The best way for any fleet to keep operating costs down is to manage tires.

After fuel, tires are a fleet’s largest expenditure. Yet so many fleets tend to under-budget and under-manage this cost center. In fact, many fleets still treat tire management as an entry-level position and appoint the newest, least-experienced technicians to handle these expensive assets.

While by no means new technology, the objective of tracking tires is to be able to measure real-world tire performance, according to Guy Walenga, engineering manager for Bridgestone Americas. With the help of their dealers, fleets should be able to measure how tires and drivers are performing and how maintenance procedures and dealer maintenance are measuring up. These are the key factors for determining costs of operation.

“Based on tire tracking, fleets can make informed purchases,” said Walenga. “There are many ways to track tires. Some tiremakers offer software or there are other sources of management software, but fleets need to make sure, if they choose these, that the software allows them to record important information, such as tire size, maker, DOT number, tire pressure and tread depth information. I would suggest they stay away from programs that only allow the recording of the price of the tire, when it was purchased and when it was disposed of.”

Bridgestone offers a program that can be customized to a fleet’s specific need for uniform tire maintenance. Walenga said a representative goes into the fleet location and helps the fleet and/or tire dealer identify methods they wish to follow to purchase and maintain tires and analyze performance. They can outline a program that defines what tires to use on specific wheel positions, the proper air pressures to maintain, when to pull tires, when and where to rotate tires, and so on.

“We work with the fleet to identify its priorities and, once those are recorded, they are codified and become a working manual,” Walenga said. “Some fleets even choose to put the high points of the manual on wall posters. The manual is tire maintenance dependent to get the best maintenance and performance for the tires. We work with fleets to determine the best maintenance practices for their fleet in their operation.”

Walenga contends that the best tire maintenance program is not effective unless upper management supports it with a commitment to excellence and a sufficient budget.

“The quality of the program goes nowhere without the support and involvement of top management,” he said. “No fleet can manage tires properly without a good budget and adequate resources.”

Every tire management program relies on comprehensive record keeping, and that is best done with one individual dedicated to that responsibility, Walenga noted. Tire budgets are large and tracking tires means dealing with data on tires, performance of different brands and a number of other variables that are more easily handled by one dedicated and trained person. For a fleet, that means an individual who can keep good records, work with tire makers and tire dealers, and talk with drivers about complaints.

A good tire management program always includes scrap-tire analysis. Walenga said scrap tires hold clues for how drivers are performing, how effective tire maintenance procedures are working, and how the servicing tire dealer is doing. Checking tires for road-hazard failure can help fleets instruct drivers to operate trucks in a way that better protects tires.

Walenga points out that scrap-tire analysis can speak volumes about how a truck tire is maintained. Fleets can use scrap tires to check on alignment or mounting issues, as well as look for tires that end up out of service prematurely because of poor maintenance practices.

Dealers should be invited to participate in scrap-tire analysis, said Walenga. Often, fleets will find tires that could have been retreaded but weren’t. If a dealer is a part of that tire analysis, problems like this can be addressed. He also said that tire manufacturer representatives are usually available for scrap-tire analysis, as well.

Whether a fleet tracks 50,000 tires a year or 500, managers might find it easier to track a target group of tires as a sample test group. A smaller number of representative tires can provide good a snapshot of the total picture, and a test group can be easier to analyze.

According to Doug Jones of Michelin Americas Truck Tires, “The first thing fleets must have in place when developing a tire management program is a tire pressure maintenance program. And that must include targeted pressures for the tires, periodic checks of air pressure, calibrated air-pressure gauges, a master gauge and trained employees willing to diligently check the pressures. If a fleet has nothing else but a good air-pressure maintenance program, it will reap substantial benefits.”

Fleets should track tires “from the cradle to the grave” to ensure that return on investment for the tires is maximized.

Michelin offers a variety of programs, including one that can be contracted to manage a fleet’s tire maintenance program. In addition, the tiremaker has developed in-tire sensors and monitors to track tires and monitor tire pressure, and offers a casing management program and other software that can be customized to individual fleets to help them track their tires.

“With the help of their dealers, fleets should develop total tire management programs that include purchasing the best tires for particular applications and establishing how tires will be brought into a program,” said Jones. “A fleet needs to determine whether it will buy steer tires, run them down to a certain pull point and then retread them to replace them in the drive position. Or, will it buy steer tires and drives and retread them when they reach the determined pull point.”

The management program needs to include determining when tires should be inspected and pressures checked and appointing someone to check pressures, according to Jones. In addition, fleets need to establish a routine for tire rotation and vehicle alignment and institute a scrap-tire analysis program.

“Every tire that comes out of service should be examined to determine why,” he said. “To make a program work, it must include dedicated and trained personnel. Tire tracking is a must to determine and monitor cost per mile and compare performance of different tires to determine which is best for a particular application. A tire management program should be written, communicated, monitored and enforced.”

Curtis Decker of Continental Tire North America (CTNA) said that to ensure a successful tire management program, there needs to be a clear and concise primary target that the fleet is trying to achieve. A tire program can be put in place to achieve a number of different goals, and the goals should match the fleet dynamic so that the tire program is worth the time and effort. As an example, if a fleet specializes in just-in-time inventory logistics, the tire program’s primary target should be designed to minimize downtime and eliminate late load penalties.

Usually, tire programs are put in place to improve performance in four basic areas: minimize cost per mile over complete casing life, maximize fuel efficiency, minimize tire-related downtime and maximize durability under specific, extreme conditions.

“Realistically, a tire program will incorporate a mixture of all of the above, and this is where the problem originates,” said Decker. “If a fleet is placing equal importance on minimizing cost per mile and minimizing tire-related downtime, neither goal will truly be met. The two goals have intrinsic differences that interfere with each other. To be successful, a fleet would make one of the goals the primary target, and the second goal would then be used to provide direction when opportunity presents itself.

“At best, a fleet should actively engage in maximizing a tire’s benefit. Different tire programs will have different targeted benefits, but all need to make sure that individual factors are tracked with respect to total tire life,” Decker said. “Truthfully, every time a tire is touched, it adds cost to the overall life of the tire. Some are absolutely necessary, some are not. Here’s the crux: How can you control tire costs if you do not know the individual elements that add to your total tire benefit? You notice that I did not list total tire costs. With some of today’s tire programs targeting fuel efficiency, tire costs become difficult to model. Factors like engine idling and differing routes and schedules make if difficult to monitor the tire’s impact on fuel efficiency. Difficult, but not impossible. Other factors are easy to track, like repairs, rotation requirements or early removal. So, look at total tire benefit, and try to model factors, such as improved fuel efficiency, reduced downtime and reduced driver fatigue.”

Not tracking these factors is the same as turning a blind eye to potential improvements.

CTNA does have an internal program, called Contitrak, that provides its fleet sales managers with a mileage-based method to track tire performance. This also keeps fleet managers involved with the process as sources of information and advice.

Scrap-tire analysis is one of the easiest and most visual, methods to recognize problems/opportunities in a fleet’s tire program, said Decker. And, it should include an audit of tires to be retreaded. Tires subject to early removal stand out in a scrap analysis because of the visual impact of the remaining tread. Tires involved in a misapplication will show up due to their repeated presence in a scrap analysis. Problems with a tire program tend to show up in a scrap analysis because managers begin to question why certain failures occur at higher levels.

Handling tires will provide insight into overall performance that numbers on paper simply cannot communicate.

“I recently attended a scrap analysis in which the majority of out-of-service tires were impact related, across all manufacturers, mainly trailer tires,” said Decker. “The fleet ran standard loads over improved roads, but the level of impacts seemed abnormally high. Speaking with the maintenance manager, I found out that the inflation target for the fleet was 20 psi higher than the T&RA recommendations for loading of the tires. The maintenance manager did this as an increased safety factor to make sure that his tires were not underinflated.

“Unfortunately, the overall effect was that his casings were inflated to the point of being over sensitive to any curbing, pothole, etc. His out-of-service rate was still higher than necessary, but the most common failure was impact break, as opposed to failures relating to underinflation. With inflation, a sweet spot exists, and this particular scrap analysis showed that the fleet was at the upper end of the inflation window.”