Every Continental tire goes through Uvalde, Texas.
The 4,927-acre facility carved out of the blistering desert hosts a variety of tracks, laboratories and other features for testing tires. Joshua Swain, training manager for Continental, says if their engineers can dream it, Uvalde can build it.
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More and more, Uvalde also tests other vehicle components. Only about 30% of Conti’s business comes from tires any more, says Trey Thompson, who manages a field solutions team for ContiConnect, the company’s tire pressure management system. More than 1 billion vehicles worldwide have Continental parts, whether owners or drivers know it or not. Most of those parts are white-labeled or bear the OEM’s name. Most of those go through Uvalde’s punishment, too.
3:09 p.m., 134 degrees
None of the media corps invited by Continental to the Uvalde Proving Grounds knew that a car thermometer would go so high. It became a terrifying sort of game, watching it climb from station to station during the ContiXperience, a one-day event that brings press, fleets and other customers to Uvalde to see, touch and drive the products.
To say it was hot was an understatement. As soon as you stepped out of the climate-controlled Ford Transit van, the heat tugged at your life force. Conti personnel pushed waters and had fans going, but it was still withering. It was as much of a test on people and equipment as any of the obstacles engineers created in Uvalde. While the sun baked, vehicles and tires were pushed to their limits.
