Michelin has announced the launch of its latest range of tires aimed at the agricultural market. The Agribib Row Crop IF (Improved Flexion) tires will be manufactured at the company’s Troyes plant in France and have been specifically designed for use on self-propelled and trailered sprayers, as well as on low- to medium-horsepower row crop tractors ranging from 70ps to 182ps.
All of the tires in the range use Michelin’s Ultraflex technology, which creates a larger tire footprint to help protect soil against compaction and improves traction at the same time. They also feature strengthened sidewalls to enable them to operate at lower air pressures. The design aims to protect soil and improve crop yield and productivity.
Michelin says that the Agribib Row Crop IF will offer farmers and contractors major benefits, including a higher load capacity due to its Improved Flexion casing as standard, a reduction in soil compaction thanks to a 20% larger ground contact area, and increased traction due to 14% greater lug contact in the tread pattern and a deeper R1W standard tread.
“Today’s sprayers have larger and larger tanks to increase productivity and reduce the number of trips a farmer has to make to refill,” commented Ludovic Labeaume, agricultural product category manager at Michelin. “To adapt to this new trend, we have developed the Michelin Agribib Row Crop IF range, which allows a heavier load capacity to be carried at the same pressure as a standard tire while having more lugs on the ground and improving traction in muddy conditions. When these tires are used on tractors that do not need an increase in load, the farmer can also work at a lower air pressure due to the IF standard, resulting in reduced soil compaction.”
The Agribib Row Crop IF tires will be available in five sizes: IF 380/90 R 50 167A8/167B, IF 320/85 R 38 151A8/151B, IF 380/90 R 46 165A8/165B, IF 320/90 R 54 159A8/159B and IF 320/90 R 50 158A8/158B.
