Michelin voted by farmers as the best tire in the Ag Industry!
An independent marketing research firm recently surveyed 300 US and Canadian farmers
... Find out what they learned!
A little history…
The story of the farmer's wheel
The area in contact with the ground (contact patch) was small.
… then wheels were made wider to reduce sinkage in soft ground ...
These wider wheels had:
wider contact patch (footprint)
same length contact patch
no comfort
load bearing only (no drive tires)
increased (contact patch) width
These wheels would sink until the contact area was sufficient to support the load...
Average ground contact pressure in this footprint:
......ground deforms to provide flotation
no comfort
resistance to motion
a bow wave is created
a rut is formed
We can calculate average ground contact...
Calculate average ground contact area (footprint):
- A = length x width
- A = 6" x 4" = 24 in2
Calculate average ground contact pressure:
- P = load/area
- P = 900 lbs/24 in2
- P = 38 psi
However, the ground pressure at bottom center of wheel is much higher
Eventually animal-drawn vehicles gave way to self-propelled machines… Metal wheels
were introduced, to which numerous devices were added to provide traction.
Now however, grip in all directions was needed…
At this stage, today's familiar "chevron"
pattern was half on the left and half on the right of the tractor.
Then came a breakthrough: the BIAS-PLY pneumatic tire...
Rubber: high coefficient of friction and elasticity
Much better comfort
Freedom of lug design
Bigger contact area: due to the tire's limited capacity to deform
More powerful tractors possible
Patented and introduced by Michelin® in 1946 for the automotive industry, radial tire construction is recognized worldwide
for its ability to deliver numerous benefits that bias-ply tires cannot:
