Hendrickson Trailer Commercial Vehicle Systems' next-generation tire pressure control system, the Tiremaax Pro-LB, will be available for purchase in the second half of 2021.

First announced in 2019 and named an HDT Top 20 Product in 2020, Hendrickson’s Tiremaax Pro-LB builds on the technology of Tiremaax Pro, which inflates, relieves and equalizes tire pressures across all wheel positions with the added benefit of load-based pressure adjustments.

“The consensus in the market is that most trailer tires are inflated to a pressure greater than necessary for the typical load. The cold tire target pressure setting is often selected based on a maximum expected load, which may only occur occasionally,” says Matt Wilson, general manager of Hendrickson’s Trailer Controls Business Unit.  "A load-based tire pressure control system will allow for an optimal tire pressure, providing the opportunity to reduce tire wear without negatively affecting fuel economy."

Unlike a passenger car, commercial vehicles experience significant changes in overall vehicle weight between the loaded and unloaded condition. The change is so significant that the optimum air pressure for the tires is different for laden versus unladen vehicles. Tire manufacturers provide complex charts to calculate the tire pressure required for a specific axle load. Hendrickson’s Tiremaax Pro-LB helps eliminate the guesswork of tire pressure management by monitoring the pressure in the air springs and reacting to changing loads automatically.

The system can react to trailer load so fleets can more accurately achieve optimum tire pressures across all driving conditions – hot and cold, at sea level and at altitude, and now, empty and loaded, company officials said in a press release.