Opinion: How Michelin’s ResiCare helped make 100 million tires

In 2006, Michelin’s laboratories embarked on a journey to develop a non-toxic, high-performance resin solution. This ambition gave birth to ResiCare, a dedicated subsidiary to make this innovation accessible to the entire industry, including Michelin’s competitors. The results speak for themselves: over 100 million tires have been manufactured using ResiCare resin, marking a major milestone in sustainable tire production.

A plug-and-play innovation, ResiCare resin replaces the resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) component in the traditional RFL (resorcinol formaldehyde latex) solution, enabling manufacturers to maintain adhesion and peel strength, without modifying their existing dipping lines. This approach ensures a smooth transition to safer chemistry, with minimal disruption to production. ResiCare’s solution, free from substances meeting SVHC (Substances of Very High Concern) criteria, offers a safer alternative to formaldehyde, classified as a carcinogen 1B since 2016, and resorcinol, recognized as a Category 1 endocrine disruptor by EU and REACH regulations.

ResiCare is already fully deployed at industrial scale across Europe and Asia and has been validated by five major converters – enabling an international network, with eight industrial production sites. It has been tested and deployed globally, with strong support from Michelin’s teams to overcome industrialization and scale-up challenges. Today, ResiCare is not just a viable alternative, it’s the fastest-deployed RF-free system on the market. While some may be tempted to compare costs per kilogram, this misses the broader value proposition – ResiCare is a premium solution but not just in price, also in what it delivers.

Traditional RF resins come with hidden costs: regulatory compliance, worker safety measures and environmental liabilities. European directives like 2004/37 are already pushing manufacturers to reduce formaldehyde exposure. ResiCare anticipates this shift, offering a futureproof alternative that reduces risk and simplifies operations.