IF RETREADS ARE SO GOOD, HOW COME WE SEE SO MUCH RUBBER ON THE ROAD?

IF RETREADS ARE SO GOOD, HOW COME WE SEE SO MUCH RUBBER ON THE ROAD? By Harvey Brodsky Managing Director Tire Retread Information Bureau Good question. And there’s a good answer. Rubber on the road, also known as road alligators or tire debris is a menace and can cause fatal accidents if not cleaned up promptly. Unfortunately, far too many people believe the cause of rubber on the road is retreaded tires, but the fact is that much of the rubber on the road comes from tires that have never been inside a retread plant. Surprised? It’s the truth and there is plenty of evidence to back up my statement. The main cause of rubber on the road is improper tire maintenance, primarily underinflation, closely followed by mismatched tires on dual wheel positions, misaligned vehicles and tires run with less than the legal limit of tread rubber. Tires that are driven with any of the above problems will fail, given enough time, and when they do they will come apart and leave an often deadly trail of tire debris all over the highway. I’ve been in the retread industry for more than thirty years and have been the Managing Director of the Tire Retread Information Bureau for more than twenty-five years. During this time I’ve talked to thousands of truckers and have given more speeches than I can count, all on the same topic: YOU HAVE TO TAKE PROPER CARE OF YOUR TIRES IF YOU WANT THEM TO TAKE PROPER CARE OF YOU. This simply means taking the time to check tires regularly by walking around your vehicle and looking for anomalies, by running your hand across your tire’s treads and around your tire’s sidewalls regularly to feel for bulges or uneven wear, and most importantly, by using a calibrated tire gauge on at least a weekly basis. Does the above sound like a pain in the butt? How about having a tire failure some rainy night in the middle of nowhere that can cost you or your company as much as a thousand (no typo here) dollars in lost time, missed delivery, an angry customer, damage to your truck and a huge Excedrin® headache – all of which could have probably been prevented by taking the time to do what I (and many people in the tire industry who are smarter than me) regularly recommend. Which is a bigger pain in the butt? There is an old saying I’ve always liked: It’s simple, but it isn’t easy.    I know that it isn’t easy to take all of the steps I recommended above on a regular basis, especially when the weather outside your cab is cold and nasty, but in the long run the simple steps of proper tire maintenance can save you money, time and aggravation, whether you are an owner-operator or a company driver for a private or public sector fleet. So again, I ask you to think about it, which is a bigger pain in the butt, doing the right thing or gambling that you’ll get away with not doing the right thing? Guess what – you lose! I have a favorite t-shirt that has THERE’S NEVER A RIGHT TIME TO DO THE WRONG THING on the front and THERE’S NEVER A WRONG TIME TO DO THE RIGHT THING on the back. This applies to everything we do, including taking care of our tires. Do I sound preachy? I guess I do, but the message about tires just can’t be repeated too often. I said that I’ve spoken to thousands of truckers over the years and it’s interesting that the ones who tell me how careful they are to maintain their tires properly just don’t seem to have tire problems. Yet, the truckers who tell me they sure can tell by thumping (or even kicking) their tires if everything is OK seem to be always complaining about how “lousy” the (fill in the brand) tires they have on their truck are. Maybe the truckers who take the time to take the right steps to properly care for their tires are just lucky. At least that’s what the “thumpers and kickers” tell me. Draw your own conclusions. Finally, do you want to do your part to help eliminate rubber on the road? Here are a few things you can do to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem. • Try to NEVER buy a “cap & casing” on the road unless you are certain you are dealing with a top quality retreader. Otherwise, you might just wind up with a “maypop”. May pop in thirty miles or thirty minutes, whichever comes first. • If you do have to buy a retreaded tire on the road (a cap & casing), contact us at our toll free number 888-473-8732, and we’ll direct you to the nearest top quality retreader close to your location. If it is after hours, go to our web site, www.retread.org, and then see our Retread Tire Buyers Guide section for the name, location and telephone number of a member of the Tire Retread Information Bureau nearest to your location. By buying from a top quality retreader you won’t be buying junk. • Our friends in the real estate business always say the three most important things to remember are location, location, location. We say when it comes to tires the three most important things to remember are (you guessed it) inflation, inflation, inflation. YOU HAVE TO KEEP YOUR TIRES PROPERLY INFLATED AND YOU HAVE TO CHECK THEM REGULARLY WITH A CALIBRATED TIRE GAUGE!  • Contact us for a great packet of information, including CDs and DVDs, about proper tire maintenance and retreaded tires. There is no charge for our materials and you’ll have enough information to keep you busy reading for a week. It’s also great stuff to keep handy in your truck for reference, especially our Retread Tire Buyers Guide. We can be reached toll free from anywhere in the U.S or Canada at 888-473-8732, or by email: info@retread.org. If you want to talk about your tire problems, whether they are retreads or tires that have never been retreaded, call me. I’m always happy to help and if I don’t have the answers you need, I can generally get them within 24 hours. Plus, I genuinely enjoy talking to truckers and trying to help them solve their tire problems. I can be reached at the toll free number we gave above and here it is again: 888-473-8732. Let’s make road alligators extinct. Wouldn’t that be nice?

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