As part of this month’s feature on tire management, several tire industry experts weighed in on the topic of retreading.
“This may sound funny coming from a new tire manufacturer that doesn’t offer a retread solution in North America, but retreading is imperative to lower the fleet cost of operation,” said Rick Phillips, Yokohama vice president of sales. “At Yokohama, we invest millions of dollars every year on R&D to improve the durability of our casing. The huge benefit of this to the fleet is that the casing will accept not just one but in many cases multiple retreads. ”
Top fleets know that when it comes to best-in-class tire programs, retreads play a major role as a tire program best practice. Quality new tires are made to be retreaded. In fact, most all tire manufacturers warrant their casings for multiple retreads, said Matt Loos, Director TBR Marketing, Bridgestone Commercial. Given that retreads typically cost a fraction of a new tire and perform as well as or better, it makes sense for the bottom line to incorporate retreads into a tire program. Tires are simply too big of an expense not to consider retreading.
“Each fleet has its specific requirements of what it is looking for in a retread. It depends on the fleet’s type of operation, casing management, turnaround time, needs availability of the necessary product, level of dealer service, on-line reporting needs, and fleet location,” said Paul Crehan, director of product marketing for Michelin Truck Tires. “Fleets should predetermine their pull point for the tire. A fleet running long haul will have a different pull point than a fleet running regional vehicles. The pull point should maximize the number of retreads per casing and include an age of service limitation for the first, second and third life of the retreads and their position.”
In terms of retread tire benchmarking, Ron Elliott, marketing and communications manager for Marangoni Tread, N.A.,Inc., recommends the following:
• Casing salvage rate: What percentage of worn out tires could be salvaged by retreading and or repairing them to return to service?
• Total run out miles: How many miles did they run before being taken out of service?
•Record of how many times they have been retreaded successfully
• Keep accurate records of fuel economy
• What is your total cost of ownership?
• What are your causes of premature failure, determine which are avoidable and which are not?
Elliot recommended working with an experienced tire professional that can analyze the casings.
“Measure your own operation and get your own facts. Then compare them with other fleets that are similar to yours,” Elliot recommended. “Marangoni publishes a ‘Guide to Tire Management’ brochure that helps to put forth advantages of good retread management to achieve optimum performance.”
