Titan Chief Ready to Pull Trigger on OTR Tariff Play
A friend of mine who is close to the government agencies involved in setting anti-dumping and countervailing duties on imported goods called me the other day. He had a few questions about imported OTR and ag tires, specifically he wanted to clarify a few things about pneumatic versus non-pneumatic units and where certain manufacturing was
The Lean Green Gas of Home, SEMA Notes & Tire Trained Women
Where have all of the green tires gone? Long time passing…apparently. At the SEMA Show/Global Tire Expo last week, I walked through a number of tiremaker booths and checked out the new rubber. Perhaps I didn’t look in all of the right places (there were a lot of tires), but I can’t recall seeing the
Bald Dump Tires Nearly Kill Students; Korea’s Messy Labor World
On Aug. 27, a large truck owned by G.B. Green Construction Management was involved in an accident with an Escambia County, Fla., school district bus carrying students. Fifteen Pensacola High School students and the bus driver were injured, and transported to local hospitals. None of the injuries were life-threatening, fortunately. The bus, though, was knocked
State Association Goes on Ice, And We’re All Poorer For It
It pained me to hear the news about the New Jersey State Tire Dealers Association going on hiatus. Mergers, buyouts and a general lack of interest by independent tire dealers in the state contributed to NJSTDA president and friend of the show Al Breese informing membership that everything was going on ice for the foreseeable
Suppliers React to Claims Made About Chinese Truck Tires
Recently, former TIA president Peggy Fisher, who is well-known and respected throughout the trucking industry, wrote an article that was, well, a little disparaging and generalized about China-made radial truck tires sold in the U.S. I have every confidence that you’ll either know about it already, or can find it. Twice within the last week,
Thinking Out Loud About History, Laws and Run-Flat Tires
One of my favorite quotes is “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” That was written by the Harvard educated Spanish philosopher, essayist and novelist George Santayana. Our collective history is well-dotted by instances where we failed to recall or understand past failings, only to be reminded once we have failed yet
An Open Invitation to the RMA and TIA: Let’s Meet and Talk
“The English and the Americans are two peoples divided by a common language.” That George Bernard Shaw quote, famously hijacked by Winston Churchill during the war, pointed plainly to how deep cultural differences can divide the opinions and actions of people who otherwise should in close alignment. Beyond making tires, Goodyear and Michelin, for example,
ATD Almost There, But Chinese Tiremakers Face New Problem
As Maxwell Smart would have said, “Missed it by that much.” Fourteen places. That’s how close American Tire Distributors was to making the Fortune 500 list. The tire distribution giant logged in at 514 on the annual list, not quite on the big board, but well ahead of the days when it couldn’t even hit
A Fair Warning to Customers, A Shrinking Market and A Plant Closure
Not necessarily a tire story, but…. We’ve all heard of the “bump and rob” where Driver A hits the rear bumper of the vehicle in front of them to get Driver B to pull over, at which point Driver A robs Driver B and gets away. There’s a new variation, which popped up recently in
The Return of Abraham Part V: Back Taxes and the Never Started Remodel
You have to hand it to the good people of Billings, they certainly know a pig wearing lipstick when they see one. Just like the good people of Tacoma and Ephrata, Wash., before them, the residents of Montana’s largest city have gained some real first-hand experience with the ever-shifting Abraham Hengyucius. You’ll recall that Mr.