Magazine for the professional tire industry
Issue link: https://mtd.epubxp.com/i/328077
MTD June 2014 Truck tires deliver tires. If you're doing $65,000 a day in billing and you have a blizzard, you don't send your truck out and that $65,000 is gone forever. If you have four days like that in a month, you're talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of revenue that didn't get delivered and you just lose that working day." McCurdy says sales started picking up in April and the increase continued into May. "If our customers are having a good year, we have a good year. If something happens that slows our customers' business down, like a heavy winter with a lot of snow and ice, then our business slows down." McCurdy predicts his sales will be strong in the last two quarters of 2014. "Because we got such a slow start with the severe winter, I think we're going to end up even in all three categories." "Right now sales are awesome," says Belle Tire's Bowman. " We opened strong in May and it hasn't slowed down yet, and that is because of our frost laws. In Michigan and Ohio, the Department of Transportation issues frost laws where you can only carry a certain amount of weight per axle. Tey lifed the frost laws on April 25. March and April sales were slightly increased from 2013." Bowman believes that through the end of the year, he is going to see a moderate sales increase of anywhere from 3.5% to 4% in commercial truck tires. "I atribute a lot of that to the current demand for construc- tion," he says. "Every road in the country needs some work done and Michigan is on the list of states with the worst roads in the U.S. "Housing is starting to take of again. Any time there's new construction, you've got a lot of people hauling materials and that takes trucks. Tose are all good indicators for strong tire sales." Cost-cuting Last year in our coverage of heavy truck, medium truck and commercial LT tires, some manufacturers told us they were seeing feets turning to smaller trucks to save on costs. McCurdy, for one, isn't seeing that with his feet customers. "We do business with long-haul truckers, and if you've got over-the-road feets they have to have tractor trailers. Tey can't have smaller equipment," he says. "We've got waste companies and they can't go to smaller vehicles because they've got those heavy-duty rear-end packers. We've got construction companies and they can't downsize because they want the biggest dump truck they can haul gravel in. Te vocational guys are the regional haulers, UPS, Pepsi-Cola and the grocery guys; they can't downsize, either." Obsessed with improving their costs per mile, feets are turn- ing to alternative fuels and low rolling resistance tires. Over the last six years, McCurdy has seen more feets using natural gas. "As far as feets cuting costs, we're seeing a lot of propane- powered vehicles coming out," says Bowman. "You're seeing more and more of the brown box vans, such as UPS and Frito-Lay trucks, running on propane and also natural gas. It really doesn't afect our business because they're still run- ning on tires. Te reason they're doing it is it is good for the environment and it's cheaper than diesel. Tire wear is the same no mater the fuel." Demand for more service All three dealers said that in recent years, many feets are demanding more service from them. All three ofer 24/7 emergency road service to help provide it. Maine Commercial takes it one step further than that. "One unusual thing that we do is perform feet checks on weekends," says McCurdy. "Some trucks can only be viewed when they park on the weekends. Construction equipment is one example. Maine Commercial Tire has a dedicated feet inspection employee whose job is to gather data (air pressures, tire condition) for our customers." "I would say the most demanding thing we've run into over the last couple of years is the SmartWay program," says Wonderland Tire's Langerak. "Anybody going into California is required to run tires that are SmartWay-approved both for new tires and retreads. We have a fair amount of customers, especially in Michigan, who Rolling resistance: a breakdown Commercial dealers tell MTD that their customers are becoming more conscious of fuel effciency. Here is what the Tire Retread & Repair Information Bureau (TRIB) says about rolling resistance and some of the other factors that can infuence fuel economy. 1. Each wheel position contributes to a portion of a vehicle's total rolling resistance. Drive and trailer tires account for approximately 85% of a vehicle's total roll- ing resistance. A standard confguration tractor trailer's rolling resistance by position is: tTUFFSUJSFTâDPOUSJCVUJPOUPSPMMJOHSFTJTUBODF tESJWFUJSFTâDPOUSJCVUJPOUPSPMMJOHSFTJTUBODF tUSBJMFSUJSFTâDPOUSJCVUJPOUPSPMMJOHSFTJTUBODF 2. Much of the rolling resistance of a tire comes from the tire tread (35% to 50%). 3. Shallow original tread tires have lower rolling resis- tance than deep original tread tires. Rib design tires have lower rolling resistance than lug design tires. 8PSOUJSFTIBWFMPXFSSPMMJOHSFTJTUBODFUIBOOFX tires. Here are the effects of remaining tread depth of a tire on rolling resistance and fuel effciency: tXPSODBOJNQSPWFGVFMFDPOPNZCZ tXPSODBOJNQSPWFGVFMFDPOPNZCZ tXPSODBOJNQSPWFGVFMFDPOPNZCZ If a rolling resistance improvement is made with tread compound only, the improvement diminishes as the tread is worn down to zero tread depth. Rolling resistance: a breakdown Commercial dealers tell MTD that their customers are becoming more conscious of fuel effciency. Here is what the Tire Retread & Repair Information Bureau (TRIB) says about rolling resistance and some of the other factors that can infuence fuel economy. 1. Each wheel position contributes to a portion of a vehicle's total rolling resistance. Drive and trailer tires account for approximately 85% of a vehicle's total roll- ing resistance. A standard confguration tractor trailer's rolling resistance by position is: tTUFFSUJSFTâDPOUSJCVUJPOUPSPMMJOHSFTJTUBODF tESJWFUJSFTâDPOUSJCVUJPOUPSPMMJOHSFTJTUBODF tUSBJMFSUJSFTâDPOUSJCVUJPOUPSPMMJOHSFTJTUBODF 2. Much of the rolling resistance of a tire comes from the tire tread (35% to 50%). 3. Shallow original tread tires have lower rolling resis- tance than deep original tread tires. Rib design tires have lower rolling resistance than lug design tires. 8PSOUJSFTIBWFMPXFSSPMMJOHSFTJTUBODFUIBOOFX tires. Here are the effects of remaining tread depth of a tire on rolling resistance and fuel effciency: tXPSODBOJNQSPWFGVFMFDPOPNZCZ tXPSODBOJNQSPWFGVFMFDPOPNZCZ tXPSODBOJNQSPWFGVFMFDPOPNZCZ If a rolling resistance improvement is made with tread compound only, the improvement diminishes as the tread is worn down to zero tread depth. Rolling resistance: a breakdown Commercial dealers tell MTD that their customers are becoming more conscious of fuel effciency. Here is what the Tire Retread & Repair Information Bureau (TRIB) says about rolling resistance and some of the other factors that can infuence fuel economy. 1. Each wheel position contributes to a portion of a vehicle's total rolling resistance. Drive and trailer tires account for approximately 85% of a vehicle's total roll- ing resistance. A standard confguration tractor trailer's rolling resistance by position is: tTUFFSUJSFTâDPOUSJCVUJPOUPSPMMJOHSFTJTUBODF tESJWFUJSFTâDPOUSJCVUJPOUPSPMMJOHSFTJTUBODF tUSBJMFSUJSFTâDPOUSJCVUJPOUPSPMMJOHSFTJTUBODF 2. Much of the rolling resistance of a tire comes from the tire tread (35% to 50%). 3. Shallow original tread tires have lower rolling resis- tance than deep original tread tires. Rib design tires have lower rolling resistance than lug design tires. 8PSOUJSFTIBWFMPXFSSPMMJOHSFTJTUBODFUIBOOFX tires. Here are the effects of remaining tread depth of a tire on rolling resistance and fuel effciency: tXPSODBOJNQSPWFGVFMFDPOPNZCZ tXPSODBOJNQSPWFGVFMFDPOPNZCZ tXPSODBOJNQSPWFGVFMFDPOPNZCZ If a rolling resistance improvement is made with tread compound only, the improvement diminishes as the tread is worn down to zero tread depth. 38