Yokohama has launched a new online tool  — the Inflation Pressure Calculator — to help fleet owners effectively manage the costs of tires through proper tire maintenance. See release below for details, or stop by Yokohama’s booth (14124) at the Mid-America Trucking Show, Mar. 22-24, in Louisville, Kentucky to learn more. Here’s a screenshot of the new tool.

FULLERTON, CA (March 19, 2012) – Yokohama Tire Corporation has launched an online-based resource tool that helps fleet owners effectively manage the costs of tires through proper tire maintenance.  The Yokohama Inflation Pressure Calculator recommends appropriate inflation levels, thus preventing under-inflation or over-inflation that are often the culprit behind the most common tire wear and tire damage.

“Tires are the third-largest expense for fleets and so optimizing their service life for longevity and fuel efficiency is a critical business activity, especially in today’s economy,” said Rick Phillips, Yokohama director of commercial sales.  “The Inflation Pressure Calculator is designed to optimize the performance of commercial tires on the steer axle, drive axle and trailer axle based on load rating and whether a truck has a single or tandem configuration. This allows for specific recommendations to be returned, making the calculator that much more helpful in positively impacting a truck’s operation.”

The Inflation Pressure Calculator also connects users to local Yokohama dealers, Yokohama product experts and the Fuel Savings Calculator, which calculates savings gained from using Yokohama’s fuel-efficient tires such as the 101ZL™ steer tires.

“The Inflation Pressure and Fuel Savings Calculators provide a one-stop shop for commercial fleet owners and managers looking to save money and maximize performance,” said Phillips.

The Yokohama Inflation Pressure Calculator can be found in the tool chest within the commercial Web section at www.yokohamatire.com/air_pressure_calculator.

Yokohama Tire Corporation is the North American manufacturing and marketing arm of Tokyo, Japan-based The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd., a global manufacturing and sales company of premium tires since 1917. Servicing a network of more than 4,500 points of sale in the U.S., Yokohama Tire Corporation is a leader in technology and innovation. The company’s complete product line includes the all-new AVID® Ascend™ –  the first mass-market tire using Yokohama’s breakthrough orange oil technology – as  well as tires for high-performance, light truck, passenger car, commercial truck and bus, and off-the-road mining and construction applications. For more information on Yokohama’s extensive product line, visit www.yokohamatire.com.

Connect with Yokohama Tire Corporation:
www.facebook.com/yokohamatirecorp
www.twitter.com/yokohamatc
www.youtube.com/user/yokohamamotorsports

Yokohama is a strong supporter of the tire care and safety guidelines established by the Rubber Manufacturers Association and the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration. Details can be found at the “Tire Safety” section at www.yokohamatire.com.

Ray Elliott of Premier Bandag discusses buffering and belts with the Birketts

One of the things we love to do for visitors to our web site is to arrange tours of retread plants. The Retread Tire Association recently had the pleasure of arranging a visit for John Birkett and his family with one of our members, Premier Bandag in Princeton, Indiana. Here’s what Mr. Birkett had to say afterward.

Thank you very much for putting us in touch with Mr. Elliott.  We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and tour yesterday.  Mr. Elliott warmly welcomed us to the plant.  We started with a very enlightening conversation in his office about proper tire care and maintenance and some of the history and application of retread tires.  The tour of the plant was not only interesting and fun, but also deeply educational concerning the nature and reliability of today’s retread tires.  Mr. Elliott obviously loves what he does and is excellent at his trade.  It was well worth the hour-and-a-half trip to Princeton.  On behalf of my father, son and myself, thank you!

Photos by SteveSturgess.com

Our friend Steve Sturgess says a New Mexico-based trucking fleet has been getting remarkable service out of its retreaded tires and fuel economy by paying attention to aerodynamics and tire care, including a technology called Tire Lyna.  Steve’s report:

Mesilla Valley Transportation, or MVT as they call it, is a stand-out fleet, one of the largest in New Mexico and West Texas. It’s just a stone’s throw from historic Old Mesilla, a particularly noteworthy monument to the pioneering west.

MVT itself is a pioneer in many ways. It probably has the best fleet fuel mileage of any trucking operation in North America.

You may have seen their bright blue International Prostars on the highway. They’re very distinctive with wide single tires on tractor and trailer, full trailer skirts and aerodynamic wheel covers and, most recently, boat-tail extensions to the rear of the trailers. What you don’t see is that these tractors have a 6×2 drive configuration and tall, tall 2.50 gearing in the Meritor drive axle.

A 6×2 is not popular with the mainstream and I asked Jimmy Ray, the co-founder and equipment guru of this dry freight carrier, if it was hard to sell the trucks used. “Not round here,” he said. These trucks will get 8 mpg for any driver so there’s a line of buyers waiting for them.”

MVT is a thoughtfully run fleet that likely has a fleet average fuel economy into the 9s. (They are very guarded as to the actual number as it is part of their competitive advantage.) And their Driver of the Year for 2011 scored better than 11 mpg for the year.

One extremely interesting nugget came out of the conversation with Jimmy (can’t call him by his last name as he is as “Aw shucks” as you can get) is that the carrier has two Ventech Pneuscan tire pressure monitors, one at each of its two terminals.

This is an interesting technology I first saw introduced at the MidAmerica Trucking show two years ago. Basically, it’s a scanner that looks at the footprint of every tire as it rolls across an in-pavement strip. From the profile of the footprint, the Pneuscan gives a very accurate assessment of the tire pressure. Jimmy says in the first year, they scanned 600,000 tires. Of course, MVT trucks and trailers run on ultra-low profile singles, but the technology works equally well on duals.

As an extra bonus, Pneuscan also looks at tread depth and will flag tires that are ready for recaps. It’s very smart.

And it’s worth noting that MVT also uses Tire Lyna to protect against puncture flats. Jimmy says with these technologies his tires are free compared with fleets that have to deal with road calls and other tire issues. Let me reiterate. Jimmy says MVT tires are free when all the costs are taken into account: lack of road calls, no tire-related delivery service failures and the fuel savings that the super-wide tires give them. Their rubber is effectively free. And given that tires are the number one equipment maintenance cost, it’s not just remarkable, it’s an insight into how well this fleet is run.

You can read Steve’s entire article at his website: www.stevesturgess.com

We live near the beach in Pacific Grove, California. Monterey and Monterey Bay are our neighbors. This past Sunday morning I took our young Greyhound, Gertie, to the beach for a run. She had never been in the water and did not show any interest in going in until she spotted another dog chasing a stick into the ocean.

Like a lightning bolt, she shot into the waves to play with the other dog and, for the first time in her young life, she was submerged totally under a wave.

When she came out of the water she appeared to be stunned and after shaking herself off, she took off, ignoring my calls, and ran off the beach into parts unknown.

Bad news! I immediately called my wife, who was not too happy with me for letting Gertie off the leash.  She was right, since we have had rescued Greyhounds for more than 20 years and I should have known better. We immediately marshaled a force of friends to find Gertie but we had no luck. Hours went by. I then put up more than 50 posters on poles everywhere and was hoarse after calling her name for hours while driving throughout the entire neighborhood.

By now it was after nine in the evening and my wife and I were exhausted and very sad.  It went unsaid, but when we went to bed we were both convinced that we had seen the last of Gertie.  Before turning in, though, we left the light on over the front door and left our gate open in the hopes that Gertie would find her way home.

I must have checked the front door 10 times during the night, but no Gertie. After a few restless hours I finally awakened at about 5 a.m. and went out to get the newspaper, feeling terrible and very sad. I opened the door, and to my surprise and delight, there was Gertie, looking tired and hungry but none the worse for wear!

I immediately woke my wife and the celebration began! It was probably the happiest day in our lives, and I’m certain Gertie felt the same. After eating a huge breakfast she went to her little bed and slept nearly all day.

So, here’s one story with a happy ending. Never underestimate the ability of a dog to make things right. Especially a “retreaded” dog.

As a PS: Gertie only rides on retreads, as does our little horse Lucy. More about Lucy another time.

HARVEY BRODSKY

A lot of premature tire wear, as well as driver complaints about ride and handling, begins at the wheel ends. Causes range from improper tire and wheel mounting to poor wheel balance, loose bearings, damaged or worn components and even out-of-round wheels. A little diligence in the tire shop can prevent or solve many of these problems.

Enjoy Jim Park’s excellent article, in full,  at http://truckinginfo.com/maintenance/news-detail.asp?news_id=74141&news_category_id=79

It’s too bad that the naysayers about retreading couldn’t be with me because each of these plants were modern, clean as a whistle and all were producing the most beautiful retreaded tires imaginable. The adjustment rate for the retreads produced in each plant is as low and often lower than that of comparable new tires.

At the OSSGA meeting, my talk on why retreading makes sense from both an environmental and economic perspective was well received.  If you’d like to check it out, we’ve posted it online at Scribd.

A personal note, though: Because I do not believe in “death by Powerpoint,” I try to lighten up my presentations by inserting a few breaks. We happen to have a miniature horse named Lucy who lives with us and is a service animal for my wife, who has a walking problem. By inserting a few slides of Lucy it gives my audience a breather and I spend a minute or two with each slide explaining how Lucy helps my wife walk. The first slide shows me walking Lucy just for exercise. Children love Lucy and Lucy loves children.

If you are a sports fan and read the sports pages you are familiar with seeing the word “retread” nearly every day. The same holds true if you read the entertainment section of your newspaper. Unfortunately, the word “retread” has taken on a pejorative meaning.

But there are retreads and then there are retreads.

The other kinds of retreads are far from being pejorative and in fact, they are making a valuable contribution to our environment.

We’re talking about retreaded tires. Before you laugh, there are a few things you should know.

• Thanks to the retread tire industry millions of worn tires are given another life every year resulting in hundreds of millions of gallons of oil being saved.

• Virtually every major airline in the world uses retreads, including on the biggest planes in the air, as do military aircraft around the world.

• The safety record of retreads equals that of the best new tires, and retreaded tires cost far less than comparable new tires.

• Retreaded tires are one of the most environmentally friendly recycled products in the world with one of the highest post-consumer contents of any recycled product. Thanks to the retread industry countless tons of raw materials are saved annually, along with a great reduction of the number of tires that are sent to already overcrowded landfills.

• The U.S. federal government loves retreads, which is why there is a Federal Executive Order (13149) MANDATING the use of retreads on certain federal government fleet vehicles.

• It is a safe bet to state that if you live in the U.S. your mail is delivered by trucks riding on retreads. The same holds true for your packages delivered by FED EX and UPS. Retreaded tires are also used by postal services in other countries worldwide.

 “But what about all that rubber scrap we see on our highways?”

• Many studies, including studies made by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) confirm that retreads do NOT cause tire debris on our highways. Ample information is available to back up this statement and can be obtained by contacting the Retread tire Association toll free from anywhere in North America at 888-810-8861 or by sending an email to info@retreadtire.org

“But are retreads really safe?”

Absolutely, which is why school buses and other municipal buses, fire engines and other emergency vehicles, along with taxis, racecars, commercial trucks and millions of other vehicles worldwide, safely use retreads. They wouldn’t be using them if they weren’t safe.

So the next time you see or hear the word “retread,” remember that there are retreads and then there are retreads.

#          #          #

I’m Harvey Brodsky, the Managing Director of the Retread Tire Association and I have been driving on retreads for more than 30 years. I believe in retreading and will be happy to share my passion with you if you call. Want to tour a retread plant near where you live? Want to know the name of a top quality retreader who can sell you top quality retreaded truck tires or custom retread your own truck tires? Need information about top quality tire repairs? We also have information about where to find top quality passenger and light truck retreads.

Or call if you just want to say hello and talk tires.

I can be reached at 831-646-5269 or by email at harvey@retreadtire.org

Let’s talk.

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 a first response. Tread compounds have evolved to deliver higher levels of fuel efficiency, all-weather performance and resistance to chipping or chunking. Drive tires that have solid shoulder ribs deliver smooth wearing, high mileage service on modern soft riding air suspensions.

In short, tires have become more trouble-free and reliable. In spite of this, some fleets continue to use tire replacement guidelines that are more in tune with earlier tire products and maintenance practices.

Consider several good reasons NOT to replace tires before their full tread life has been realized. First, all tires wear more slowly as tread depth diminishes. This is normally quantified by the miles delivered per each 32nd of tread loss. The difference is greatest for drives, followed by steer, and the least for shallow tread trailer tires – and can be as much as 20%. Prematurely replacing these tires means sacrificing the portion of tread life that delivers the lowest cost-per-mile.

The fact that truck tires operate at considerably higher unit tread pressures than smaller tires means that traction is generally not compromised at lower tread depths, so long as they are still above the minimums required by industry standards and Federal regulations. An added incentive is that extended removal mileages postpone cash flow outlays for replacement tires.

Maximizing fuel economy is another good reason to leave tires in service. It is well documented that tire-related fuel efficiency improves as tires wear. Reasons for this can be complex, but as tread elements become shallower, they “squirm” less when rolling through the footprint contact area, resulting in less heat/energy loss to the surroundings.

Improvements of 4.5% at 50% wear and 6.5% at 80% wear are typical. In fact, today there is likely more difference between any given tire of the same brand/type when new versus worn than exists among major tire brands for tires of any given axle application (e.g. steer or drive). Both treadwear rates and rolling resistance improve substantially as tires continue in service, lowering cost-per-mile.

Combining the goals of extending removal mileages as noted above should, of course, be balanced with the traditional objectives of maintaining casing integrity for retreading, avoiding unscheduled shop time for tire issues, and minimizing road service calls. This equation can be addressed today with the use of high quality tire products, updated maintenance practices and new tools.

A wise first step is to review current tire removals, noting the alleged “cause.” A common issue is that reported reasons often don’t coincide with the actual one, but instead are listed under an “available” code to mask such reasons as an arbitrary driver request. Any removal having more than 3/32nds or 4/32nds of usable tread (beyond industry or federal guidelines) left should be examined closely to see if there are any actual tire, mechanical or seasonal reasons that justify the premature takeoffs. All mid-life tires that remain after one of a set is replaced should be paired with a used, matching replacement whenever possible, as opposed to replacing tires in sets.

One caveat is that tires operating in unusually puncture-prone service conditions may benefit from earlier than normal removals to maximize casing durability, but this generally does not apply to most over-the-road applications.

Tools, such as tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) and automatic tire inflation systems (ATIS), combined with more frequent visual tire inspections can be helpful in extending take-off mileages. Frequent make-up air requirements should be noted on vehicle logs and all ATIS installations should include a warning light to show when make-up air is being sent to maintain inflation.

Punctures should be repaired as soon as possible in order to maintain long-term casing integrity. Drivers and technician visual inspections, such as those implemented for CSA, also should be used to detect and report tire issues that may be repaired promptly.

Today, tires have evolved to become assets to be managed, rather than simple expense items. As with all costly assets, their full life capabilities should be utilized.

Used with permission 

The life-cycle cost approach to tire management isn’t new to commercial trucking fleets. Manufacturers have been preaching this for years as a way to quantify the benefits of purchasing premium tires – with premium casings – as justification for the higher initial expense of top quality tires.

Mostly, this scenario is built around retreading as a way to postpone the purchase of expensive new tires and has worked effectively for nearly all fleets. There are more things to consider in this cradle-to-grave analysis, specifically advancing technology, economic climates and new business relationships.

Tires are expensive and will become more so. The cost of the primary raw materials (petroleum, steel and specialty chemicals) has risen sharply. In the last five years, new tire prices for major brands have escalated approximately 37%.

Manufacturers have honed production processes, retired older machinery and trimmed trained labor forces to produce high quality tires at very competitive prices. The high capital costs and intense training required to increase output in tire plants is substantial, and many close to the industry foresee shortages when economic recovery accelerates.

A lesser, but growing, factor is the cost of scrapping out-of-service tires. Converting them into tire derived fuel is an energy efficient and environmentally friendly solution. Ironically, transportation costs to consolidate old tires in the relatively few processing centers for this conversion are high and limit the economic viability in certain areas. Also, regulations covering scrap tire storage will continue to drive costs up.

The bottom line is that costs for buying new tires – traditionally the second highest non-labor operating expense behind only fuel – and scrapping old ones are high and expected to continue upward.

Tire usage patterns are also changing in an effort to reduce operating costs. The days of premature tire changes, such as early rotation of steer tires to other axles simply in response to a driver request or accepting an off-brand replacement tire during a road service call, are (or should be) history. Maintenance outsourcing, service contracts for in-route tire service and replacement requirements, and extended intervals between shop visits for PMs are growing trends. As a result, more communication, inventory planning by service providers and confirmation of proper tire application and billings are essential to control cost.

Technology is also evolving. Most manufacturers now offer options of fuel-efficient tires for line haul use. Also, high quality internal, adaptive balancing compounds are available that offer three primary advantages. First, consider that a typical line haul drive tire loses about 30 lbs. of tread rubber from new to removal at 6/32-inch tread depth.

This results in significant changes in balance requirements during the tire life. While not addressed by traditional lead weights, this is possible with the adaptive balance features of internal compounds.

Extended take-off mileages, improved ride and reduced expense for any re-balancing are claimed advantages of these new products. Also, consider that all road service-installed tires could now be accurately balanced on-site, eliminating the need for a follow-up shop visit. Also, California, Maine and Washington have already outlawed the use of lead weights and other states are sure to follow.

Elimination of galvanic corrosion at the traditional weight/wheel flange interface, plus the loss of clamp-on weights during service, are added benefits of this new technology. There is a growing database indicating that accurately balanced tire/wheel assemblies provide a small, but consistent, fuel economy advantage over non-balanced units.

Other tire-related costs are sometimes treated as expenses, but when managed as assets and benchmarked, provide data to identify problem areas and opportunities for reducing costs.

Some examples include repair costs, options for fuel-efficient retread compounds, percentage of casings that are returned as RARs, tires pulled early before wearing to specified removal tread depth, fitting older tires on equipment to be traded or sold, and periodic scrap tire analysis.

Qualified tire manufacturer field engineers can be invaluable in guiding fleets through these types of analyses. Today, more than ever in the past, it makes good sense and saves dollars to manage tires as valuable assets through the complete life-cycle as an important part of operating cost control.

Used with permission 

According to Bridgestone, your everyday 11R22.5 radial truck tire inflated to 100 psi represents nearly 72,000 foot-pounds of constrained force. That’s enough to hurl an 180-pound bystander nearly 200 feet.

“Today’s wheels are much safer, but it’s still extremely dangerous work,” Kevin Rohlwing, senior vicepresident of training for the Tire Industry Association, told Bridgestone’s Real ANSWERS Magazine. “Improper training of service technicians puts lives at risk. Too many new techs are trained by old timers who use the wrong methods – such as sitting on the tires when they’re being inflated or using a can of ether to seat a bead.”

And even though technology has progressed, resistance to change and/or denial of the hazards lingers . “I hear the same excuse over and over: ‘We’ve never had a problem before.’ I tell them they’ve been lucky so far.”

For more details that could save injuries, or even a life, check out the Bridgestone article.