Tyre Maintenance Tips For Your Heavy Equipment – Being forewarned is being forearmed!

This can be the most simple function of checking the cost per hour of your tyres by monitoring the hour metre. Employ the practice of checking the hour metre when new tyres are installed and when you replace them, tracking these on a simple spreadsheet is a proactive action giving you that insight into which brand of tyres give you the most mileage, which surfaces of running are the easiest and difficult for tyres as well as which operators are careful in handling the equipment. In addition to this more astute teams also analyze failures which are when a tyre has to be pulled out from service suddenly. The biggest tyre manufacturers research these aspects to refine their end product.

All contractors may not be experts in tyres, however, the tyre servicing dealer and their staff have the expertise and the tools. Check for tyre tracking tools they use and include the provision of those tracking tools into your contract with the dealer. This is also a way to have a communication channel with the tyre servicing dealer as you can request for a field technician from the dealer to visit your premises and assist in the input of data and provide reports as a value addition to the service.

A master air gauge should be a mandatory feature at each operator's premises as recommended by manufacturers such as GRI Tires. All drivers must be briefed and trained to do the accurate pressure gauge and check their tyres ideally daily or as a minimum check every week and ensure sealing valve caps are in place as under or overinflating can reduce the life span of the tyres and even cause a possible safety risk.

It is always prudent to do this close inspection of the tyres before operating. Any untoward change such as bumps, bubbles, wear in the tread, debris being pierced into the tyres or any such unusual signs should be verified before operating. If in doubt consult a trained service technician who would check the problem and offer a remedy or do a repair.

Mixing tyres do happen to increase the life of a tyre in good condition. However, take care to match tyres that have the same tread depths, tread pattern and same diameter. If this basic matching is not followed the damage to the components of the equipment can be enormous as a mismatch of tyres causes loss of traction and performance.

When tyres are not in use store them in a cool dry place away from direct sunlight, this reduces undue ageing of the tyres. Exposure to sun, powerful lighting and inclement weather is not recommended. When storing be mindful to store them standing on the tread and not stacked on their sidewalls.