Magazine for the professional tire industry
Issue link: https://mtd.epubxp.com/i/714120
MTD August 2016 Retreading Dealers and fleets take a different view H ow many times do independent tire dealers expect to be able to retread a truck tire? Do their fleet customers expect the same? Modern Tire Dealer and Heavy Duty Trucking magazines asked dealers and fleets that question and more in an exclusive study of truck tires and their maintenance. e Truck Tires and Maintenance Survey provides a glimpse into how dealers and fleets approach retreading. Respondents from tire dealerships and truck stops completed the MTD survey. e majority of respondents to the HDT survey work for regional private fleets servicing the general freight or construction industries. Survey responses revealed markedly different expectations for a tire's retreadability. In general, most dealers indicate they find they can retread a tire two or three times, with none retreading a casing four or more times. Among fleets, 54% of respondents believe they can retread a tire just once, while one in four believe a truck tire can be retreaded twice. For tire dealers, the most popular retreading process is precure, with the Bandag system the most common. Fiy-two percent of respondents use the Bandag system. e Michelin Oliver (14%) and Michelin Retread Systems (8%) combined for the second most common. Other processes used by dealers are Goodyear Unicircle (14%), Marangoni Spliceless (6%) and Continental Lifecycle (6%). Among fleets, the Bandag method was specified by 22% of the respondents followed by the Michelin Retread System (18%). Forty percent of fleet customers said they used other methods: Goodyear Unicircle (9%), Michelin Oliver (5%), Marangoni Spliceless (3%), Continental Lifecycle (2%). Twenty-three percent of respondents reported they don't use retreads. (e total is more than 100% since multiple choices were allowed.) What do dealers and fleets think of the Environmental Protec- tion Agency (EPA) SmartWay program? Overall, the SmartWay program is not seen by dealers as being of significant importance to the fleets they serve. However, the perceived importance is significantly lower among single location dealers versus multiple location dealers, suggesting that it is more important to those who operate larger fleets. e response was similar on the fleet side, where the SmartWay program is of significantly greater importance among the largest fleet operators. e EPA currently has 56 precure tread paerns and nine mold cure tread paerns for drive and trailer tires on its list of approved retread products for the voluntary SmartWay program. Precure tread Brand Drive Trailer Bandamatic BTM Smartech TRA Smartech Bridgestone/Bandag FuelTech Drive, B710 FuelTech, B760, B835 FuelTech, UAP2 Fuel Tech FuelTech-Trailer, B197 FuelTech, B135 Fuel Tech, BTR-UWB, FCR-Trailer Continental HDL Eco Plus, HTL Eco Plus, HDR1 EP, HDR2 Eco Plus, HDL2 Eco Plus, HDL2DL Eco Plus HTL Eco Plus, HTL1 Daeho DH 915 DH100 Goodyear G305 ATS, G572, G392A, G505D, G682 RSD G316 AT, G394A Ironhead DL820 RK515FE Marangoni Ringtread RDA-E, Ringtread RZYD, Ringtread RDAone, Ringtread RDA-E2 Ringtread RTA-E, Ringtread RTAone Michelin X One XDA, XDA2 AT, X One XDA HT, X Line Energy D, X Multi Energy D, X One Line Energy D XT-1 AT, X One XTA, X One Line Energy T, X One Multi Energy T Oliver Vantage Max Drive, PDDr ULP, Vantage Trailer II Pre-Q Galgo Pre-Q DP Pre-Q TA, Pre-Q STW Vipal VT170 ECO VL 130 ECO Mold cure tread Brand Drive Trailer AcuTread FED Shallow Trailer Tread (STT) Goodyear N/A G316AT MC Michelin XDA2 23 AT, X One Line Energy D XT-1, X One XTA Title Fleet TFS-SW-DR TFS-SW-TRL The following low rolling resistance retread technologies are Environmental Protection Agency SmartWay-verified when used on Class 8, line-haul tractor trailers. 48