Brawler HPS Soft Ride: pneumatic tyre comfort & solid tyre life performance

Trelleborg Wheel Systems has introduced a new solid tyre for waste management and recycling applications. The Brawler HPS Soft Ride debuts today at the ‘recycling aktiv’ show in Germany, and will launch across the pond at WasteExpo in New Orleans on 9 May.

According to the manufacturer, this re-engineered version of the Brawler solid tyre offers “radically improved operator comfort and equipment-life” due to reduced vibration, while retaining the “signature Brawler life performance” in the harshest of applications.

“We challenged ourselves to create a solid tyre that matches the benchmark for comfort achieved by foam-filled pneumatic tyres but which still performed against all other requirements for tyres in this specialist segment. I am pleased to say that we met – and exceeded – our own expectations,” comments Ditri Zweistra, segment manager for Specialty-Mining, Waste & Recycling at Trelleborg.

The Soft Ride features a new cushion rubber compound that is said to significantly increase deflection and shock absorption. Combined with the Brawler ultra-cut-resistant tread compound, this makes for a solid tyre that is very tough, yet much less stiff. “At the bottom line, this means all the benefits of a premium quality solid tyre, plus a much more comfortable ride for operators, no loss of load-index, and increased efficiency even at higher operating speeds,” writes Trelleborg Wheel Systems in a statement.

Zweistra continues: “Over the winter we undertook an extensive testing programme at an independent facility in Treviglio, Italy, measuring performance against three key ISO-standards for comfort and stability. We were delighted when the results confirmed what we believed to be possible: a 35 per cent improvement in comfort compared to the standard solid tyres used in this segment. Results that mean the Brawler Soft Ride effectively matches the comfort benchmark level of a foam-filled pneumatic tyre. For customers in waste management we believe firmly that we have the perfect solution with the best per hour cost of ownership – a tyre that is as comfortable as a filled pneumatic tyre but with the life performance of a solid tyre.

“In addition to these tests, we also rigorously field-tested the Brawler HPS Soft Ride for over two years at waste and recycling facilities around the world,” the segment manager reports. “While their geographical locations were very different – Oceania, America, Europe – the reactions of both operators and site managers were the same: ‘We don’t want to switch back’. Our investment in this process and time spent with customers to understand and solve their key issues is what we at Trelleborg call applications expertise and is just one of the things that make us industry leaders.” sg