Tyre sidewall cutting is one of those processing steps that looks optional until you see what it does to bale density, cycle times, and blade wear. Remove the sidewall before baling or shredding, and the tyre body collapses under far less force, packs more consistently, and moves through downstream equipment with significantly less resistance. Leave it in place, and you’re fighting the tyre’s own structural design every time the platen descends.
The difference is most pronounced with truck, agricultural, and OTR tyres, where sidewall thickness and steel reinforcement make whole-tyre processing a genuine constraint on output quality and equipment longevity. This guide covers how sidewall cutting works in practice, why it matters for baling and shredding operations, and which equipment configurations handle different tyre types.
A whole tyre is designed to resist deformation. That’s precisely what makes it useful on a vehicle and precisely what makes it awkward to process as a waste material. The sidewall is the structural element that gives a tyre its rigidity; it holds the circular shape under pressure and resists being flattened.
When you try to compress a whole tyre in a baler, that sidewall resistance works against you. The tyre pushes back against the compression force, produces a lower-density bale than a tyre with the sidewall removed, and takes more hydraulic pressure and time to compress. For car tyres, this is manageable. For truck, agricultural, and OTR tyres, it becomes a serious constraint on bale quality and processing efficiency.
Sidewall cutting solves this by removing the stiff sidewall section from the tyre before it enters the baler or shredder. Without the sidewall, the remaining tyre body collapses under far less compressive force, bales more densely, and processes more quickly.
This guide explains how sidewall cutting works in practice, the different equipment configurations available, and the downstream benefits for baling and shredding operations.
A tyre sidewall cutter uses a hydraulically driven blade to cut through the tyre sidewall cleanly and quickly. The tyre is positioned in the machine’s cutting bay, the blade descends or rotates through the sidewall section, and the cut sidewall drops clear.
On Gradeall’s truck tyre sidewall cutter, the process is straightforward: the operator positions the tyre in the cutting zone, activates the blade cycle, and the cut is completed in seconds. The machine handles the cutting force hydraulically; the operator’s role is positioning and cycling, not manual cutting effort.
The blade geometry and cutting angle are designed to produce a clean cut through the sidewall rubber and fabric reinforcement without cutting into the tread band or steel belt, which are the sections retained for baling or further processing.
Different machine configurations handle different tyre sizes. Car tyre sidewall cutters are designed around the geometry and wall thickness of passenger car tyres. Truck tyre cutters handle the larger diameter and significantly thicker sidewalls of HGV tyres. OTR sidewall cutters and splitters address the substantially greater wall thickness and overall size of off-the-road tyres. See the full tyre recycling equipment range for the complete line-up.
The improvement in bale quality from sidewall cutting is most pronounced for truck and larger tyres, but it’s measurable even for car tyres in high-volume operations where consistency matters.
With the sidewall removed, the remaining tyre body:
Compresses to a lower thickness under the same compressive force. Without the sidewall’s spring-back resistance, each tyre in the bale pack compresses further, increasing the number of tyre equivalents per bale and the overall bale density.
Maintains that compressed thickness after the platen retracts. A whole tyre stores elastic energy in the compressed sidewall and partially springs back when pressure is released. A de-sidewalled tyre body retains its compressed shape more consistently, producing a more stable bale that holds its dimensions after the baling wire is applied.
Produces more uniform bale geometry. Whole tyres in a baler stack are in inconsistent orientations, creating voids in the bale and varying density across its cross-section. De-sidewalled tyre bodies stack more flatly and consistently, producing a more uniform bale.
For operations producing PAS 108-compliant tyre bales for civil engineering applications, bale density and dimensional consistency are specification requirements, not preferences. Sidewall cutting is frequently the enabling step that makes consistent PAS 108 compliance achievable, particularly for truck tyre bales.
The benefit of sidewall removal before shredding is different from the benefit before baling, but equally significant.
A tyre presented to a shredder whole has a continuous steel-reinforced ring structure that the shredder must break through on every cycle. This imposes high loads on cutting blades and shear bars, accelerates blade wear, and reduces throughput rates compared to a tyre that has been pre-processed.
Removing the sidewall before shredding eliminates the rigid ring structure. The remaining tyre body presents a more open, flexible form to the shredder that cuts more easily, reduces blade loading per cycle, and allows higher throughput for the same power input. The practical result is longer blade service life, lower operating costs per tonne, and higher output rates.
For shredding operations handling significant truck or OTR tyre volumes, sidewall cutting as a pre-processing step ahead of the shredder is a well-established practice that reduces overall processing costs.
Car and truck tyres require different equipment, not just different sizes of the same machine. The structural differences between a car tyre sidewall and a truck tyre sidewall are substantial enough that cutting geometry, blade specification, and machine capacity all differ.
Car tyre sidewalls are relatively thin (8 to 12mm typical total wall thickness including rubber and fabric), and the cutting force required is modest. The car tyre sidewall cutter is designed for this geometry, operating quickly and with low operator fatigue.
Truck tyre sidewalls are significantly thicker (20 to 35mm typical, with multiple steel reinforcement layers on heavy-duty tyres) and require substantially more cutting force. The truck tyre sidewall cutter uses a more powerful hydraulic system and a heavier blade to cut cleanly through this material. Attempting to use a car tyre sidewall cutter on truck tyres risks damage to the equipment and produces poor cut quality.
The cut sidewalls from car and truck tyres also have different downstream uses and handling requirements, which affect how the processing area is set up to manage the separated sidewall material.
Sidewall cutting is most effective when positioned as a defined stage in a processing line rather than as an ad hoc step. In a well-organised tyre processing operation, the workflow typically runs: tyre intake and sorting, rim removal (where tyres arrive rimmed), sidewall cutting (for applicable tyre types), baling or shredding.
This sequence ensures the baler or shredder always receives pre-processed tyres, maintaining consistent input quality and predictable cycle times. It also allows the sidewall cutter and baler to operate at their respective optimal rates rather than having one wait on the other.
A complete processing line using Gradeall equipment might include a tyre rim separator, a truck or OTR sidewall cutter, and the MKII Tyre Baler with an inclined tyre baler conveyor for automated loading. Each stage feeds the next, and the combined system produces a higher quality output at a lower cost per tyre than handling each stage independently.
Got questions about tyre sidewall cutting? Here are the answers operators ask most, covering equipment selection, processing practicalities, and what to expect from sidewall removal in a working recycling operation.
The greatest benefit is for truck, agricultural, and OTR tyres. For standard car tyres, the improvement in bale density is real but modest; the economic case for car tyre sidewall cutting depends on the volume being processed and whether PAS 108 compliance is required.
Cut sidewalls are a separate material stream from the remaining tyre body. They are typically shredded, used as a crumb rubber feedstock, processed for energy recovery, or, in some applications, used directly in civil engineering fill. The specific end use depends on local markets and the sidewall material content.
The positioning step requires operator involvement in most installations, but the cutting cycle itself is automated once the tyre is in position. For high-volume operations, the combination of a sidewall cutter with an organised intake and conveyor feed system reduces the operator’s physical effort significantly.
Yes, when the correct equipment and operator procedures are followed. Gradeall sidewall cutters are designed with guarding, two-hand controls, and interlock systems that prevent blade activation unless the tyre is correctly positioned and the operator is clear of the cutting zone.
The car tyre sidewall cutter processes car tyres quickly enough that it rarely becomes the bottleneck in a baling operation. The truck tyre sidewall cutter has a longer cycle per tyre due to the thicker sidewall, and throughput should be calculated relative to your truck tyre processing volumes. Contact Gradeall for specific throughput data for your tyre type and volume.
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