INTERSTATE HEAVY EQUIPMENT - LAFAYETTE

Skid steer tires significantly affect productivity and safety, whether you're making landscaping, excavation, roadwork, general dirt work, mining, or other skid-steer loader applications. However, performance suffers if you're not using suitable types of skid steer tires for the job.

Along with choosing the appropriate tire type for the work, it's also important to closely inspect tires regularly for damage. In addition, proactive maintenance prevents tires and rims from becoming unserviceable, requiring a more costly replacement. More importantly, check for wear, punctures, rim damage, and other problems to avoid unsafe, inefficient operations and the potential to ruin parts.

Here are seven types of skid-steer tires and their typical uses:

1. Standard Pneumatic Tires

- are for light to moderate general dirt applications, roadwork, landscaping, excavation, material handling, stockpiling, and agriculture work. In addition, they are from durable natural rubber, and they come with lots of tread options and in radial or bias-ply variations.

2. Premium Pneumatic Tires

- are similar to standard pneumatic tires and are also efficient for the same applications. However, engineers augment them for extra durability and protection with features like an extra layer of sidewall rubber, wear-resistant compounds, or extra material that overlaps the edge of the rim.

3. Flotation tires

- have a bigger footprint and tighter tread, making them well-suited to general dirt work, agriculture work, landscaping, excavating, and ship trimming performed in soft, wet, muddy, or sandy ground conditions. In addition, different available tread patterns accommodate different applications requiring high flotation.

4. Severe Duty Tires

- are for heavy work in mud or on hard surfaces. They feature intense tread and are highly wear- and puncture-resistant. Furthermore, these tires are great for skid-steer applications on abrasive surfaces or underground, in scrapyards, for roadwork, excavation, material handling, stockpiling, breakers, soft-soil mining, and industrial work.

5. Super Severe Tires

- people know them as mining tires, and they are similar to severe duty tires, but they have additional features for durability and protection. These include solid center rims and bead-to-bead wire reinforcement. Moreover, they handle many of the same applications as severe duty tires and concrete work, cold planning, mining, quarry jobs, demolition, forestry work, steel mill jobs, and recycling operations.

6. Non-Pneumatic Tires

- are from highly rubber compounds to provide superior damage resistance. They are solid, meaning they can't go flat. In addition, they are also heavy to increase stability, operating capacity, and fuel consumption. These suit most of the same work as super severe tires.

7. Non-Pneumatic Flexible Tires

- are much like the above. However, engineers design them to provide more cushioning and a more comfortable ride than standard non-pneumatic tires (efficient at providing comfortable operations). To sum up, use these for the same applications and a smoother, more comfortable ride.