A comprehensive service from Michelin
Michelin offer a service that helps operators get the best performance out of their tyres
Not only do Michelin offer a comprehensive range of specialist tyres for loaders and dumpers, the company can also help operators to get the best out of them. Michelin’s philosophy has always been ‘the right tyre for the right application at the right pressure’. This sounds simple but, in practice, it can be difficult for quarry and mine managers to keep abreast of how changes in their working practices/areas affect tyre performance.
In the UK alone, Michelin have six dedicated regional sales managers who make regular visits to quarries and mines in order to evaluate tyre performance and give advice on how to get the most out of Michelin tyres.
This advice can be as simple as giving the optimum tyre pressure for the application or as detailed as an in-depth study of the average working day as it relates to the tyre. The latter entails following the circuit and making observations and comments about the loading areas, the haul roads and the unloading area.
In addition, a ‘performance box’ may be fitted to a dumper to give an accurate measure of speed, distance, time, relative height above sea level and the radius of any tight turns. All this allows the Michelin tyre professional to understand the amount of heat generated in the tyre during the working day. Every dumper tyre has a tonne kilometre per hour (TKPH) figure. This gives an indication as to how efficiently it dissipates the heat generated in its normal work cycle.
In general, rock pattern tyres have a lower TKPH than traction pattern tyres. Michelin’s tyre professionals can advise on the best tyre pattern for the site in question based on accurate data and experience, having taken into account all the factors described above.
Not only can Michelin staff help the quarry manager get the most out of his or her Michelin tyres while running, should the tyre be damaged, they can also advise on the best repair workshops. In conjunction with Rema Tip Top (the UK market leader in repair materials), Michelin have set up an Accredited Repair Programme. The participants in this scheme are Kal Tire in Alfreton, Earthmover Tyres in Wakefield and Redpath Tyres in Duns.
In order to be accredited, these repairers must pass a strict initial audit that ensures that repairs are carried out to a consistently high standard. Follow-up audits are carried out annually and customer satisfaction surveys are conducted regularly to ensure that the standard is maintained. Specialist training of the individuals who actually carry out the repairs is mandatory, so users can be confident in the safety and longevity of repairs to Michelin tyres carried out by these repairers.
Michelin’s commitment to the earthmoving industry means that the company strives for continuous innovation. For loaders, the L3 market benchmark since the 1990s has been the XHA. With load-and-carry loaders becoming more and more sophisticated, factors such as driver comfort have come to the fore. The XHA2, replacement for the XHA, was launched in 2009. Not only has the tread been subtly changed to reduce vibration, it also has 10% deeper original tread depth than its predecessor and is also more resistant to sidewall cuts.
For articulated dumptrucks the X Super Terrain E4 tyre offers improved tractive effort, damage resistance and self-cleaning for trucks in difficult operating conditions.
The Michelin E4R offering is the XDR2 – the successor of the XDR. It features improvements in tread depth, greater resistance to cuts and penetrations as well as innovations to reduce heat build-up during long hauls, thus improving the life of the tyre.
