Ring round a few suppliers, place an order, out comes a van, on goes a new set of boots, in the post comes a bill. While that’s how many tractor tyre purchases are made, Trelleborg says the launch of its new Trelleborg Professional Centre (TPC) dealerships is aimed at bringing farmers greater levels of manufacturer and dealer advice to cut fuel consumption and compaction and boost workrates.

The company has appointed 28 of its UK and Ireland dealers as TPCs, with national coverage via a branch network of more than 70 outlets. Through these, farmers will get access to advice and technical knowledge on wheel and tyre set-ups and machine weighting, says the firm, as well as a wider range of tyres and an extended warranty scheme.

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“While we have 140 dealers across the UK, these 70 outlets, which are spread throughout the country, represent three-quarters of our UK business,” says Trelleborg marketing manager, Bruce Lauder.

“Tyre dealers generally stock a number of brands, but with the backing we are giving TPC dealers they will be able to offer much more to farmers alongside the range of Trelleborg tractor tyres, which are focused primarily on the premium high-hp market. These are specialist products which require specialists to not only supply them, but also offer advice on how to get the best from them.”

To this end, as well as providing advice on tyre size and type selection, dealers will also be able to call on Trelleborg’s own staff to come out to the farm and ensure that maximum performance is extracted from the tyres. The firm is also extending its tyre warranties to as much as seven years for farmer customers who are prepared to provide Trelleborg with operating data records – such as annual workloads and the machinery the tractor is used with – to aid research and development.

“Ultimately, this level of advice and expertise could mean the difference between a tractor operating at its most productive on the one hand, or an owner deciding that the it isn’t up to handling an implement and replacing it with something bigger, when the issue was simply that its tyres weren’t set up correctly,” says Mr Lauder.