Easy Escape – The new ARB TRED Pro is the world’s most advanced recovery board, utilising patented dual-composite EXOTRED technology for flexibility and strength as well as an innovative SIPE-LOCK design for positive engagement with the world’s most popular off road tyres.
Designed, developed and manufactured in Australia, TRED Pro recovery boards are the result of years of consumer feedback and in-the-field testing. They are made from a dual-composite material that provides flexibility across the board as well as incredible strength on the grip nodules that could otherwise be damaged by wheel spin. The ARB TRED Pro is available in two exclusive colour schemes and is supplied with a premium leash with a neoprene handle. It can be mounted to existing recovery board mounting points or to TRED Pro-specific mounting brackets.
Unique Dual-Composite Material
TRED Pro is manufactured from a unique dual-composite material and its manufacturer is so confident in its strength and flexibility that the product is covered by a lifetime warranty.
Recovery boards are usually damaged by wheel spin, which generates heat and can melt the grip nodules. An obvious solution would be to manufacture recovery boards from a harder and more resilient material, but they also need to be flexible in order to handle the weight of the vehicle and perform as intended. The solution is to manufacture using two materials.
“In the world of recovery boards, you need two materials, each with its own specific properties,” explains Chris Roberts from Queensland-based Evolve Group, manufacturer of TRED Pro. “So that’s how we created the EXOTRED.”
EXOTRED is a dual-composite material with properties that make it ideally suited to use in a recovery board; the base material of the board is a flexible nylon while the grip nodules are manufactured from a hard-wearing glass-filled resin.
“It was a product that took a couple of years to get right,” continues Chris. “But once we got it right, we were able to address the wear issues that affect other recovery boards and develop a board made from two different materials.” Manufacturing TRED Pro is a two-step process. “We make the nodules separately, then we fit them into the main recovery board injection moulding tool,” explains Chris.
“We then inject the main body of the material around those nodules and that fuses the components together. “The construction method uses proprietary technology that we had to introduce into our injection moulding skillset and into this particular board itself.”
While a solution could have been bolt-on grip nodules, Chris says they are simply not as strong, nor effective, as TRED Pro. “That bolt-on technology creates limitations in strength,” he says. “We originally tried it and it didn’t work. It just didn’t perform how we wanted it to perform.” “4WDers rely on these boards to work and to perform,” says Chris. “Something we like to say is ‘explore with confidence’, and we live and die by the fact that we want our customers to explore with confidence… for a lifetime with our product.”
Innovative Design
As well as TRED Pro’s innovative dual-composite material, an exhaustive design process ensures the product provides the ultimate performance when it comes to vehicle recovery. “It’s not enough to just have great hard-wearing materials and flexible main boards,” says Chris. “We also had to design something that was going to perform extremely well.
“What we did was overlay numerous different tyre patterns from leading manufacturers into CAD to create a product that was more engaging to the tyre in a recovery, which is ultimately what you want.” The result is SIPE-LOCK, which in combination with strategically positioned and angled nodules provides the best possible traction.
“TRED Pro’s concave tip is designed to hug the tyre, giving it a round entry ramp and then as the tyre spins a little bit, it grips the SIPE-LOCKs and pulls the board down,” says Chris. “SIPE-LOCK engages the water evacuation channels of the tyre and actually pulls the board down.
“The pulling effect wedges the board in between the terrain and the tyre, pushing more weight onto the board, which engages the nodules to give you more traction as you go.”
The shape of TRED Pro changes from concave to convex along its length, which is designed so the tyre can more easily pull the vehicle out of its predicament once momentum has been built up. Another advantage of TRED Pro’s innovative design is that nodules are not required on its back surface, which results in more compact stacking for storage and less chance of damage during recovery operations.
“The channels down the board itself provide grip as the board sinks into the terrain,” says Chris. “They provide the grip as opposed to nodules on the bottom, which are susceptible to severe damage depending on the terrain… such as on rocky terrain or even in mud, which can also be quite harsh.”
The exit end of the TRED Pro is pointed and is designed for shovelling. “We’ve opened up the end so that it’s more flared out,” says Chris. “It has more of a point on it so you can shovel larger amounts of dirt and debris and sand.” The TRED Pro also features ergonomically designed handles on each side as well as various holes for mounting and water drainage.
Exclusive to ARB
The ARB TRED Pro is available in two colours: black on black and grey with orange grip nodules. It also features the ARB logo and is supplied with a premium leash.
