Goodyear announces new OPTITRAC farm tyre product strategy
Goodyear is please to announce a significant change to the future product line up in its successful OPTITRAC range of farm radial drive tyres that has sold over 1 Million tires since its introduction.
The current line up of tyres in this range is DT800 narrow tyres for row crop work, DT806 85 series tyres, DT812 70 series tyres, DT818 HIGH SPEED 65 series tyres, DT824 high volume tyres, DT830 Super volume tyres and finally the R+ high speed and high load tyres for tractors.
Goodyear has carried out detailed analysis of the trends in the market and decided to adapt the family names of the largest tyres in the OPTITRAC range to match them more closely to the performance demands of the largest machines operating in agricultural applications.
The change will see the phase out of the DT824 and DT830 families which will be replaced by 2 application specific tyre ranges:
Firstly an expanded OPTITRAC R+ range which is designed for high spec tractors above 160HP. These tractors are increasingly operating at high speeds up to 70Kmh and have higher axle loads; they are also carrying out many different applications including increased road time.
Secondly, Goodyear is introducing a new OPTITRAC product called OPTITRAC H+. This new range is designed for machines carrying out harvesting operations which demand very specific performance criteria. These machines run over the road with constant axle loads, they then work in the field with very different axle loads and may include cyclic loads when the machine has a hopper or tank that is being filled and emptied in recurring cycles.
The OPTITRAC H+ range will also include tyres which are designed to operate at higher deflection levels, these tyres are marked with the letters IF as a prefix to the size and CFO as a suffix. These tyres have been designed in line with a 4 year 2009 ETRTO experimental standard which allows a load bonus of up to 55% for cyclic field operations without the need to increase the inflation pressure. This new range was first shown in February 2011 at the SIMA show held in Paris with the introduction of the first 2 sizes; IF800/70R32 CFO & IF800/75R32 CFO.
Commenting on these new developments to the OPTITRAC range, Phil Stanton, Goodyears Farm Tyre Manager said: Goodyear has found that the trends in the agricultural machinery market, particularly with the high end machines, means that application specific tyres will be required in the future. The differing performance requirements of tractors and harvesters can no longer be fully satisfied by the same tyre. The 2 new ranges of tyres will clearly segment our OPTITRAC product line into specific tyres for tractors and for harvester machines and will have features that will provide the performance benefits demanded by the operators of these machines.
Further sizes and load variations will be added to these new ranges during 2011.
Goodyear will be exhibiting their range of Farm & Industrial tyres at Cereals 2011 in June.
About Goodyear
Goodyear employs approximately 71,000 people and manufactures its products in more than 60 facilities in 25 countries around the world.
Goodyears innovations have set automotive standards for more than 100 years. Goodyear has been the pioneer of the innovative safety technology known as RunOnFlat, which allows a driver to continue on a journey with a punctured tyre. Goodyear is the worlds leading manufacturer of RunOnFlat tyres, with applications on various BMWs, the award winning MINI, Mercedes-Benz high performance cars, Opel and other brands. Additional Goodyear RunOnFlat fitments are on the horizon, as the companys designers are working with multiple automobile manufacturers on more than 100 RunOnFlat projects.
For more information on Goodyear and its products, visit www.mygoodyear.co.uk