Michelin Xeobib removes need for pressure adjustments at Bowden Farms

Terry Bowden, a partner in Tedburn St Mary-based Bowden Farms, says adjusting tyre pressures between jobs has become a thing of the past since specifying Michelin’s very high flexion tyres as original equipment on his latest New Holland T7050. He says he selected Michelin XeoBibs for their significantly larger footprint and after a string of tyre failures on a previous machine. The T7050 is used primarily for top work and operates with a 4m power harrow/drill combination with front mounted hopper across the 1,200-acre farm.

“Fitments from other manufacturers just hadn’t lived up to expectations – we’d suffered a lot of problems with rolling on steep slopes,” says Bowden. “The tyre manufacturer advised raising the pressures to 30psi on the rear tyres, but on a 150hp tractor with a four furrow plough, we just couldn’t find any grip. We ended up blowing the tyres off the rim.”

In the two years since selecting the XeoBib fitments he has been able to test the tyres extensively, in different applications and across different seasons – and he says he has seen a total transformation in tyre performance. “I’ve never known a tyre to grip quite like it. The XeoBibs have really performed well, particularly on tilling work in the autumn. When you operate on ploughed land you need maximum grip and these tyres deliver it in abundance, no matter whether we are working on heavy clay, red gravel or sandy soils.”

One of the primary advantages of XeoBib tyres is that they can be operated at a pressure of one bar in the field and on the road meaning that constant pressure adjustments are not needed between jobs (one bar is normally the maximum pressure needed for these tyres). To be able to operate at one pressure in the field and on the road the XeoBib tyres feature Michelin’s patented Ultraflex technology, which uses an innovative casing design that allows the tyre’s sidewall flexion area to be increased, allowing the tyre to flex significantly more than normal tyres without affecting handling or durability.

Bowden explains: “We use this tractor primarily for drilling, but on occasions during spring when I do take it out to do some fertilising, I know the tyres are soft enough to go out in the fields and not make a mess of the corn. Plus they are just as happy taking the corn trailer down the road without stopping to adjust pressures.”

The T7050 benefits from a VF 710/60 R 42 fitment on the rear axle and VF 600/60 R 30 on the steer axle. Since delivery the tractor has clocked-up more than 800 hours of operation, with 300 hours spent on tilling work during the autumn.

The T7050 features New Holland’s IntelliSteer auto-steering system and is one of three primary tractors used by Bowden Farms.  It joins a T6070 running on Michelin MultiBib tyres and a TM190 on Michelin XM28 rubber; reinforcing a policy adopted by Terry Bowden and his father Gerald, of always specifying Michelin tyres as original equipment on new farm tractors. All tyres are serviced by A&M Tyres in Crediton, Devon.

Related news:

• Michelin Launches Ag Tyre Spec Service at Lamma
• Michelin “Doubles Up” for Lamma 2011
• Michelin Demonstrates Benefits of XeoBib’s “Ultraflex Technology” at Contractor Panel