News You Can Use

RTA NEWS YOU CAN USE

September 5, 2013

CASINGS. THE LIFEBLOOD OF ANY RETREADER

WITHOUT CASINGS RETREADERS CANNOT PRODUCE RETREADS!

First of all, let's define a casing for readers of this memo who are not retreaders.

There are two ways a retreader obtains casings:

1. The casing is received from the owner of a trucking fleet, regardless of whether the fleet consists of one truck or one thousand or more trucks. This is known as "custom retreading" as the casing belongs to the owner of the fleet. Once the retreader receives the casing he will carefully inspect the casing to be certain it passes a very thorough inspection and is actually suitable for a next useful life. If the casing does NOT pass the inspection it will be returned to the owner as an "RAR," meaning returned as received.  If the owner of the casing wishes to have the retreader dispose of the RAR he will normally pay a certain amount to the retreader to have him dispose of the RAR in a legal fashion, which the retreader can do. Otherwise it will be returned to the owner of the casing.

If the casing DOES pass the thorough inspection the retreader will proceed to retread the tire and then return it to the fleet owner. Most large fleets - but not all - do prefer to have their own casings retreaded.

2. The second way a retreader obtains retreadable casings is to purchase them from a casing dealer. He will then retread the tire and sell it as a "cap and casing," which is the jargon used in the retread industry.

The Retread Tire Association (RTA) has many reputable casing dealers as RTA members and they strive to assure their customers that the casings they sell are worthy of being retreaded for another successful life.

Unfortunately, there are a few casing dealers who have been known to sell casings that are not worthy of being retreaded. It is important for retreaders to know who they are dealing with when buying casings and we urge all retreaders - whether of not they are RTA members - to know as much as possible about the casing dealers they do business with. Our association will be happy to provide as much information about casing dealers that we know about and we are happy to provide this information, even to non RTA members, in the interest of maintaining good retreads for prospective purchasers.

We do this because it benefits our entire industry when we do.

Any reader of this memo is welcome to contact us for more specific information about the above, and again, you do not have to be a member of the Retread Tire Association to do so. We can be reached by email to info@retreadtire.org or by telephone to 831-646-5269.

Harvey Brodsky, Managing director of the Retread Tire Association, wrote this memo.

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Your history is not your destiny