CHESTERFIELD, MISSOURI, US — The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company’s first soy-based city transit tires could remove up to 20 barrels of oil from the production of tires to outfit a metropolitan area’s bus fleet, the company noted in its May 4 announcement of the Metro Miler G152 and G652 tires.

The majority of Goodyear Metro Miler G152 and G652 tires will now use soybean oil to displace petroleum while delivering the same performance benefits, the company said. The United Soybean Board (USB) said these are the fifth commercially available soy-based tires resulting from the USB’s soy checkoff research investment with Goodyear. 

“USB is excited that Goodyear has released another tire that builds on the soy checkoff’s research collaboration with them,” said Susan A. Watkins, director with USB and a soybean farmer from Sutherland, Virginia, US. “The availability of these tires responds to what we have heard from fleet leaders from across the nation: They want more tires with soy for sustainability and performance.”

Dustin Lancy, commercial product manager, Goodyear North America, said the Metro Miler G152 and G652 tires significantly reduce the amount of petroleum-based materials needed for production.

“In these tires, soybean oil replaces about 11 liquid ounces of free-flowing petroleum oil per tire — almost as much as a traditional soda can,” Lancy said. “Multiply that by a bus fleet of 1,600 buses, about the size used by some major metropolitan cities in the US, and that could mean the use of around 20 fewer barrels of oil.”