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tractor tyres pressure automatic or manual

Tractor tyre pressure: should you opt for automatic management (CTIS)?


We often mention tractor tyre pressure because it's crucial to your activity. When it is adjusted, it saves fuel, limits soil compaction and prevents the tyres from excessive slippage. Today, there are systems that allow you to adjust it automatically. When is it a good idea to invest in one? Our experts provide the answers. 

SUMMARY:

The importance of tractor tyre pressure 

Fitting a CTIS (Central Tyre Inflation System) means that tyre pressure can be managed automatically from the tractor cab. Opting for such a system can be a good idea, because it makes pressure management more convenient. But you should also be aware of the importance of having the right tractor tyre pressure. 

If you equip your tractor with a CTIS and don't apply the right pressure, you'll have made an investment in this tool without enjoying the benefits it can bring. But if you have the right tractor tyre pressure in the field, you can work while protecting the soil and with adapted traction.  

As you know, these are important criteria for an impact on your yield. Working in the field with low-pressure tyres, particularly tyres with MICHELIN UltraFlex technology, can increase agricultural yields from 2 to 6%.* 

Another advantage of the right tractor tyre pressure is that your tyres will less and more evenly, supporting their longevity. Your fuel consumption on the road should adapt as well. The fuel savings may not be obvious on a day-to-day basis, but they become noticeable over the year. 

Should you opt for a CTIS to manage your tractor tyre pressure? 

The main advantage of a CTIS (Central Tyre Inflation System)  is the comfort of tyre pressure management.

With this tool, you can adjust it for the field as well as for the road, without leaving your cab, which can be very practical when you have to change pressure several times a day. 

In some cases, however, it may be questionable whether this is a wise choice. Particularly in the following cases: 

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If you have a small farm 

It is important to assess the return on investment of a CTIS (Central Tyre Inflation System) , bearing in mind that it will pay for itself more quickly on a large farm than on a smaller one. 

If you don't drive on roads 

Some farmers do not travel on roads to reach their plots. Driving on paths at low speed will not require tractor tyre pressures to be adjusted as often as when driving on the road. The installation of a CTIS, in this case, would be less justified. 

If you don't think the investment is worth it, you can in any case adjust your tyre pressure manually. The important thing is that it should always be adapted to your load and speed to avoid any risk of overloading. 

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manual tractor tyre pressure adjustment

Is remote inflation fully automatic? 

"Semi-automatic" would be a more appropriate term, as a CTIS does not 'guess' the optimum tyre pressures based on axle load, nor does it apply them without your intervention.  

Maybe one day it will! But in the meantime, its role is to facilitate tyre pressure changes by enabling you to trigger them from your tractor cab as soon as there is a change of configuration (type of terrain, implement, etc.). 

When the CTIS is installed, the technician can configure it to suit your use by calculating the optimum tyre pressures based on the implements you use, the trailers you tow and the terrain you travel on, and then enter them into the control panel. 

In which case, all you have to do is select them according to your use and apply them, a bit like the programmed buttons on a radio that give you direct access to each of your favourite stations. 

For example, if you switch to a configuration with a plough on a field, you select the corresponding tractor tyre pressure and the CTIS will adjust it in your tyres accordingly. 

Is the CTIS also compatible with trailer tyres? 

There are CTIS systems that allow you to control both tractor and trailer tyre pressures from your cab. This is to avoid finding yourself in the situation where, in the field, your trailer tyres are over-inflated compared with your tractor tyres, thereby accentuating soil compaction when your tractor tyres would have reacted differently 

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trailer and tractor tyre pressure management with a ctis

FinD out more about CTIS

Central Tire Inflation System


Need more advice? Discover our tyre pressure guide

LEGAL MENTIONS

*A study carried out by Harper Adams University in the UK from 2013 to 2017, demonstrates that MICHELIN ULTRAFLEX technology increases agronomic yields from 2 to 6%. These results are confirmed by similar studies carried out in the United States (Illinois) in 2015 and Brazil (Mato Grosso) from 2018 to 2021.

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