Authored by: Tractor tyre expert | 23 July 2025
Your choice of agricultural tyres is an essential lever in terms of getting the most power from your tractor. While your engine may be high-performance, a large part of this energy can be lost due to unsuitable tyres. The quality of your equipment is decisive as the tyre represents the only point of contact between your vehicle and the ground, thus ensuring efficient transmission of engine power.
Badly chosen tyres not only lead to a clear loss of effective traction, they also cause premature wear to your equipment and increase your fuel consumption significantly.
In reality, up to 62% of power may be used by selecting an appropriate tyre, reducing losses due to rolling resistance and slip. In this context, Firestone’s Maxi Traction IF tyres stand out due to their unique design which allows you to obtain the most power from your tractor by working at low pressure while transporting heavy loads.
The objective of this article is to show you just how tyres can optimise your vehicle’s engine power, to increase the productivity and profitability of your farm.
When you invest in a tractor, however powerful it is, the objective is to maximise its tractive force in order to get the job done. However, all the engine power is not transferred to the ground. Several factors lead to considerable loss of power, certain of which you can minimise.
Part of the engine power is inevitably used for the tractor’s internal operating mechanisms. Hydraulic systems, cooling, exhaust and transmission absorb a portion of this energy (around 20 to 30% linked to mechanics). These losses are difficult to optimise, because they are intrinsic to the mechanical running of the machine.
Imagine a tyre that sinks into soft ground. The more it sinks, the more it has to “push” the earth in front of it to move forward. This rolling resistance can use up as much as 25% of the available power and is accentuated by excess weight on the axle, an unsuitable inflation pressure, a tyre width that is not optimal or an obsolete tyre technology. Choosing a suitable tyre therefore allows you to limit rolling resistance and as such this loss.
Tyres slipping on the ground is another major source of loss of power, which can reach 30% or more. Although a certain level of slip is necessary for the transmission of traction, excess slip means that your agricultural tyre is not gripping sufficiently. This is generally due to bad weather conditions, but also to an inflation pressure that is not suited to your tyres.
An inflation pressure that does not correspond to the load or an incorrect weight distribution on the tractor accentuate power losses. A tyre that is overinflated to compensate for excess load, for example, reduces the contact area with the ground, increasing slip, which results in a loss of power.
The inevitable losses aside, there are several levers available to you for optimising the efficiency of your tyres.
First of all, it is essential to know the weight of your tractor and your mounted implements. A balanced weight distribution is crucial.
For a 4WD tractor, aim for an ideal weight distribution of 60 to 65% on the rear axle and 35 to 40% on the front axle.
An imbalance (often excess weight at the rear) can cause the front axle to lift up. This makes steering difficult and increases tyre slip in the back wheels. Appropriate ballasting can correct the imbalance and improve overall traction.
Implement settings can have a direct impact on load distribution. A badly adjusted implement can accentuate the load transfer to the rear axle. For example, if your plough is too tilted or incorrectly aligned, it can exert excess pressure on the rear of the tractor, leading to loss of grip in the front axle.
A precise adjustment makes it possible to limit this load transfer and avoid the front axle lifting up. Your tractor will be easier to handle and your will obtain more even traction.
Is your tractor slipping and using up too much fuel? Unsuitable inflation pressure is often to blame! Too much pressure reduces the tyre footprint, making the tyre sink into the ground and increasing slip, especially in wet conditions.
The solution: adapt pressure based on load and working conditions! A lower inflation pressure in the fields increases the soil footprint, allowing more lugs to grip into the ground. The result is improved traction and less rolling resistance.
Opting for wider tyres or tyres with a higher volume of air is a very efficient solution. A wider tyre effectively spreads the weight of the tractor more evenly over a larger surface area, which minimises soil compaction and slip.
A greater volume of air allows you to carry heavier loads with a lower inflation pressure. This limits how much the tyre sinks into the ground, reduces rolling resistance and increases the lugs’ grip surface, thus optimising the engine power effectively transmitted to the ground.
Optimising the use of your tractor’s power thanks to well-chosen tyres does more than just improving traction. It’s a global strategy which allows you to work with bigger, heavier implements, bringing tangible benefits to your farm, both in terms of performance and productivity.
By opting for agricultural tyres with a well-adapted size and technology, such as IF tyres, you radically transform the capacity of your tractor. This high-tech equipment ensures better grip and a bigger contact patch with the ground. You will be able to use several implements at the same time, such as combined seeders or harrows. It then becomes possible to carry out several operations in one pass, which considerably reduces the number of trips necessary across your fields. You will work faster, cover a larger area in less time and therefore optimise your agricultural production chain.
Better traction leads directly to increased efficiency in the field. When your tyres transmit power to the ground efficiently, your tractor moves forward more smoothly and without unnecessary effort. You avoid slowing down due to slip, which means less tricky moments and quicker task completion.
This time saving is precious, especially during busy periods. It allows you to stick to your sowing and harvesting timetable and move on from one operation to another with better reactivity.
One of the major economic benefits of well suited tyres is the reduction in you fuel bill. Less slip means that the engine wastes less energy with wheel slip.
Likewise, optimised rolling resistance -that is to say less sinking into the ground – means that you need less power to move the vehicle forward. Each litre of fuel is used more efficiently. This results in substantial long-term operating budget savings.
Tyres designed to maximise drive power, such as IF technology tyres, produce a longer, wider soil footprint, and a reduced contact pressure. This has a direct and positive impact on soil health.
By limiting compaction, you encourage better protection of the soil structure, which is essential on several levels:
Firestone’s Maxi Traction IF tyre is an ideal leading-edge solution which is well suited to powerful tractor owners of farmers. This model is especially designed to optimise the power-to-weight ratio and improve machine efficiency.
These premium tyres improve your productivity and allow you to work more quickly and efficiently. But that’s not all, they also reduce operating costs thanks to savings on fuel.
Their optimal stability, even with heavy loads or at low pressure, guarantees greater security and reliable performance levels. This makes the Maxi Traction IF tyre a judicious investment for any high-powered tractor.
Choosing tyres that allow you to make the most of the power-to-weight ratio of your tractor is essential as far as farm performance and profitability are concerned. Maxi Traction IF tyres clearly stand out as the optimal solution.
Thanks to their improved flexion technology, their optimised soil footprint and their robust design, you can transmit maximum power to the ground.
By investing in these tyres, you reduce energy loss, save on fuel, protect your soil and improve your productivity.
With Firestone, you have the guarantee of tractor tyres that deliver a real advantage, and that in choosing our brand, you can work worry-free.
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