Federal Tire will increase prices by 7% across its full line of tires, effective October 1, 2006. This seems to be an unavoidable trend amongst all major tire manufacturers. "Rocketing prices of raw materials such as natural rubber, carbon black and other petroleum products and higher transportation costs have made this price adjustment inevitable for us," says a company spokesperson. "We are already doing all we can to absorb these costs, passing on as little as possible to end-users."