Why you should not fill your tractor tires with water

Avoiding tire hydro-inflation is a must. Discover our expert insight into why it is so important that, whatever the weather, you do not allow your tires to be filled with water, for the health and safety of both yourself and your vehicle.

“How to fill tractor tires with water” is a question of the past. This practice, commonly called hydro-inflation, is meant to prevent the tires from slipping, but it can end up having the opposite effect.

Tires filled with water can lose their grip and cause serious damage to the vehicle.

Avoiding filling the tires with water is thus a matter of safety.

Why did they put water in tractor tires in the first place?

In the past, it was customary to fill agricultural tires with water. The idea behind the practice is very simple: the weight of the water ballasts the tractor, which gives the tires greater traction capacity and helps prevent the tires from slipping.

However, the practice of hydro-inflating is widely discouraged for various technical reasons, some of which we will go through below.

Avoiding hydro-inflation is a matter of safety!

On a tractor, everything is calculated to work perfectly when the tires are inflated with air only. Filling the tires with water changes everything!

If the tires are filled with water – especially in high-powered tractors that travel at speeds above 50-60km/h – all safety parameters relating to driving dynamics (such as lane change, understeer and oversteer curves, etc.) and the transmission of vibrations are completely neglected. This can cause serious problems for both the vehicle and the operator.

This matter is particularly important when it comes to high levels of vibration, which can cause health problems for the operator.

VF technology does not go along with hydro-inflation either

With VF tires, hydro-inflation is an even bigger no-go. In fact, the unique performance of VF tires will be severely degraded if inflated with water.

For instance, flotation – a specific characteristic of VF tires – will no longer be possible if the tires are filled with water. Consequently, the main advantage of using VF products will be lost.

VF technology is made to give greater traction capacity and prevent the tires from slipping – without the use of water. Thanks to VF technology, therefore, hydro-inflation should be regarded as a thing of the past.