Nearly 70% of all heavy duty industrial casters are manufactured with some type of

polyurethane tired wheel. The most common polyurethane wheel would have a tread of
approx 0.375 thickness. This would be considered as a standard tire tread (link to standard
poly page) and is used in a variety of heavy duty applications. The alternative to the
standard tread thickness would be a high profile treaded tire (link to high profile page). High
Profile Polyurethane tires generally will have a tire that is 1.25 to 1.75 thick. The advantages
of the extra thickness of polyurethane are...
 

Greater Carrying Capacity -- The most common reason to increase the thickness of the polyurethane tire is to

significantly increase the carrying capacity without changing the size of the wheel. For example a thin tread wheel 8 x

3 in size would carry 2000 lb while the 8x3 high profile tread would carry 2500 lbs. This increase would be about a

25% increase in carrying capacity. This increase will be fairly consistent, no matter what the size wheel you are

comparing. 

Sound Deadening -- The increase in thickness of a polyurethane tire will increase sound deadening. The effect of this

change is minimized when the urethane that is being used is relatively hard. If the urethane is harder than 95 Shore A

there will be limited sound deadening effect and when the urethane is 90 Shore A or less there will significant sound

deadening effect. When using an 85 Shore A material one could expect a 3-5 decibel decrease in noise due to the

high profile tire. 

Greater Wearability -- In very difficult applications where the wheels are not only overloaded but skidded with forklifts

while under loads, a thicker polyurethane tire will provide a product that will likely extend the lifetime of the product.

Thin tread tires that are heavily loaded and then skidded under load will likely flat spot very quickly which will make

them inoperable.

When designing a thick tread polyurethane tire into an industrial application one has to be very careful if the

application is powdered at speeds > 3.5mph for extended periods of time. The engineers at Caster Concepts, Inc

have proven on numerous occasions in controlled testing that a high profile tire will in fact have a greater heat

generation curve and hence premature failure. High profile polyurethane tires used at near capacity loads in powered

application without adequate dwell time are not a good application and one should reconsider thin tread tires in these

applications. 

At Caster Concepts, Inc we will work with you to help you find the product that best fits your needs. Caster Concepts,

Inc. is an ISO 9001-2000 certified designer and manufacturer of a comprehensive line of industrial casters, ranging

from a medium-duty series to a heavy-duty series to meet any application. CCI also manufactures caster wheels to

withstand impact, corrosion, temperature extremes and chemicals found in harsh industrial environments. These

multi-functional casters and wheels serve a variety of applications in the industrial, automotive, food service,

aerospace, material handling and other demanding markets. Learn more about the entire family of Caster Concepts

companies - Reaction Industries (http://www.reactionind.com), The Machine Center (http://themachinecenter.com),

Fabricating Concepts (http://www.fabricatingconcepts.com), Triple E Manufacturing (http://tripleellc.com) and

CasterShoX LLC. (http://www.castershox.com) by visiting the most comprehensive web site in the caster industry

at: www.casterconcepts.com.