Michelin boost for John Sutch Cranes

Adopting a Michelin tyre policy across its fleet of mobile cranes and heavy haulage equipment has paid off handsomely for John Sutch Cranes, with a significant boost in longevity and reliability.

The mobile crane and contract hire specialist was convinced to make the move in 2020 after a trial set of 445/95 R25 MICHELIN X Crane + covered more than twice the distance normally seen from other tyre brands.

Ian Seddon, service and engineering manager at John Sutch Cranes, said: “With other mobile crane all-terrain products that we have used, the tyre would start suffering from various irregular wear patterns early in the life of the crane, including tyre delamination after travelling up to or more than 20,000 to 30,000km, with the sidewalls noticeably an area of weakness.

“The tyres would overheat, suffer blowouts and cause unwanted breakdowns. Tyre loss is enough to massively impact on the monetary return from a daily hire. Since fitting MICHELIN X Crane + tyres, we have noticed a remarkably better tyre performance and the vehicles, irrespective of wheel rim size or lifting equipment capacity, have covered 40,000 to 50,000km with reduced tyre incidents.”

With 38 mobile cranes for hire – including Liebherr, Tadano, Grove and Spierings – operating from two different locations, John Sutch Cranes believes the extra longevity of the Michelin product – conservatively put at an average uplift of 20,000km per tyre compared with rival products – equates to an additional 760,000km of safe, relatively hassle-free travel throughout the fleet each year.