ATG launches snow tractor tire

Feb 14, 2019

The Alliance 551 is rated for speeds up to 40 m.p.h. (65 km/h)

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

A tire manufacturer is offering a specialty item for farmers and tractor operators working in wintry conditions.

Alliance Tire Group (ATG) launched its Alliance 551 Multiuse Professional tire, a steel-belted radial tire designed for modified front-wheel drive assist tractors working in snow and ice. It’s rated for speeds up to 40 m.p.h. (65 km/h).

The tire is also an upgrade from the Alliance 550, the organization’s previous multiuse tire, said James Crouch, Alliance Tire Group’s national product manager for agriculture.

“The Alliance 551 takes new rubber compounds that are more effective and more compatible with snow in cold climates,” he told Farms.com from the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, Ky. “The tire is a little softer and a little tackier.”

A feature of the Alliance 551 tire is its R-3 block tread pattern with variable-depth sipes (thin slits across the surface of the tire). They provide extra biting surfaces to help the tire grip to the road surface.

“We tried to create the maximum number of biting edges possible,” Crouch said. “If you look at a snow tire for a passenger vehicle, there are nicks and grooves all over the tire. We wanted to apply the same philosophy to the 551s to give them better traction and braking ability.”

Most of ATG’s testing has occurred in Nordic countries by the company’s European team.

Reports indicate the tire is a quality product, Crouch said.

“The feedback has been extremely positive,” he said. “The ride quality is fantastic, the traction is exactly what we’re looking for, and it has exceptional puncture resistance. So if you needed to do farm work with it, you can be confident that you can keep moving if you hit something.”

ATG will first offer the tire in these sizes: 440/80R24 (144D and 149D), 440/80R28, 440/80R34, 540/65R30 and 650/65R42.

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