Improper Care Causes Much of the Rubber We See on the Road

IMPROPER TIRE CARE CAUSES MUCH OF THE RUBBER WE SEE ON THE ROAD By Ollie Knight Paul E. Hawkinson Company Retreaded tires play a very important part of any serious tire program for a trucking fleet. There is, however, a basic difference between tires - whether retreaded or new - and many, if not most, other vehicle components. This often leads to a difference in attitude towards retreaded tires by commercial vehicle operator than he might have towards other components. Let me explain, and I won't belabor all the standard excuses about bad or nonexistent air pressure, maintenance, etc.  I don't need to mention that tires are one of the highest areas of maintenance expenses. For that reason tire expense is always in the limelight and commercial tire users are always actively looking for ways to reduce their tire expense. Not all of the practices they employ are something they are prone to brag about.  First, let's agree that the most common vehicle configuration on the road today is a five-axle, 18 tire combination. Listed below are the load carrying capabilities of a set 18 of the most popular tire sizes in use today:  < /> 275/80R22.5 103,150 lbs. GVW Load Range G 275/80R24.5 103,150 lbs. GVW Load Range G 11R22.5 96,880 lbs. GVW Load Range G 11R24.5 103,100 lbs. GVW Load Range G As you can see, even in a worst case scenario, the vehicle is riding on two more tires than it safely needs to carry a legal load.  The high cost of tires, coupled with the knowledge that they have more tire  than they need anyway, often leads to the practice of using "run-out" tires on the rear-most axle. In blunt terms, they know these tires are ready to fail but they run them anyway until they blow! It doesn't sound nice but at the same time it doesn't make the vehicle unsafe in the minds of the operators who use this tactic.  The other common tire problem stems from the use of dual tire assemblies on most vehicles. Almost none of today's crop of truck drivers will stop along the road to change a flat tire, and unless it is a steer tire, almost none will stop along the road to wait for a service person to come out and change it (Not to totally blame the driver. Many operations and/or maintenance people instruct the driver to try to "bring it home" ).  Consequently, when one of a pair of dual tires goes flat one of several things may typically happen. Many drivers will attempt to limp to a service facility, hoping the good tire of the dual pair will carry the load. The inexperienced driver may not even know he has a flat tire. The less conscientious driver may choose to ignore it and keep on trucking. Any one of these three circumstances is very likely to result in a situation of having the defective tire disintegrate and spread itself along the highway. Worse yet, the mate to the defective tire sometimes fails and compounds the problem. And it doesn't matter whether the problem tire is new or a retread.  I could go on and on, but the fact is most pieces of rubber on the road come from a damaged tire - not one that fails because of a defect in the new tire or a retread.  We in the retread industry are especially conscious of this because the general public believes - incorrectly, I might add - that all the rubber on the road comes from a "retread" . Nothing could be further from the truth. But the problem of perception is one that our industry has to live with.  Our friends in the new tire side rarely share the blame. The retread industry spends much effort, time and money on this public relations image problem each year. We certainly don't wish to try and dodge the bullet by implying that our customers are irresponsible regarding their tire use practices. They have enough public relations problems of their own. But we in the retreading industry are somewhere between a rock and a hard place when it comes to sorting out the truths versus the myths about rubber on the road.  Let me just suggest to you that tires are one of the few components on a truck where it is possible or practical to "run it until it blows" and get away with it. Sadly for us, the garbage is always left on display along the highway and passing motorists will nearly always blame it on retreads, even if the rubber came from a new tire that failed and had never seen the inside of a retread plant.  Think about that the next time you get ready to blame a retread for rubber on the road.  This article originally appeared in a slightly different form as a letter to he editior in "TRANSPORT TOPICS" Used with permission

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