

The Goodyear Wrangler® Workhorse® HT is available in 34 sizes and is compatible with a wide range of today’s most popular sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and pick-up trucks. Select LT and C-type sizes incorporate innovative soybean oil technology within the tread compound, which replaces a portion of the petroleum-based materials used in production. Goodyear has a goal to fully replace petroleum-derived oils in its tires by 2040.

In addition, Goodyear started 2023 by unveiling a demonstration tire comprised of 90% sustainable materials. This demonstration tire contains 17 featured ingredients, including soybean oil, across 12 tire compounds. It has also passed all applicable regulatory testing as well as Goodyear’s internal testing.

Bringing a 90% sustainable-material tire to market will require further collaboration with the company’s supply base to identify the scale necessary for these innovative materials to produce that specific tire at high volumes.

“We continue to make progress toward our goal of introducing the first 100% sustainable-material tire in the industry by 2030,” said Chris Helsel, senior vice president, Global Operations and Chief Technology Officer. “The past year was a pivotal one toward achieving this goal. We researched new technologies, identified opportunities for further collaboration and utilized our team’s tenacity to demonstrate our capabilities to produce a 90% sustainable-material tire. Our team continues to showcase its innovation and commitment to building a better future.”

USB supported Goodyear research that discovered that soybean oil could improve tire flexibility at low temperatures, helping the rubber to remain pliable in cold weather and enhancing traction in rain and snow.

Goodyear offers the following tires with soybean oil in their compounds.

  • Assurance WeatherReady™ line introduced in 2017. The Assurance WeatherReady is Goodyear’s Grand Touring All-Season tire designed for the drivers of family sedans, coupes, crossovers, SUVs and minivans.
  • Assurance ComfortDrive ™ all-season tire offers comfort, performance and sustainability with ComfortFlex Technology, designed for smoother transitions and impact absorption.
  • Eagle Enforcer All Weather™ police tire that provides year-round, responsive performance for police vehicles that handle demanding operating conditions.
  • Eagle Exhilarate™ line aimed at the ultra-high-performance market-drivers. Introduced in 2019, the Eagle Exhilarate is designed to offer better traction and handling for faster acceleration and more precise control, especially in wet weather.
  • Endurance™ WHA is designed to keep waste haul fleets on the road longer with a dual-layer tread compound that helps optimize treadwear. Add to that, rolling resistance and a deep 24/32″ skid depth for long tread life. Additionally, the Endurance WHA comes with optional built-in DuraSeal Technology® that instantly seals tread punctures.
  • 2 lines of Metro Miler – G152 and G652 for transit buses Both tire models also feature technology designed to resist sidewall damage, enhance toughness and provide long tread life. Reinforced shoulders and steel sidewalls help deliver long casing life.
  • Goodyear Wrangler Workhorse HT tires are a good choice for a number of all-terrain vehicles, including the Ford Explorer, Escape and F-Series; the Chevrolet Silverado, Traverse and Tahoe; the Toyota Tundra, Tacoma and 4Runner; the GMC Acadia, Yukon and Sierra; and the Honda CR-V, Odyssey and Pilot.