All-season tires work well in the rain

If living in an area that does not have winter and if deciding to place all-season tires on your car, you might be pleasantly surprised that these tires come recommended for areas with lots of rain as they have many new innovations to protect against hydroplaning. Places in the United States like Oregon that experiences lots of rain are areas where you could have all-season tires on your car, as the risk of hydroplaning in the fall and winter in areas that get a lot of rain is obviously increased.

Good quality tires are probably the number one protection against hydroplaning. There are many good tires on the market and with newer technologies there have been many advances in tires’ capacity to avoid the loss of control due to hydroplaning. Tires like the Nokian eNTYRE 2.0 all-season tires have a new innovative design with lateral grooves that allow more water to store between the tire and the road. This in addition to its polished main grooves help accelerate the flow of water displaced by the surface tread.

Even new all-season tires do not eliminate the risk of hydroplaning, but they do give you the best protection. This, in addition to avoiding areas of standing water, slowing down your speed, especially around turns, and avoiding following too closely behind the car in front of you, will give you the biggest advantage. It is also important when driving in heavy rain to use your windshield wipers, turn on headlights and avoid heavy braking. Properly inflated tires are just as important as high-quality tires. It is also important to have washer fluid in the reservoir. Make sure that all the lights are functioning properly especially the emergency blinkers and make sure the brakes are functioning properly.

Obviously not just all-season tires are equipped to handle rain, all-weather tires also have sipes and grooves along with other innovations to help evacuate water as well as slush and snow. This is important, as hydroplaning increases the risk of an accident. Rainy conditions are directly associated with higher accident rates. There are many reasons for this other than the risk of hydroplaning, some accidents are caused by the fact that a hard rain limits visibility which can be challenging even for the most experienced drivers.

For more information on all-season tires  or all-weather tires visit nokiantires.com

Nokian Ground King a great radial forestry tire

Today’s agricultural tires have a need for being great both on and off road, where they need to combine all-terrain mobility with on road performance. The Nokian Ground King tires are able to deliver that performance. These radial tires can even be studded for great winter performance if there is a need for that. Being radial tires they offer great comfort and all terrain mobility combined with on road endurance. This gives you great grip on the field and excellent behavior on the roads.

In todays farming contracting has become a more important part, why the on road performance matters for most agricultural tires. They have the new Hybrilug technology which is a patented technology of combining the lug and block pattern to provide all-terrain mobility and traction, while still offering excellent comfort with precise driving response while driving on roads. The Nokian Ground King uses a high grade of wear resistant tread compound in the pattern, which offers the tires extended ground contact compared to standard traction pattern. That makes these tires very wear resistant and able to provide excellent operating hours even when used extensively in on road usage.

For farming you will need to use flotation tires to ensure that the soil compaction is low. Flotation tires have lower surface pressure and thus have low negative impact on the soil. The Nokian Ground Kings are excellent tractor tires for when you have to use your tractor both on the field as well as transportation on roads between the work sites. These tires allow you to drive fast and comfortably on the roads, with the wear resistant compound that allows you to use them extensively on the road. They are also allow for high load bearing capacity, so that heavy work can be done and heavy attachments can be used. The tires can be used all year round and have excellent winter properties and can be used on snow and ice.

So if you need a tire with great all-terrain mobility and still allowing for great on road driving ability and comfort, then the Nokian Ground King tires are probably your best option and the fact that they are very wear resistant and can be used all year round even in winter conditions, suitable for contracting work and farming.

For more information regarding Nokian Ground King tires for farming and contracting work, visit: https://www.nokiantyres.com/heavy/

Ways to improve the grip for your tractor

If you don’t have sufficient grip with your tractor tires, it might be that you will need to ballast the tires. By ballasting you can increase the weight of the tractor with several hundred kilos per tire. This will lower the center of gravity of the tractor, so that it becomes more stable and it will make reduce the risk of slippage so that you can pull or push heavier attachments without problems. The added weight might though increase soil compaction, which you want to avoid as it negatively affects the yield. The trick though is to achieve the perfect balance. When using ballasting it is recommended that you use tubes, to minimize the risk of corrosions of the rims.

You want to have sufficient weight and distribution so that you have sufficient grip and weight distribution to avoid power hop, where there is too high weight on the back tires on a 4-wheel drive tractor. The weight distribution is thus important. If you have problems, try to alter the weight distribution. For 2-wheel drive tractors, approximately 70% on the read 30% on the front tires, while a 4-wheel drive would have 60% on front and 40 on the rear.

The tire pressure can also be modified, when ballasting you tend to have 25% of the volume being air, so you can adjust it to the appropriate level. The higher tire pressure you have the higher load the load capacity. Make sure to set your tire pressure based on the maximum pressure that you need. Under inflating your tires can damage the tires. Over inflation causes more soil compaction.

If you have too much slippage you waste fuel and slow down your work routine. Too heave ballasting can however cause tire slippage on the rims. You often have to accept a certain degree of slippage on surfaces; to the degree that it will not slow you down or add problems.

Agricultural tires nowadays are often so called flotation tires that are wider and have low surface pressure. The low surface pressure is good for soil compaction, but negative when it comes to achieving superior grip. Optimizing the grip, while not negatively impacting the soil compaction is no the easiest equitation to solve. If you don’t have any direct issues with slippage or grip, then just make sure that you get premium agricultural tires.

For more information regarding the optimal tires for various farming applications, visit: https://www.nokianheavytyres.com/

Winter driving tips

When winter comes, it can cause chaos on the road. This is true even in areas where people are used to driving in winter conditions like snow and ice. It is not surprising, as driving on snow and ice can be intimidating even for the most experienced of drivers. One thing to keep in mind when driving in these conditions is that braking distance becomes longer, so it is important to increase following distance. Probably the most important thing to ensure safe driving is to equip your vehicle with high-quality winter tires which are available either as studded tires or non-studded tires. Some brands of winter tires, like the Nokian Nordman 7, are available factory-studded or without studs, giving the consumer the option.

It is also important that winter tires are in good condition before winter arrives and that they have adequate tread, no less than 4mm. Proper tread helps protect against hydroplaning due to either rain or slush, as deeper channels are needed to move the water or slush away effectively. Hydroplaning occurs when water pressure in front of the tire forces a layer of water underneath the tire, reducing friction and causing the driver to lose control of the car. If your car starts to hydroplane, don’t slam on the brakes, maintain steering in the direction you want to go and take your foot off the accelerator. Most of the time hydroplaning skids only last for a split second, so try not to panic and make use of the above-mentioned advice to regain control of your vehicle.

Another safety tip is to keep your tires properly inflated, which lowers rolling resistance, decreases fuel consumption and reduces fuel costs and unhealthy emissions. Other things to keep in mind when driving in snow: slow down, don’t stop abruptly, keep the heel of your foot on the floor, and use the ball of your foot to apply firm, steady pressure on the brake pedal. Make sure to accelerate and decelerate slowly while remembering to keep a longer following distance. Never power up hills, as this can cause the tires to spin on snow-covered roads. Even if you aren’t experienced driving on snow, following this advice and equipping your car with high-quality tires will help you stay safe while driving in winter.

For more tips on winter tires, visit us: Nokian Tires

Avoid or limit your problems in underground mines

When working in underground mines, you will need to make sure that have very good equipment and match them with good quality mining tires. Mining tires should be designed for the harsh conditions that you will find in the mines. Sharp rocks that can easily damage your tires surround you. This is why there is a need for very durable and reinforced tires. Since you want to avoid any tire related problems by having a punctured tire due to badly reinforced tires. A tire related problems down in the narrow mines could be challenging. It is also costly to do unscheduled repairs down in the mines versus scheduled maintenance. This is why making sure that you have high quality tires that will provide you with long trouble free service life is important.

The technical tire manual that will help you with your tire selection and ensure that the tires you are looking at can handle the heavy loads and that they are available in right dimensions. You can also find the full range of tires that are available for all the different equipment with the correct load requirements. Once you have the tires you can also see the tire pressure that you will need for the specific tires, regardless if it is loader tires or drill tires.

The challenge in the mines is the minimum amount of space and the harsh conditions, where the tires suffer daily abuse by the sharp rocky surface. With the limited space in the tunnels, which does require precise steering. In addition to precise steering you will need very durable tires that can handle very heavy loads without cracking and they have to be very cut and impact resistant.

In the mines you don’t want end up with breakdowns or tire failures, that will be both costly to repair and also cause delays. Deep in the mine is probably the last place that you want to end up with problems due to the already limited space and all the machine work together to achieve the results; so one machine down can delay the whole project. This is where preventive maintenance comes in, where you do need to make sure that the tires are checked regularly both in terms of wear, tire pressure and tire conditions to see if they are ok before the next shift.

For more information regarding mining tires, visit: https://www.nokianheavytyres.com/tyres/

Tires for SUVs for occasional off-road use

When owning an SUV, you probably have considered taking it off road or at the very least on some rocky mountain roads. Of course, your SUV is made to allow for this kind of terrain but are your tires? When driving off the main road it is important to have tires that can handle these conditions. All-season tires are set to handle road conditions in 3 seasons of the year so depending on where you reside, if your area has winters, all-weather tires should be considered. Whether choosing SUV all-season or SUV all-weather tires make sure that your tires are able to handle off-road conditions.

SUV all season tires like the Nokian Rotiiva HT SUV has one of the most advanced highway tread designs with industry-leading technology. This is ultra-quiet and study tire provides both comfort and safety. It handles well on asphalt and gravel alike and especially made to handle light off-road conditions. It makes use of many new innovations that keep the main grooves clean thereby improving aquaplaning properties while extending the tire life by preventing “stone drilling”.

Other innovations used in these tires are the all new high modulus tread compound, stone ejectors, silent groove design, silent sidewall technology, polished grooves as well as low rolling resistance making it an environmentally friendly tire. With its staggered lateral grooves, it can handle any weather as it removes water with ease and maintains a good grip on the road thereby ensuring good handling of the SUV. The Aramid sidewall technology is one of the strongest sidewall compounds on the market and allows this tire to be incredible durable and able to resist both cuts and impact due the strong aramid fibers. In fact, this same material is used in the aerospace and defense industries. The Groove lifts that are shaped between the tread blocks on the outer shoulder area improves precision and steering feel, especially when driving fast around corners. The “Circumferential Grooves” that are located on the tire’s shoulders, allows for improved lateral grip while reducing rolling resistance.

No matter if choosing all-season or all-weather tires, if the intention is to drive off-road or on gravel and rocky road, it is important to have a high-quality tire which features some of the new technologies like stone ejectors and the aramid sidewall technologies. Both made to make off-road driving safer.

For more tips regarding SUV all-season tires, visit: nokiantires.com

The art of road maintenance regardless of weather

Building roads and the maintenance of them is of key importance if you consider how many cars drive on some of our most trafficked roads. Building roads is a science in itself. Once of the key properties of the road is that it is level, so that you can safely drive on it and the second is that it is stable and the third is that the drainage works, so that water runs off without causing problems. Failure to achieve this can cause a lot of accidents. Aquaplaning is the major cause of accidents when it rains.

When building and maintaining roads, you will use the normal range of heavy equipment like an excavator, a wheel loader and then a road grader. You might also have an occasional backhoe loader. The road grader is important in compacting and making the road level, so when the top level is applied you will have a level road for comfortable and safe driving. The road grader will need special grader tires that have the superb grip so that you can make the surface perfectly level. If you work during the winter you will need grader tires that also have good winter grip.

The excavator tires will need to have good stability and shock absorption so that they can reduce swings and shocks. The backhoe tires will need a combination of stability and superior grip, while handling heavy loads. The wheel loader will need to have excellent grip to reduce any tire slippage while filling the bucket with material. This is not always needed when you do road maintenance, where you might use only a backhoe loader if the project is more limited in terms of size.

Durability of tires is always essential when it comes to heavy tyres for heavy equipment as any unscheduled downtime and repairs are more costly than for normal passenger cars. So proper maintenance of the equipment and their tires is essential and can save a lot of money in the long run. It can also ensure that projects can be finished on time without costly delays. A tire related problem would often have all the other machines waiting for the repair to be handled as all machines work together and are depending on the other machines output. So if one fails all have to wait.

For more information regarding road maintenance tires, visit us: Nokian Heavy Tyres Ltd.