Michelin Opens Door to Earthmover Tyre Test Centre

Around 140 earthmover dealers converged upon the Spanish provincial capital Almeria in early June. And while the port city’s mild climate is perfect for year-round swimming and its architecture conveys a strong Moroccan flavour, the assembled party were not in town for a short sightseeing holiday – Almeria is also home to the Michelin Technology Center, the world’s largest facility devoted exclusively to the development of earthmover tyres. And awaiting the European dealer continent was an assortment of equipment ready for hands-on testing.

Michelin says its dealers were invited to the XHA2 Experience Day in Almeria in order to provide an opportunity for the two parties to meet and exchange views. The event is said to be the first of its kind in Europe, and during the course of the Experience Day dealers were handed the keys to an assortment of loaders fitted with products from the new XHA2 small and mid-size loader tyre range and given the freedom to evaluate their performance first hand. The tyres tested during the Experience Day are the latest generation of Michelin’s XHA tyre, a line-up initially launched in the late 1980s. Since then, comments Michelin, the range has become established as the industry benchmark and 1.5 million units have been sold worldwide.

The new product, which began reaching distributors in May, is said to meet three fundamental business goals: reducing hourly costs, ensuring that work continues smoothly and safely, and improving operator working conditions. To attain these results, Michelin claims it designed the XHA2 to be especially robust. The tyre, it states, stands out from the competition in three ways: Additional rubber has been incorporated in the tread, making the tyre even more damage-resistant. The sidewalls have also been strengthened with a special protective rib and anti-scrape shields. Thirdly, Michelin says it developed for the XHA2 crack rotation rubber compounds that help to prevent flats.
The end result, says Michelin, is that the XHA2 lasts up to 10 per cent longer than its predecessor. The new tyre’s tread is said to improve traction and make the tyre self-cleaning while reducing temporary losses of grip. This optimised traction reduces rolling resistance and therefore fuel consumption. Michelin also reports that the XHA2’s patented tread design drastically reduces vibrations that can be felt by operators and cause damage to mechanical components. Furthermore, the tyre reduces the oscillations caused by heavy loads and frequent changes of direction thanks to its bigger contact patch.

As noted previously, the Almeria facility where the Michelin XHA2 Experience Day took place was created for the express purpose of developing earthmover tyres. The 4,500-hectare site was established in 1977 and includes more than 100 kilometres of test tracks. The latest-generation vehicles on which tests are conducted are faced with the most severe conditions of use, from simple sandy tracks to the harshest mining environment.