TIC investigates wide-single tyres

The Truck Industry Council (TIC) has begun pavement wear-testing on new ultra-wide tyres as part of a project funded by the NHVR’s Heavy Vehicle Safety Initiative (HVSI), supported by the Federal Government.

The project aims to quantify pavement wear for a select range of tyres including Next Generation Wide Load Base Tyres (NG-WBT) in the 445/50R22.5 size.

The test results will provide the scientific evidence required to develop a case for increasing the mass limits for axles fitted with wider tyres, so they are consistent with current limits for narrower tyres, fitted as duals.

Truck Industry Council CEO, Tony McMullan, said the project would study pavement wear for NG-WBT tyres, compared with the industry standard, dual-11R22.5 installations at the same loads.

“The tyre and pavement testing is being undertaken by Australian Road Research Board (ARRB), with the support of tyre suppliers Michelin and Goodyear,” Mr McMullan said.

“Based on safety studies from New Zealand, the adoption of Ultra-Wide Single tyres resulted in reducing the relative crash risk from rollovers by up to 17 per cent, so the potential safety advantages for Australia are significant”, said Mr McMullan.

“The operational benefits of wide-base, single tyres are well known: fuel savings, increased payloads, wider footprint and greater stability. These benefits are being realised in Europe but not in Australia, as we continue to use old-tyre technology, that’s been unchanged for over 20 years.”

ARRB is using its Accelerated Loading Facility (ALF) to quantify the performance of a range of tyres, including the next generation wide-base, single tyres.

“We need to better understand the impact these new tyres will have on our roads,” said Anthony Germanchev (ARRB).

“We need to put these tyres to the test and that’s what we intend to do,” he added.

Initially, a tyre footprint assessment was conducted by the project group in early December 2020 for a range of inflation pressures and loads. This data is providing a better understanding of pavement loadings and will guide expected pavement wear impacts.

The group hopes to release a report for this initial footprint assessment by the end of the second quarter 2021, to feed into the core pavement wear testing due to start later in 2021.

NHVR CEO, Sal Petroccitto, said the funding was part of $5.4 million being distributed across the country for the 2020-21 program.

“Heavy vehicle safety is everyone’s responsibility and through local safety programs we can make our roads safer for all road users,” Mr Petroccitto said.

“We have been working closely with TIC to help them conduct testing, as we understand the significant potential benefits to safety and productivity that could be realised through the introduction of the new generation of tyres.

“It’s a major focus for the NHVR and we are very happy to be supporting a project that will eventually assist us to encourage further uptake of more modern, higher productivity vehicles.

“We are also moving forward with the PBS Tyre Review with the work being undertaken by TIC complementing the testing that we have underway.”

Trucksales has observed that nearly all European long-distance (TIR) semi-trailers are fitted with wide-single tyres and have been for many years. The USA has also been using wide-singles for around 20 years, often to the drive tyres of trucks that visit mining and construction sites, where rocks trapped between duals constitute an ever-present hazard.

In conjunction with wide-track axles, single tyres can greatly improve trailer roll-over resistance, by widening the spring base.

However, previous testing of wide-single tyres in Australia has shown increased pavement wear, so it will be interesting to see if the latest tyres can reduce that.

For more information visit NHVR here.