Three Easy Ways to Extend OTR Tyre Life

3 Easy Ways to Extend OTR Tyre Life

Whether you operate in the mining & earthmoving business, hauling freight across the country or your machines handle containers at port and terminal sites. Tyres play an essential role in keeping you on the move. Downtime is costly and always inconvenient at the least. Especially unscheduled downtime due to malfunction or damage. Looking after your machinery and tyres is essential for a smooth operating business. Below we will show you three easy ways to extend OTR tyre life.

The Easiest Way to Extend OTR Tyre Life

Magna Tyres develops tyres which are specifically designed to operate in harsh environments. While our tyres can take a beating without issue, you can easily extend tyre life by taking proper care of them and avoiding unnecessary risks. Not every risk is avoidable. One of those unavoidable factors is climate. Climate and changing weather conditions influence the lifespan of a tyre but can obviously not be changed. However, the way one operates machinery in various weather conditions can be. Moderating speed and braking under harsh weather conditions is an easy way to extend the life of your OTR tyres.

Also, taking lateral forces into account while operating machinery on OTR tyres can drastically improve tyre life. That means hard cornering around sharp bends while carrying too much speed. This obviously puts more stress and friction on the OTR tyre than necessary. In general, the easiest way to extend tyre life is adapting an appropriate driving style in general.

Tyre Pressure Is Key

It is proven that there is a direct connection between tyre pressure and tyre life. Inflating a tyre to the right pressure is essential for an OTR tyre to perform as it should. Overinflating makes a tyre more vulnerable to incisions and increases the chance of damage when colliding with rough objects. Underinflating causes the tyrewall to deform and deteriorate faster. OTR applications often require carrying heavy loads. By not inflating the tyre properly, the weight puts more stress on the tyre than necessary. This will result in a heavier wear, thus reducing tyre life. The increased wear of the OTR tyre will decrease the TKPH (Tonne Kilometres per Hour) and will increase the overall operating costs.

Make sure you check tyre pressure levels on a regular basis to avoid unnecessary damage to your OTR tyres. Not sure what pressure level is appropriate for your specific tyre application? Check our brochures for more specific information on every available tyre per industry.

Efficiency is Essential

This applies to every sector, which often translates to carrying as much load as possible in the smallest amount of time. Attempts to maximise efficiency usually results in overloading a vehicle. While the vehicle has to make fewer trips to move the same amount of cargo, frequent overloading causes major deformation at the edges of the tyre. This will result in a faster decline of tyre health. Continuously overloading could even terminate a tyre altogether, even though the tread may still be in a healthy condition

Tyres consist of a certain amount of components. Two key elements are the carcass and the tread. Overloading can cause the tread to come loose from the carcass due to higher temperature it causes inside the tyre. In some cases treads can be replaced, but treads coming loose while operating can cause major damage to the carcass and even serious injury to operators in- and outside the vehicle. Therefore, make sure vehicles carry the correct load and tyres are checked regularly to operate efficiently and mitigate risks at the same time.