Building a Better Tractor Tire: The Development of the Agri Star II

July 19, 2024

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Creating a Cutting-Edge Tractor Tire

Alliance has built a reputation for farm tire innovations and the Alliance Agri Star II continues its legacy of delivering cutting-edge tires. Bringing the Agri Star II to market involved extensive thought, energy, and engineering. Here’s a glimpse into the process behind this pioneering product.

Understanding Customer Needs

While designing the Alliance Agri Star II tire, we consulted Alliance dealers and customers globally to understand crucial features and benefits, ensuring real-world solutions to the challenges users are facing. The feedback was clear: farmers need a tire that provides maximum traction, high load-carrying capacity, and resistance to stubble damage. Farmers also demand a tire that performs as well on the road as in the field, and delivers long-lasting service no matter where they’re operating. Lastly, they want a tire that looks good and doesn’t break the bank.
Armed with this knowledge, Alliance began designing the Alliance Agri Star II—cutting no corners and sparing no expense to deliver a tire that not only meets but exceeds expectations.

Five Stand-Out Features of the Alliance Agri Star II

From its attention-grabbing appearance to a host of hidden advancements, there are a number of reasons why the Alliance Agri Star II rises above the competition.

1. Stratified Layer Technology (SLT)
   Stratified Layer Technology is a two-layered lug design that enhances the performance of the Alliance Agri Star II throughout its lifecycle. Featuring a single-angle top layer over a multi-angle bottom layer, SLT lugs work in tandem to maintain traction and roadability as the tire wears. It maintains its original traction through 60% of its wear and ensures great grip and roadability throughout the life of the tire.
   In the field, SLT provides more biting edges and better self-cleaning for greater traction. On the road, its overlapping lugs and high rubber-to-void ratio deliver a comfortable ride and better braking, even when traveling at high speeds and hauling heavy loads. The Agri Star II is D-speed rated, meaning it’s capable of speeds of up to 40 mph.
2. Robust Lugs
   The two-layer lug of the Agri Star II is its most obvious innovation, but it’s just one of many performance-enhancing advancements the tire features. The two layers work in lockstep with dual-step tie bars to prevent lug shuffling and reduce heat build-up—limiting wear and providing a longer-lasting tire.
   Both layers are made with Alliance’s stubble-guard compound to deliver the stubble resistance farmers demand—protecting against cuts, punctures, and tire erosion; reducing downtime; and increasing tire life.
3. More Rubber
   Compared to its competitors, the Agri Star II gives farmers more rubber for their money. The Agri Star II features a larger contact patch than comparable radials. We didn’t cheat on the tread either; while some manufacturers are narrowing their treads between the sidewalls to cut costs, the tread of Agri Star II is engineered to be at least 95% as wide as its section width.
   The Agri Star II doesn’t just deliver more rubber sidewall to sidewall, it’s also deep. In fact, we designed the Agri Star II to be one of the deepest R-1W tires in the market.
4. Durable Construction
   The Agri Star II benefits from a strong rectangular bead, a premium feature typically only used in the most expensive tires. Rectangular beads limit gaps between the cords, which helps to reduce heat and increase tire life. The flat edge of the hexagonal bead better seats with the flat edge of the wheel for less rim slip and improved transfer of the massive amount of power and torque produced by modern farm equipment.
   At the core of the Agri Star II is a polyester casing, ensuring superior strength and stability, rather than the nylon carcass used by many manufacturers to reduce costs. The polyester casing of the Agri Star II doesn’t stretch like other materials, aiding in the prevention of flat spots—a significant advantage for farmers in cold climates with tractors that sit idle during winter.
5. Precision Manufacturing
   The Agri Star II is the result of years of industry-leading research and development and collaboration with our dealers and customers. It’s also a product of state-of-the-art manufacturing—all of its components are manufactured in our state-of-the-art Visakhapatnam plant, which was opened in 2022.
   The Agri Star II is built using a highly automated manufacturing process with state-of-the-art equipment, highly trained personnel, and a deep commitment to poka-yoke—the Japanese process of mistake-proofing. Every tire undergoes multiple computerized inspections at each stage of the building process before receiving a final inspection prior to shipment, a showcase of Alliance’s commitment to quality assurance and control.

A Tire You Can Trust

Alliance Agri Star II tires are backed by our Agri Star II Assurance Pledge. If you’re not satisfied with your Agri Star II tires, simply return them to your dealer for a credit for their full purchase price to put toward another set of same-sized tires. Another great feature of the Alliance Agri Star II is its warranty—we stand behind it with a seven-year workmanship warranty and a three-year field hazard warranty. Simply put, whether you’re hauling heavy loads on the road or running through fields thick with crop stubble, you can rest assured knowing that Alliance fully backs the Agri Star II.

Alliance Agri Star II

In the end, the Alliance Agri Star II is more than a list of features and benefits. Rather, it’s a tire that has been tested across the globe and fine-tuned to deliver what farmers want most: a great radial R-1W at a great price.