BKT rolls out ginormous 57-inch tyre

Big just got bigger. Tyre manufacturer Balkrishna Industries (BKT), which manufactures off-highway for for vehicles operating in the agricultural, industrial, earthmoving, mining, port, ATV, and gardening industries, today revealed this 'ginormous' tyre – all of 57 inches!

Designated Earthmax SR 468, this is the largest tyre size ever made by BKT and is designed to gowith rigid dump trucks. The prototype has been made in the 40.00 R 57 size and is ready to be tested in coming months by BKT engineers.

The Earthmax SR 468 would have rolled out earlier but for the pandemic. The new machinery to make this enormous tyre reached BKT’s plant in Bhuj in Gujarat in January, just before the lockdown which affected – at various levels and at different times – the Asian continent too. Only after a temporary shutdown of BKT's manufacturing facilities, which was necessary to implement a rigorous safety plan for all staff, did activities finally return to full operation.

“Despite the pandemic and the extreme difficulties caused by the situation, in BKT we achieved the impossible: going ahead very determinedly but with a similar focus on people, who for us are the company’s real assets,” said Rajiv Poddar, joint managing director of BKT.

“With this giant 57-inchtyre, the prototype of which has been made thanks to the extraordinary determination of my fellow workers, we wish to send a positive message to the market, to our partner distributors and to our end users. In BKT, R&D into new products which help the company evolve but also the whole sector has not stopped,” he added.

According to Dilip Vaidya, president and Director of Technology at BKT, “It is a very important moment. A giant product has been created, which will now be subject to the most rigorous testing up to the spring of 2021, until we are sure we have achieved the highest possible level of quality and reliability, as always. Only when we are absolutely sure we can offer our users the best Earthmax SR 468 possible, will we officially launch the new 57-inch giant.“

Earthmax Sr 468 joins the many products which make up the Earthmax family, a range of radial tyres used on off-road vehicles and equipped with an all-steel structure which provides greater resistance to the casing and hence against damage. A key highlights of the Earthmax SR 468 is the special tread design and the compound, created to limit the heat generated. The E-4 depth of the tread provides extreme resistance in highly challenging conditions.

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