PRACTICAL TEST: Almost all tractor tyre manufacturers now have a standard and VF design. We had both types tested by the Technical University of Dresden in our exclusive test.
To be clear, this is not a comparison that looks at all of the aspects of a tyre and then helps to make a buying decision. To do that, we would also need to include aspects such as the capability to get power onto the ground, ride comfort when on the road, durability and purchase price. Depending on the workload, these factors would have different degrees of importance when making a final buying decision.
Instead, with this comparison, we are only providing an initial overview of what modern tyres are capable of in terms of deflection and contact area. The TU Dresden supported us by making the measurements on their test bench, more details of which appear on the following page in “How the measurements were taken”.
The test candidates
We submitted the following 650/65 R42 tyres to the test:
● Alliance Agristar 365 Standard and Agristar 365 Agriflex
● BKT Agrimax RT657 and Agrimax V-Flecto
● Ceat Farmax R65 and Torquemax
● Michelin Multibib, Multibib Plus and Axiobib2
● Trelleborg TM800 and TM1000 PT
● Vredestein Traxion 65 and Optimall
Michelin supplied the Multibib and Multibib Plus, because standard tyres are available with various weight bearing abilities. The Multibib (also the Trelleborg TM800 and the Vredestein Traxion 65) boasts a load/speed index of 158 D (max. 4,250kg wheel load rating at 65km/hr with 1.6 bar); the Multibib Plus and the standard tyres from BKT and Ceat come with a load/speed index of 165
D (5,150kg, 65km/hr, 2.4 bar). The Alliance Agristar even has 170 D (6,000kg, 65km/hr, 3.0 bar).
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