BKT says it has welcomed a new “truly giant” product into its range of specialist off-highway tyres with the EARTHMAX SR 468.

Designed to fit on rigid dump trucks, the EARTHMAX SR 468 prototype has, so far, been made in the 40.00 R 57 size and is ready to be tested in coming months by BKT engineers.

The new machinery to make this tyre reached the Indian plant in Bhuj, in January, just before the COVID-19-related lockdown, which affected – at various levels and at different times – the Asian continent. Initially, due to the pandemic, the machinery was not immediately installed. Only after a temporary shutdown of BKT’s manufacturing facilities, necessary to implement a rigorous safety plan for all staff, did activities finally return to full operation, including the installation of the new machinery for the 57 in tyre.

Dilip Vaidya, President and Director of Technology at BKT, said: “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 in giant.”

EARTHMAX SR 468 joins numerous products that make up the EARTHMAX family, a range of radial tyres used on off-road vehicles and equipped with an all-steel structure to provide greater resistance to the casing and, hence, against damage. A winning feature of the EARTHMAX SR 468 is the special tread design and the compound, created to limit the heat generated, BKT said. The E-4 depth of the tread provides extreme resistance in highly challenging conditions, it added.