Michelin X One MaxiTrailer Tyres Trialled by Frank Roberts & Sons

Cheshire-based bakery Frank Roberts & Sons has added two new Cartwright Multi-deck trailers fitted with Michelin X One MaxiTrailer tyres to its 70-strong fleet. Having gone to bespoke manufacturer Cartwright looking specifically for a high trailer with extra load capacity, the baker took the decision to trial the X One MaxiTrailer tyres for the improved stability they would provide the 4.5-metre-high trailers.

Director of Logistics Mark Owen says: “We’ve only heard good things about the MaxiTrailer tyres – and from several sources. We thought it was high time we gave them a try. We will be monitoring their performance carefully and if they do as well as we expect them to, we may well specify Michelin X One MaxiTrailer tyres for several more of our vehicles.”

The new trailers will be in operation for approximately 20 hours a day, seven days a week, taking deliveries from its headquarters in Northwich to customers all over the country. Like the rest of the direct delivery fleet, they will be covering a distance of approximately 200,000km annually.

Voted winner of the Motor Transport Innovation Award 2009, the X One MaxiTrailer tyres house InfiniCoil architecture, consisting of up to a 400m steel cord wrapped continuously around the crown to deliver improved robustness, greater longevity and even wear.  

Frank Roberts & Sons fits Michelin tyres across its fleet, as well as across its 11 trailers and seven small vans. “Michelin products are the best in the market,” says fleet manager Nick Crank. “We use Michelin tyres because of their wear characteristics, their longevity and durability, and because of Michelin’s Four Lives policy.”

The Four Lives process involves regrooving the tyre to its original tread depth the first time it wears down. After that the tyre is sent to the Michelin Remix facility in Stoke-on-Trent, where any existing tread rubber is stripped away and the casing remoulded with a new layer of rubber in a process that closely mirrors the building of a new tyre.

Remix tyres are specially designed by Michelin to deliver a similar performance to that of a new tyre, thanks to the strength of the original Michelin casing and the high quality of the Michelin Remix process.  The Remix tyre is then regrooved a final time before the tyre is eventually replaced, offering a fourth tyre life – and all the economical and environmental benefits that entails.