Steel Makeover: There Are Savings, But Not Without Concerns
If you’re a tire dealer that currently provides steel wheel refinishing to your commercial truck tire customers, it may be to your benefit to take a close look at recent progress in new machinery and processes for inspecting and refinishing wheels. If you’re a fleet maintenance manager facing dozens of well-used steel wheels, it®™s a
Futuristic Fleets
Radial truck tires have come a long way in the last several decades. Initial tread mileage, resistance to irregular wear, fuel efficiency and casing durability/retreadability are some of the major areas of advancement. Over the long haul, gains in tire technology are impressive, but progress is historically slow and methodical, evolutionary in nature and not
The Big Question
It happens a lot to tire people, sales people and engineers alike. It can happen at the end of a training class, in the middle of a presentation to a maintenance group, even in discussions with engineers of other truck components. And it especially happens face-to-face with a potential customer when trying to sell a
Telling Men From Boys
More than a few times, I’ve heard people explain that the basic difference between car tires and truck tires is their obvious relative size: truck tires are bigger! This fact is certainly true in the majority of cases, but even that explanation is becoming a bit marginal. While overall outside diameters remain quite different (at
Addition by Additives
People are always in search of "performance improvements." Whether it’s six-pack abs or more hair, we ponder new and better options ®“ and sometimes additives ®“ to enhance one thing or another. It’s really no different with commercial truck tires. Over the last few years, there has been a growing market for a variety of
KISS Tiremaking
KISS Tiremaking We’re all familiar with the acronym "KISS" ®“ Keep It Simple, Stupid. It’s generally good when instructing a large audience or trying to standardize procedures among diverse groups. KISS helps people remember detailed procedures, routines and sequences. However, KISS doesn’t always work when product and process technologies are involved. I was reminded of
Business Opportunities: Use ‘Em or Lose ‘Em
u. The quick fix is to get them to take a closer look at your people. In fact, fleet managers should be encouraged to spend time talking with your tire experts to see which ones can really help them. Ideally, a good fleet manager will strike up a long-term relationship with someone from your staff,
Handling an Issue
If you’re a car enthusiast, or at least spend some time reading the promotion- al material selling high performance passenger vehicles, it’s hard to miss the importance placed on tires and wheels in achieving outstanding cornering and crisp response. The tire contribution in what truly is a multi-faceted handling equation is further underscored weekly at
The Art of Noise
Remember a few years back, while driving along the interstate, you’d roll up the passenger side window to avoid offensive noise as you passed a large truck? It was always annoying, but, if you think about it, you aren’t doing that as much anymore. There are several reasons why. Most modern automobiles incorporate better noise
What Drives Sizing
ition of rim diameters, profiles, widths or even tire appearance in some time. While attending a recent auto show, the wide variety of new tire sizes was impressive. As you might expect, futuristic concept cars, SUVs, and light duty pickups provided the most expansive array of new tire designs and sizes. Aggressive, macho and rugged
Tangled Program Web
The question of whom is responsible – and ultimately accountable ®“ for tires and wheels in any given trucking organization is one that has been considered by the industry for decades. Answers have been varied, sometimes innovative, and often overly complex. Occasionally, the responsibility has been fragmented, resulting in conflicting rather than complementing interests. Major
A Military Salute
With military equipment playing such a prominent role in world news recently, I thought it might be interesting to review the types of tires on military trucks and compare them to our more familiar over-the-road highway tires. First, both tire types perform the same basic functions of supporting loads, transferring driving and braking torques, generating