Sumitomo Encounter Tires

Sumitomo Rubber Industries can trace its roots all the way back to 1909 in Japan; today, Sumitomo makes a wide range of rubber products as well as tires, including tennis balls, golf balls, industrial rubber products, and sporting goods. With their Encounter tire family, Sumitomo meets the needs of drivers of light trucks and SUVs, with tires that are designed around the power, torque, weight, center of gravity, handling, and overall driving dynamics of today’s vehicles. Packed with innovations and quality, the Sumitomo Encounter tire family is in it to win with versatile performance and outstanding value. Let’s get a closer look at what the Sumitomo Encounter tire family is all about:

Sumitomo Encounter HT2

The Encounter HT2 is Sumitomo’s all-season highway-terrain tire for light trucks and SUVs. The Encounter HT2 is designed for confident traction, handling, road manners, and braking along with year-round performance in everything but heavy snow. The Encounter HT2 is designed with a long-wearing damage-resistant tread compound, with internal construction that includes a polyester casing and two high-tensile steel belts with a 2-ply sidewall that’s beefed up for the weight and load capacity of light trucks. The Encounter HT2’s tread pattern features four wide circumferential grooves that resist hydroplaning by routing water away from the tire’s contact patch on wet roads and wave-shaped sipes that multiply traction and braking in wet or snowy conditions with hundreds of hair-thin edges. The smooth, curved shoulder of the Encounter HT2 is designed to cut noise, vibration and harshness as well as enhancing road manners and handling, and the continuous center rib gives the Encounter HT2 solid straight-line stability and quick, responsive steering. Sumitomo covers the Encounter HT2 with a 60,000 mile limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty.

Sumitomo Encounter AT

The Encounter AT from Sumitomo is an all-terrain tire that’s designed for robust performance and durability off the pavement, balanced with capable handling and a quiet composed ride on the highway. The Encounter AT features an aggressive all-terrain tread with wide grooves and variable width shoulder block lugs that force stones, mud, and debris out of the tread to protect the casing and ensure there’s always a clear section of the tread to dig in as the wheel turns. The sipe design of the Encounter AT helps to ensure dependable winter grip, and the Encounter AT has the 3 Peak Mountain Snowflake certification for severe winter service. The tread pitch of the Encounter AT is randomized and computer-tuned to keep road noise to a minimum by suppressing certain frequencies and overtones. Sumitomo covers the Encounter aT with a 60,000 mile limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty.

Other Sumitomo Encounter tires

Along with the Encounter HT2 and Encounter AT, the Sumitomo Encounter tire family also includes:

• Sumitomo Encounter HT: The Encounter HT is a highway-terrain tire that’s designed for the kind of road manners, low noise, ride quality, and handling you’d expect from a Grand Touring passenger tire. The Encounter HT features an all-season five-rib tread pattern with circumferential grooves and a network of sipes and is covered by Sumitomo with a 60,000 mile limited manufacturer’s tread life warranty.