Forklift tyres are a costly part of owning a forklift. People have different ways of approaching the matter i.e. some buy purely on price, the cheapest is the best.
This is of course not true – the only way to really compare tyre cost effectiveness is to look at the lifespan in relation to the price. So, if you paid say R3 000-00 for a tyre and it last 1 500 hours the true cost of the tyre is not R3 000-00, but 3 000/1 500 i.e. R1.50 per hour.
Compare this to a cheaper tyre which may only cost R2 000 and lasts for 900 hours – this tyre actually costs R2.22 per hour, a far less cost-effective option.
There is a further complication which revolves around the hardness of the tyre. It is easy to construct a really hard tyre that lasts long but the downside is that the forklift’s maintenance costs will escalate due to the increased vibrations. Every component is affected i.e. computer boxes, ball joints, linkages, display clusters, etc.
So in short be careful what tyres you fit to your forklift – they are all round and black but there is where the similarity may end. Keep the above factors in mind.
