MUSCATINE, Iowa — With tire prices on the rise, Bridgestone Bandag Tire Solutions (BBTS) has launched a new campaign to encourage fleets to ‘retread instead.’

The new campaign urges fleets to extend their casing age limits by retreading and highlights some carrier success stories. Crete Carrier Corp, for instance, has extended its casing life from five to seven years by retreading, says Mike Bice, tire program manager with the US fleet.

“We’ve been tweaking our tire program for about five years, trying to find a casing age limit that provided the best return on investment for our fleet. We spent a lot of time diagnosing our scrap pile. From the data we gathered, we determined that our casing age limit should be seven years,” he said.

Chris Ripani, director of marketing, strategic brands and channels, says there is tight supply of new tires in the market, making retreading a logical solution.

“Fleets who now retread are extending their age limits to realize the most value from the casings they own,” he said. “We’ve also seen fleets return to retreading, or perhaps evaluate retreads for the very first time, as a strategy to maximize their tire programs and keep their trucks rolling.”

For more information on the campaign, visit www.retreadinstead.com.