How to select the right OTR tire for your operation

Trucks at construction and mining sites often travel across challenging surfaces whilst carrying heavy loads. The tires on these vehicles can be exposed to tremendous forces. That's why it's critical that you select the right tires for these profit-generating machines.

There are numerous factors that should be considered when selecting tires for haul trucks and assessing your site's footprint tops the list. Before selecting a specific tire, you should have a thorough understanding of your vehicles' on-site activities.

At mine sites, this can be accomplished by mounting a location tracking unit on a truck and letting the vehicle run for a designated period. This will help you develop a "site map." At the same time, you should track the distance the truck travels, its speed and the load that it's carrying.

Then take the average load and multiply that number by the vehicle's average speed. This will give you the site's ton-kilometres-per-hour (TKM/H) or ton-kilometers-per-hour (TKPH) rating.

Every OTR tire, regardless of application, also has a specific TKM/H or TKPH rating, which represents the maximum recommended load the tire can carry at a certain speed. In each case, you want to pick a tire whose TKM/H or TKMP is higher than the site's TKM/H or TKPH rating. This will help ensure you've selected the right tire for the site.