Founded in 1915 by William O’Neil and his partner, Winfred Fouse, General Tire and Rubber Company was an outgrowth of Western Tire & Rubber Company. At the time, General Tire entered a market with over 300 competitors, but was determined to get a market share of replacement tire sales. The first tire that General Tire mass-produced was the General Jumbo, a pneumatic truck tire that was first in its class of tire. In the mid-1920’s, General invented the General Balloon Jumbos, the first tire to only need 12 pounds of air pressure revolutionizing all tire manufacturing concepts. By 1955, General finally entered the passenger car replacement tire market. General Tire and Rubber Company changed their name in 1984 to GenCorp, Inc, before getting purchased by Continental AG of Hannover, Germany in 1987. Presently, General Tire is wholly owned subsidiary of Continental Tire North America, Inc and leads the pack in development, production, and marketing of quality tires for automobile applications.

General Tire’s most popular tire is the Altimax HP. This tire is a high-performance tire that uses advanced technology to give the tire exceptional tread life, low noise, and excellent ride comfort. Visual Alignment Indicators (VAI), Acoustic Modulation Sound Technology (AMST), a Twin Cushion Silica Tread Compound, and Reactive Contour Technology, are technologies used to ensure a quality product. Visual Alignment Indicators (VAI) is a user-friendly application that allows the driver to know when the tread has reached its minimum before needing replacement, with a unique stamp that turns from “Replacement Tire Monitor” to “Replace Tire”. Acoustic Modulation Sound Technology (AMST) is a technology that reduces tire noise on roads. A Twin Cushion Tread Compound gives extra support to the tire, allowing for a smooth ride. To add traction, Reactive Contour Technology was used, giving the tires the ability to react to the road surface, giving the driver more control of the car.

The Perfect complement to the high performance vehicle is the General Grabber UHP. This Performance tire ensures confident cornering and stability using high-tech components. Some features of the Grabber UHP are: V-shaped tread pattern with grooves from center of the tire too the shoulders, a flat belt contour, with shallow slots and an increased depth pattern in the shoulder area, and an advanced sound technology with increased noise reduction from varying groove angles.

A light truck option for on and off-road, All-terrain that General Tire manufactures is the Grabber AT². The Graber has a unique self-cleaning tread pattern that gives the tire extremely good traction capabilities. The Grabber AT² has five rows of tread with multiple traction edges, that gives the tire unmatched off-road traction. The extra-deep, highly engineered Acoustic Tread Pattern increases tread life and gives the tire a quiet sound on road and highway driving even with all the traction tread.