Continental tyres chosen for world’s largest observation wheel

Huge wheels are no stranger to Continental. Its tyres have long been used in the operation of the London Eye – Europe’s tallest observation wheel. Now, Continental’s tyres are being used to help operate Ain Dubai – the world’s largest and tallest observation wheel, located on Bluewaters Island.

Dubai Holding has chosen Continental’s TerminalMaster tyres for their quality and reliability, as it’s absolutely essential for the smooth and consistent rotation of the wheel, with minimal down time.

Turning with the help of hydraulic motors, the 64 tyres serve as friction rollers in the drive systems at either end of the boarding platform to keep Ain Dubai turning on its slow and steady rotation, giving its guests unparalleled 360-degree views of the emirate in premium comfort.

Designed and developed to withstand the extremely harsh conditions, huge payloads and long service life required in its prime application of port container terminals, the Continental 310/80R22.5 TerminalMaster tyre is also the perfect fit for this interesting niche application.

Produced in Continental’s own production site in Otrokovice, Czech Republic this heavy-duty tubeless tyre features an extra-deep tread profile and industrial-strength casing, with a higher resistance to damage and punctures than standard tyres.

The reinforced bead construction, special wear-resistant compound and excellent traction interact seamlessly with the observation wheels drive system. These qualities all combine to produce an incredibly long-serving, high-performance product, perfect for the hours of operation and high levels of safety required for the operation of Ain Dubai.

To further optimise the tyres’ performance, each of them is digitally monitored by ContiConnect and ContiPressureCheck, which give continuous feedback on each tyre’s condition and advance notification if corrective actions related to the tyres are needed. These intelligent solutions are displayed on a web portal or app, which can deliver reports and analytics in addition to the constant monitoring.

This intelligent technology means each tyre runs at optimum pressure and gives maximum uptime, which also equates to supreme safety, not to mention energy efficiency and the longest possible lifespan.

It’s easy to misjudge the scale of the tyres without some context: Each one measures 1,070 millimetres in diameter, and weighs in at 71.2 kg. Ain Dubai is made up of 11,200 tonnes of steel, 2,400 km of cable, and has capacity for up to 1,750 visitors across 48 cabins.