Agri Star II Tyres Providing Top Peformance in the Field for Loonbedrijf Vijfvinkel

In May 2020, the decision was made to fit the Agri Star II, a newly launched radial tractor tyre by Alliance. According to the contractor, these tyres have performed even better than they have expected.

“Autumn 2020 was particularly wet even for the Netherlands”, Vijfvinkel recalls. “Some of our customers who work on very heavy and sticky clay soils still needed to prepare the seedbed and seed winter wheat. With these new tyres, we did not have to wait for better weather.”

It was amazing to see how the Agri Star II helped our tractor cope easily with these challenging conditions. Thanks to its powerful lugs, the high tread depth and the resulting reliable traction, we were able to continue and finish that work. The combination of tractor, tank with seeds and rotary harrow meant it could go over the wet clay soil with ease and without breaking or stopping”.

Vijvinkel: “The AGRI STAR II Delivers a Smooth Ride”

Wouter Vijfvinkel additionally appreciates the performance of Alliance Agri Star II tyres not only in the field, but also during the on-road operations. In his contracting business, earth moving and cleaning roads of the sand blown there during storms and periods of high winds, accounts for 60-70% of the working time on paved surfaces. In this work, the Agri Star II tyres have come into their own with their improved road performance.

“Despite that although all tyres are round, most still seem to ‘bounce’ once we transition to the road. The AGRI STAR II tyres deliver a much smoother and comfortable ride – thus virtually eliminating any bouncing, bumping, vibration and resulting discomfort on roads”, highlights Wouter Vijfvinkel.

The other 30-40% of time the tractor spends on the beach unloading the sand. The whole operation is performed on a reduced tyre pressure in order to achieve a bigger footprint, whilst maintaining good traction simultaneously.

Vijfvinkel explains,“During the land reclamation and cleaning operations, we have to tow heavy loads on sandy surfaces. That is why a large footprint is also important. Reducing the tyre pressure down to 0.8 or 1.0 bar further adds to the already impressive traction of the tyres.”

The downside of on-road operations is that their higher intensity than the in- field agricultural operations wear the tyres quicker. Despite that, the wear numbers for the AGRI STAR are really promising.

Following almost 1,000 working hours, the wear of the front tyre (710/70R42 173D) was 125 hrs/mm and 119 hrs/mm for the rear tyre respectively (600/70R30 152D).

During the inspection of Mr. Vijfvinkel’s tractor, Jeroen Reedijk a Sales representatives of Alliance in the Netherlands stated, “In light of the mixed agricultural and on-road operations, the expected lifetime of the tyres at 95% wear is ± 6,100 hours for the front wheels and even up to 7,000 hours for the rear wheels, which is a superb result.”