 Yokohama Tire, the North American subsidiary of Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd., has introduced a new tire that replaces much of its petroleum with oil derived from orange peels instead. 'The eco-focused dB Super E-spec mixes sustainable orange oil and natural rubber to drastically cut the use of petroleum, without compromising performance,' said Dan King, the company's vice president of sales. 'It also helps consumers save money at the gas pump by improving fuel efficiency via a 20-percent reduction in rolling resistance.' The tire, known by the moniker Super E-spec, is made from vulcanized rubber just like other tires. While most vulcanized rubber tires use petroleum combined with natural rubber, the Super E-spec has replaced 80 percent of its petroleum use with orange oil. The oil is extracted from what Yokohama calls a 'no-emission factory' and acquires orange peels from an orange juice factory next door. The Super E-spec has already been introduced into Yokohama's line of racing tires and is now used exclusively at the Porsche GT3 Cup race 'Patron GT3 Challenge.' It has been used in both short and 24-hour races. 'The idea of combining oil from orange peels with natural rubber was conceived by our racing engineers,' said director of corporate strategy and planning Mark Chung. 'The tire has been tested in racing applications to see what the true limitations are. The level of technology has matured to where we offer it for the passenger car lineup.' Initially, the Super E-spec will be offered in 15- and 16-inch diameters for hybrid vehicles such as the Toyota Prius. Toyota Camry hybrid, Honda Civic hybrid and Honda Accord hybrid, as well as some non-hybrid cars including the Nissan Versa, Volkswagen Golf and natural gas-powered GX. Eventually, the tires will be offered in other sizes for both cars and sport-utility vehicles. The company has not released information on how the ecological impact of disposing of the Super E-spec compares with disposing of other tires. Sources for this story include: earth911.com; www.detnews.com . 