BKT offers a wide range of Off-Highway tyres. The company has now revealed a new and truly giant product. BKT calls it the all-new Earthmax SR 468. BKT claims that this is their biggest tyre, which has been designed to fit out rigid dump trucks. When we say that this is BKT’s biggest tyre, we mean that it is a 57-inch 40.00 R 57 size tyre, which is ready to be tested in the coming months by BKT engineers.
Speaking about the history of Earthmax SR 468, it’s clear that to manufacture such a large tyre, proper infrastructure and a lot of big machines are very much required. The new machinery to make this enormous tyre reached the BKT’s Indian plant in Bhuj in January, just before the lockdown began. The lockdown affected the nation at various levels and every business was severely affected due to this lockdown. Due to a temporary shutdown at the company’s plant for the staff’s safety reasons, amidst the pandemic, the machines were not installed as soon as they arrived. However, once the world unlocked and things started to get normal, BKT installed the machinery, with the help of their in-house engineering team and manufacturer’s guidance.
“Despite the pandemic and the extreme difficulties caused by the situation, in BKT we achieved the impossible: going ahead very determinedly but with a similar focus on people, who for us are the company’s real assets,” says Rajiv Poddar, Joint Managing Director of BKT.
“With this Giant 57” tire, the prototype of which has been made thanks to the extraordinary determination of my fellow workers, we wish to send a positive message to the market, to our Partner Distributors, and to our end users. In BKT, Research and Development into new products which help the company evolve but also the whole sector has not stopped. Thanks to enthusiasm and know-how, BKT always finds new ways to grow, even in the most complex situations.”
The Earthmax SR 468 joins the numerous products which make up the Earthmax family, a range of radial tires used on off-road vehicles and equipped with an All Steel structure which provides greater resistance to the casing and hence against damage. The main feature of the Earthmax SR 468 is the special tread design and the compound, created to limit the heat generated. BKT also claims that the E-4 depth of the tread provides extreme resistance in highly challenging conditions.
Growing in every sense, given that this is the largest tire size ever made by BKT. “At this time we must call on all our strength, energy, and all our creativity. That is what drives BKT’s initiatives and also its products,” adds Dilip Vaidya, President and Director of Technology at BKT. “It is a very important moment, a Giant product has been created which will now be subject to the most rigorous testing up to the spring of 2021, until we are sure we have achieved the highest possible level of quality and reliability, as always. Only when we are absolutely sure we can offer our users the best Earthmax SR 468 possible, will we officially launch the new 57” Giant.“