CSA may mean reevaluating fleet tire programs
Traditional in-house maintenance standards and policies may or may not be adequate to satisfy the third-party evaluations that are part of the new CSA program.
Proper truck alignment offers many benefits
Maintaining correct alignment angles important in preventing irregular wear on a fleet’s tires.
Consider all aspects of a fleet tire program
"Iridescent" is a word you probably haven’t associated with your tire program. However, it may describe a concept fleet managers should be thinking about when considering outsourcing and maintenance. Iridescent is defined as "displaying a variety of different colors that change when viewed from different angles." With different "angles" impacting our industry today, here are
Exploring the future of pneumatic truck tires
What will the commercial over-the-road truck tire (or its worthy replacement) look like in 10 to 20 years? Although we can’t evaluate currently unknown innovations, we can look at developments in other tire types: race, passenger car, aircraft, military and other niche market applications. We now have run-flat passenger car tires that have successfully obsoleted
Keep tires on longer for lowest cost-per-mile
Modern radial truck tires have come a long way. Long-term casing durability is nearly taken for granted today, assuring multiple retreads for most line haul applications. More recently, wear issues (irregular wear on free-rolling axle positions) have been reduced to the point that technicians often suspect mechanical issues rather than simply reporting “tire problems” as
Redefining the highway truck energy equation
Every gallon of diesel fuel contains just so much energy (usually quantified as British Thermal Units, or simply BTUs). Truck engines burn the fuel to release energy, or more specifically convert it to another form, and push the truck along the highway. Historically, the approximation has been that 1/3 of the total energy is converted
Truck tire balancing clarification
As late as the 1970s, some bias ply truck tires came from the factory with balancing “pads” strategically placed inside the tire liner to at least partially correct the uneven distribution of mass around the tire. This helped reduce vibration as the truck rolled at increasing speeds on road surfaces. Of course, then suspension systems
Managing changing tire margins
Ask almost anyone in business or management to define “margins” and they will say margins generally quantify financial success or lack thereof. Sometimes, it’s simply the difference between the cost and selling price of a product or service. Other times it’s the difference between all revenues minus all expenses. Operating margins are typically synonymous with
Proper truck tire sizing
There are lots of incentives in today’s transportation business to maximize efficiencies by carefully matching equipment—especially trucks—to the tasks at hand. Recent new truck sales reports from Wards show that purchases of Class 3 through 6 trucks through September are substantially higher than in earlier years, especially compared to the same time period in 2009.
Returning idled truck tires to service
Truck tires, unlike many automobile and light truck tires, are all about performance and life-cycle costs. In fact, if truck tires are used within their engineered parameters of load/inflation/speed and are properly maintained, near continuous use would not be out of the question. In fact, they are not designed to require recesses or idle periods.
When your tires leave, know why
The old adage “what you don’t know won’t hurt you” certainly shouldn’t apply to your tire program. In fact, the more you know, the greater the opportunities for reducing costs and improving efficiencies. Most good maintenance managers are aware of the obvious variables essential to the tire cost-per-mile equation. Initial cost, first tread mileage to
Grade your tire program
Not many years ago, the success of a fleet tire program was defined by the frequency and costs of crises or problems. These were culled out of periodic expense reports, or perhaps a tire-cost-per-mile figure. This type of management by exception simply won’t cut it in today’s cost competitive business environment. Several important points are