The Alternative Remedies Guide

At many functions, I get asked the same question: What do you do? I’ve answered with various things: “I consult for an organization that sells tires worldwide.” or “We sell heavy equipment tires.” What I desire to explain, is that I sell OTR Tires, but to be frank, no one knows what those are.

So, I usually just frame the conversation this way: ” I sell huge tyres for mining equipment. Some of these tires are as large as 12.5 feet tall (~4m, for those outside of the US).” It sounds overwhelming, but it is necessary to open their minds to accept something with a rim size that exceeds 20″.

Now, the truth is, most of the tyres my company sells are far less than 12.5′. In fact, many of them are merely 4′ high.

So, what is an OTR Tire? The definitions deviate greatly, but we will begin with the acronym “OTR”. It stands for “Off the Road”, or in lesser cases “Over the Road”. More often than not, the following types of equipment use it. I won’t include every case here, because you would be reading all day.

The fundamental pieces of equipment that use these tyres are: loaders(skid steer, front end, and wheel-), haul trucks (rigid and articulated dump, crash trucks, cranes(the tyres are getable in both on and off-road types), scrapers & road graders.

Now, some picky folks may say I am dismissing tractors & combines, but those are generally categorized as “agricultural use”, and don’t fall under the category of “OTR”, per se. Others will state that the class is much larger. This is correct. However, I am giving you the basics you need to understand, not a doctoral education on the tyres.

These tyres are obtainable in bias and radial stock, just like passenger tires are. The primary difference is in the size of the rims(20-63″ for the larger portion), and the heavy duty nature of the lugs, and rubber compounds. These are tires that can take the abuse that gravel, large rocks, and mud throw at them.

As to uses, these tyres can be found running in the most extreme conditions, from the Mines of South Africa, to the Tar Sands of Canada.

So, what is an OTR Tyre? Very plainly put, it’s a tyre for mining, construction, or industrial purposes, that operates in severe, off-road conditions, on very heavy machines.

That’s the simplified version. If you need more advanced information on OTR Tyres, please call OTR Tire Supply, at 877-426-1090 .