• Bridgestone releases the R168II – the second generation of the market leading R168 trailer tyre.
• R168II prolongs the removal of the tyre by up to 10 per cent and has improved wear appearance compared to the already impressive R168.
• Engineered for Australian conditions through nearly 9 million kilometres of on road testing.

ADELAIDE, South Australia (4 March, 2024) — Truck tyre industry leader, Bridgestone, has updated its main trailer fitment and launched the R168II in the primary 11R22.5 size. The new generation tyre offers even greater wear life and reliability than the current market benchmark, the R168, and provides even more value to operators.

R168II is engineered and developed specifically for Australian conditions, and to tackle a wide range of applications. The R168II builds on a decade of success of the R168 and applies insights from the development of other truck and bus tyres introduced to Bridgestone’s range in recent years such as the R154 Eco steer tyre, wear life champion M866 drive tyre, and market leading low-rolling resistance Ecopia M749II drive tyre.

Bridgestone Australia’s Sales Director, Claudio Sodano, says the launch of the R168II highlights how Bridgestone is continually resetting the benchmark for the industry.

“There’s no denying how popular and successful the R168 has been over the past decade, but we identified ways to build on its success and make it an even better tyre in the R168II. This demonstrates how committed we are to the Australian trucking industry and that we don’t rest on our laurels,” Mr Sodano said.

“We take customer feedback seriously, and the R168II was developed in answer to feedback from the industry about how the already leading tyre could be even better – specifically around prolonging the removal point.”

R168II leverages the strength and reputation of R168’s compound, construction, and pattern design. Its development focused on three key areas: improvements to irregular wear and worn appearance, increased wear resistance, and increased removal life.

The footprint of the R168II has been optimised through a revised mould design, leading to better irregular wear resistance, and better worn appearance, particularly shoulder edge wear, compared to the predecessor R168. The optimised footprint also led to improved wear resistance and better wear balance, resulting the in the increased removal life.

The enhancements to irregular wear resistance and wear balance have seen an improvement of up to 10 per cent in removal life1 compared to the first-generation tyre, and up to 15 per cent better than its nearest competitor2. R168II’s unmatched service life is proven through an extensive evaluation program over nearly 9 million kilometres of testing conducted over five years.

Bridgestone tested R168II using 12 fleet customers across the full array of applications: linehaul, regional, urban, and metropolitan use, mild to medium on/off-road use to ensure its versatility and durability for all uses. It was only approved once it exceeded the ambitious development targets set in the rigorous R&D process. R168II proved itself in the unique demands of the Australian market – with three cycles of prototype enhancements made before the final iteration was endorsed.

“Customers can take confidence in Bridgestone’s R&D process, with the R168II having proven itself as a step up across all conditions against the already market leading first generation R168,” Mr Sodano added.

“Like all of our market leading truck and bus products, R168II was developed specifically for Australian conditions, with extensive input from Bridgestone’s local Technical Field Services team, and tested using real-world conditions through actual customers.”

"Due to its rugged construction, R168II can have multiple lives through the Bandag retreading process. The construction of the R168II case features a top body ply insert for improved casing durability, and a wider fourth belt for greater protection and more uniform contact pressure. The dual-compound tread also provides greater heat resistance for the R168II, protecting the case even further and allowing it to be retreaded multiple times."

The R168II is the first of several new truck and bus products to be released in 2024 and is available now through Bridgestone’s national network of truck tyre providers.