Get Pumped Up: Longer Tire Life, Fuel Savings Claims Heat Up Nitrogen Inflation
The gas from the past is making news again, and this time the story has legs. There’s nothing new about nitrogen inflation of tires. It’s been around since Texan Dr. Larry Sperberg brought it to our attention in 1968. That’s when he pronounced that a tire wears out from the inside out – a process
Heavyweight Challenge: Understanding Customers’ Pain Points Can Boost Your Medium Truck Tire Sales
Turns out country singers are right ®“ a trucker’s life is hard. But we’re not talking about lonely stretches of highway. We’re talking business. “There will be a serious strain on the supply of medium truck tires available in 2004, and possibly through 2006, both at the OE and dealer levels,” says Ron Gilbert, director
Inside Information: RFID Technology Bolsters Tire Management
Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology isn’t new. But when it comes to using RFID technology to track truck tires instead of a skid of laundry soap, what’s old is becoming new again. At his trailer yard in Moses Lake, Wash., Lee McGraw, equipment maintenance manager for regional carrier LTI, scans the tires on 21 tractors
Fleets to Tire Dealers: Give Me Super Savings
He doesn’t like to talk about his experiences with super wide tires very much. “Gives me a competitive advantage over my competition,” he says. But Jimmy Ray, maintenance manager for Mesilla Valley Transportation in New Mexico, is one of a growing band of fleet converts. The 600 tractors and 1,500 trailers he oversees used to
Mutual Rewards: The Case for Outsourcing Has Never Been Stronger
“We hang on to our tire dealership relationships for dear life,” says Gary F. Petty, president and CEO of the National Private Truck Council (NPTC). Petty presumably speaks for most private fleets when he says, ®a lot of them rely on tire dealerships for servicing the tire function. They need that special expertise.® Without question,
Get Hitched!: Selling Specialized Trailer and RV Tires Easy Money for Dealers
Trailers and RVs are hot right now, and selling specialized tires for them can mean easy money for dealers Rick Coffey is feeling pretty good these days. As product manager for the high-speed division of Carlisle Tire and Wheel Co., which offers trailer tires, Coffey has watched his sales skyrocket. All high-speed tire plants are
Tuning In: How a Pennsylvania Dealer Tapped into a Growing Market
You wouldn’t expect the northeast quadrant of Pennsylvania to be a high performance hotbed. Four-wheel drive pickups and SUVs would be more like it. But from Scranton and Wilkes-Barre south to Allentown and Harrisburg, the high performance market did grow, aided by the emerging tuner segment and the proliferation of high-end sports cars. Well-heeled customers
Industry Report
Conti to Add "Low Cost" Production for N.A.Continental AG announced plans to spend upwards of $306.9 million to boost tire capacity in low-cost countries, primarily to benefit its struggling North American operations. In addition, Continental officials said the company is still seeking a partner in China.
DeWine and Da Roses
Was Sen. Mike DeWine that far off base to suggest consumers should know how "new" their new tires really are? Yes, there is that whole cart-before-the-horse argument about needing scientific evidence of the impact of age on tire performance before getting consumers all cranked up. But, this is the 21st century, and I’d suggest tiremakers
Industry Report
RMA Cuts Support After Court Ruling Hopes for a tire industry checkoff program were dealt a couple of significant ®€“ potentially fatal ®€“ blows in late February after yet another court ruled that a popular checkoff program’s consumer education effort was unconstitutional, and the RMA withdrew support for the proposed program.