By McLaren Industries 
Do All Rubber Track Manufacturers Use the Same Raw Materials
When asking whether or not all rubber track manufacturers use the same raw materials to produce their tracks, there is a simple answer: no. Each manufacturer uses different raw materials in the production of their rubber tracks—especially OEM manufacturers such as McLaren who internally develop a proprietary compound based on research and development both in the lab and in the field. Below, we will highlight some of the main differences between the raw materials that various manufacturers may use.
Differing Chemical Supplier Standards
The major difference between the raw materials of different rubber track manufacturers has to do with where the chemicals are sourced. Most of the chemicals used by top tier manufacturers are made by major chemical suppliers. For example, at McLaren Industries we source our chemicals from leading suppliers such as Dow Chemical, Tokai Carbon, and Continental Carbon, which are all internationally recognized chemical manufacturers.
Non OEM rubber track manufacturers, which are prevalent on the aftermarket use small chemical suppliers often from China to source their materials. Such suppliers aren’t internationally recognized and, thus, don’t follow international standards. As a result, rubber tracks being produced using small chemical suppliers often don’t have the same level of manufacturing consistency.
Cost of Chemicals
Purchasing chemicals from a major internationally recognized supplier that is ISO-certified by an international certification company will come at a higher cost due to the higher level of standards that the chemicals meet. McLaren chooses to use internationally recognized suppliers to guarantee consistent high level quality.
Amount of Ingredients
For example, McLaren implements an array of special additives such as anti-ozone, anti-aging chemicals, specialized coupling agents, and high-performance additives to manufacture its rubber tracks. Typically, McLaren uses a 30-40 percent greater variety of chemical ingredients than its competitors in order to fine-tune its rubber compound.
While many manufacturers use less than 20 ingredients for their rubber compound formulation, we use over 30 different ingredients in most of our formulations. The additional amount of ingredients that we use allows us to adjust the properties required on each individual section of a rubber track for optimal performance.
McLaren has spent tens of thousands of hours in the lab and on the field to develop the rubber compound used to manufacture its rubber tracks over the last 25 years. Every year, we undergo thousands of hours of ongoing research and development and field testing. The reason why we continue to conduct such thorough research is that new rubber chemicals and chemical additives come out each year. In order to continue to improve and revise our products, such chemicals must be tested and rubber tracks with revised compounds must be field tested for validation of improvement. To learn more about our rubber tracks for mini excavators, compact track loaders, multi-terrain loaders, and other types of machinery, give us a call at (800) 836-0040 or click here to fill out a quote today!