The move marks the fire service’s first major change in tyre policy for 20 years; the other two fire services in Wales have already moved to the brand.
“The knowledge that so many of my fire service colleagues are already running on Michelin tyres gave us the confidence we were making the right decision – and the tests we have carried out support this,” says Geraint Jones, head of fleet and engineering for North Wales Fire and Rescue Service.
“We’ve fitted predominantly Michelin tyres to our light vehicles for several years and we’ve always had an excellent relationship with the manufacturer. Steve Jones, one of Michelin’s technical managers, has even been out to weigh our heavy appliances and provided us with tailored pressure recommendations to ensure we get the maximum performance from the tyres over a long life.”
Existing fitments will be moved between appliances to ensure each vehicle is swapped to a full set of Michelin tyres in one go.
North Wales Fire and Rescue Service operates a predominantly 15-tonne Volvo truck fleet and will be fitting Michelin X Multi Z all-position tyres as standard.
Tyres will be supplied and fitted by Tructyre ATS, with some fitting done in-house. The tyres will also be regrooved once they reach 3.0mm of remaining tread depth, with the regrooved tyres fitted on the drive axle and increasing tyre life by around 25%.