Big fleets can make a great case for using retreaded tires. A tire management program that includes quality retreads and running out drive or steer tires on a trailer axle before sending the casing off to be capped is a great way to get full value out of your investment in a new tire. But what if you’re an owner-operator? Or a small fleet? You need trailers if you want to swap tires around. And there’s a big cost involved in mounting and remounting your wheels.
Don’t sweat it.
Retreaded tires still represent a big savings over new replacements, and the sales figures bear that out. Of the 34 million replacement tires purchased by North American fleets last year, 15 million were brand new-that’s less than half. The rest were retreads, and with good reason: You can attribute about 80 per cent of an original tire’s cost to its casing. Why throw that away when you can use it again and again to hold two or three new treads?
The trick-whether you’re dealing with 60,000 tires or just six-is to get the most money you can for your casings when the time comes to trade them in, thus offsetting the cost of the next set of tires. To do that you need to look after the casing while it’s running-to manage its use throughout its lifespan with your cost per mile firmly in mind. If you look solely at running the tire out to its minimum tread depth, you may see a lower cost per mile over the life of the tire, but the risk of destroying the value in the casing is greatest when the tread is at its thinnest. With 80 to 90 per cent of penetration wounds occurring during the final 20 per cent of tread depth, you’re putting a lot on the line by running the tires too thin. You won’t get any more for having an extra 2/32nds of tread-depth when you trade in your casings-the retreader is going to strip away the old tread-but you’ll get nothing at all if your casing is toast.
Getting top dollar for your casing starts with buying the right tire at the outset, one that will do the job and provide a useful casing for retreading afterwards. Then you need to take care of the tire, which means keeping it properly inflated, inspecting it for damage regularly, and repairing it when necessary. Here’s a primer any truck operator can follow:
Inflation: Proper inflation will breathe more life into your tire’s casing than any other preventive maintenance step you can take. A tire that’s at its target psi will run cooler because it won’t flex as much at the sidewall. Even a little extra heat can have a devastating effect. According Bandag Canada, which specializes in retreads, you can expect a tire to last 198,000 miles running at a temperature
of 175 F, but only 60,000 miles at 200 F. Correct pressure also helps keep the footprint of the tire consistent, which prevents irregular tread wear.
Overinflating a tire is as bad as running it soft. A rigid tire is more vulnerable to cuts, snags, and punctures, and it wears faster.
Inspection: So buy a good tire gauge, throw away the thumper, and check inflation pressures as frequently as possible, using the tire manufacturer’s guidelines. And when you do, examine the tread and sidewalls for damage, which left untreated could cause the tire’s steel belts to rust or separate, rendering the casing useless.
A good rule of thumb is to inspect tires every 10,000 to 15,000 miles. Measure tread depth in the process and replace any tire with less than 2/32 of an inch of tread at any single spot on the tread (4/32nds on steering axles). Indeed, you should pull all worn tires at 4/32nds of an inch to improve retreadability. Replace duals in matched sets, preferably across the entire axle.
Some fleets rotate tires when there’s an overall difference of 4/32nds between tires on equivalent positions. Rotate steers left to right, and drives and trailer tires in an “X” pattern: RF to LR, LF to RR.
Repairs: Fix minor injuries-rubber damage from scuff and scrapes, or nail holes-with a spot repair right away. Bead damage, usually caused in mounting and dismounting, can be readily repaired if there’s no structural problem. These are small problems that you don’t want to have develop into something bigger that damages the structure of the tire.
How many repairs can a tire take? An unlimited number of rubber-only and nail-hole repairs, Bandag says, as long as patches don’t touch one another. Technically, you can also do an unlimited number of section repairs, but the cost makes the idea unattractive.
Other Factors: Your inspections may reveal other conditions that adversely affect tire wear and casing life, such as overheating, scuffing, improper mounting, and poor wheel balance. Overheating is a consequence of one of three conditions: excessive speed, underinflation, or overloading, all of which generate a lot of heat and prematurely ages rubber components.
Scuffing and curbing can kink, bend, or even break steel cords. Broken cords can cause a tire to go wildly out of balance, or cause the tread to separate from the casing. Either way, physical damage to the tire will severely limit casing life and value.
Mounting can be a source of problems, if it’s not done properly. If a wheel is dirty, rusty, or corroded, and especially if the wheel and tire haven’t been properly lubricated, a tire can actually be mounted slightly off-centre on the wheel. A poorly mounted tire can cause rapid irregular wear, advises David Scheklesky of Bridgestone/Firestone Canada. “Today’s tires and wheels are made to very tight tolerances, but there’s really no such thing as perfect,” he cautions. “There are often high points, resulting in runout in both tires and wheels.”
Some tire manufacturers mark their tires with a coloured dot to indicate the high point of radial runout. Likewise, some steel wheel makers use a dimple to indicate the low point. If the dot on the tire is matched with the dimple on the wheel, the forces should partially cancel each other. With aluminum wheels, align the dot with the valve stem. On a dual assembly, put the dots 180 degrees apart. This will minimize forces, and keep valve stems from interfering with each other during maintenance.
Balancing each wheel, even drive and trailer wheels, can extend tire life and minimize irregular wear. Balancing, especially full dynamic balancing, can go a long way in preventing ride disturbance and wear, Scheklesky says. The Technology and Maintenance Council (TMC) of the American Trucking Associations recommends no more than 18 ounces on steers and no more than 22 ounces on drives to correct balance problems. If more is required, you may have a problem that’s beyond what a little weight can solve.

Are retreads really cheaper in the long run? If you bought quality tires in the first place, and you’ve protected your casings with the first three parts of your tire program, you’ll see the value at trade-in time. And since you won’t be getting your own casings back, you’ll want to be sure you’re buying a quality retread-from a quality retreader.
Visit the plant to evaluate its work methods and quality procedures. If all you’ve ever seen is standard, top-cap, precure retreading, and the last time you were in a retread shop was 1987, you’re in for a surprise, says Peggy Fisher, a consultant based in Rochester Hills, Mich., and chair of a TMC task force on tires.
Nondestructive inspection machines that use ultrasound, X-ray, high pressure and high voltage to find casing anomalies are the norm. Electronically controlled buffers reduce human error. Builders also have bells and whistles to ensure tread rubber is correctly applied. Curing equipment is highly automated, and computers monitor performance.
To understand these systems, Fisher says, ask the production manager take you through the shop and explain each step. Look to see if what he says should happen is actually occurring. Also ask who provides the tread rubber and how the plant ensures quality control of the final product. (Often the warranty you’re offered is a good indication of product quality.)
Because of this high-tech equipment and because much work in retread plants is still done by hand, it is crucial that your retreader be certified every year and that his employees are properly trained. Their training certificates as well as the shop certification should be proudly displayed. And the plant should be clean. Very clean.
When you decide to use a new retreader or try a new retread product, test it just as you would a new tire. Track failures and develop an adjustment rate for the retreader as well as mileage performance for the retread. Compare the new retread product to your previous retread or to another new retread product, and see which works best in your operation.
A properly retreaded tire built from a good quality casing will perform as well as any new tire. Contrary to popular belief, retreaded tires are no more prone to failure than new tires, provided they’re run and looked after properly. If you underinflate a tire, it will fail prematurely, regardless of whether it’s a new product or a retread.
All this just to preserve casing value? Yes, and to extend the life of the present tire, whether virgin casings or third-generation retreads. Proper tire care will save you money. It’s a no-brainer.At every turn, something is conspiring to kill your tires. And not just road debris: Tire wear is often a symptom of another problem, like poor wheel alignment or bad bearings. Simply replacing a worn out tire without dealing with the root cause will doom the next tire you put on the truck to suffer the same fate.
In most cases, you can trace the problem back to the guy in the mirror, the one with the tire club in his hand instead of a pressure gauge. Underinflation is the No. 1 killer of tires, and does the same kind of damage to a tire that overloading will do. The repeated flexing of a softened sidewall creates friction and causes heat, which in turn weakens the cord in the sidewall. Greg Cressman, deputy director of technical services at Yokohama Tire, likens the flexing action to that of a paper clip bent rapidly back and forth. “First you feel it heat up, then it snaps,” he says.
That’s what’s happening with your underinflated tire. Flex, heat, snap!
So next time you replace a bad tire, ask your dealer to analyze the wear pattern and determine the real cause of your problem. And when he talks to you about the need for the right inflation pressure, he’s not blowing hot air.

Zipper: What’s the worst that can happen when you run underinflated? A “zipper,” a circumferential break in the mid to upper sidewall exposing an even line of broken casing cords. A zipper is usually caused by casing cord fatigue from that flexing action mentioned above. It’s preventable with proper inflation pressures.

One-Sided Wear: This steer tire is worn along the edge of one shoulder (sometimes the problem extends to the inner ribs). Often the cause is poor wheel alignment, but also check for loose or worn wheel bearings or kingpins. And stay legal on those axle loads. One-sided wear is a symptom of overloading.

Bad Spot Repair: Good workmanship pays. This is an example of missing or loose repair rubber, made worse by contamination of the buffed area or fill material, improper cure time or pressure, or just a bad injury repair. Consult your repair shop or dealer for possible warranty. Scrap the tire if it’s unrepairable.

Bad Spot Repair: Good workmanship pays. This is an example of missing or loose repair rubber, made worse by contamination of the buffed area or fill material, improper cure time or pressure, or just a bad injury repair. Consult your repair shop or dealer for possible warranty. Scrap the tire if it’s unrepairable.You see them whenever the Canadian dollar gets strong and cash in the trucking industry gets tight: tires from far-flung places, bearing names like Yellow Sea and Double Coin and price tags that seem just right for a trucker with a big-time case of the shorts. We talked to John Howard, vice-president of commercial services for Goodyear Canada, about the impact offbrand imports have on other commercial tire manufacturers and on tire customers at large.
TT: We talk almost generically about “offbrand tires,” but we’re seeing some names we’re not used to seeing on Canadian highways. Where do these tires come from?
HOWARD: There’s a lot of tire manufacturing capacity in places like China and Korea, and those companies watch the various commercial tire markets around the globe very carefully and put their products where they think they can get a good return on them. With our dollar getting stronger against the U.S. dollar, Canada is looking pretty good if you’re an overseas manufacturer. When the situation changes, maybe they shift to another market.

Are they poor quality tires?
HOWARD: It’s hard to judge. I don’t think there’s enough of the Chinese product in service here to know how well the casings hold up over time. You know, to many fleets looking at offbrand, offshore tires, casing life doesn’t matter-they’re buying on price and aren’t expecting much long-range value. We used to call them “throwaway tires”-the casing wears out when the tread does. Now we’re starting to see the integrity change. We’re not hearing the same “throwaway casing” line that we’ve heard in the past. But we still don’t have enough data about, say, a Double Coin tire. I know if you brought one of those into one of our retread plants, we’d inspect the heck out of that casing.

Yet the price is tempting…
HOWARD: Sure, and guys will tinker and experiment, especially when they think if they buy a more expensive major brand and a high-quality, highly retreadable tire, that the big investment up front will hurt their cash flow. So they swing to these lower priced tires. Take the short-term hit instead of worrying about the long term. But if a fleet manager has a good tire maintenance and recordkeeping system, he’ll be able to tell the difference real quick. After a year, maybe a year and a half, he’ll see the benefit of a better tire and all the dealer support that comes with it. And you don’t have to spend a fortune to get a good tire. Our low-end tires are competitive on price, but even on the low end we’re talking about the integrity of the casing and the retreadability of the tire. Even on the low end, you can think long term.

In a study of why trucks and
trailers go down, tires top the list

In 2001, 53 per cent of road calls for trucks and tractors handled by FleetnetAmerica, a top breakdown service based in Cherryville, N.C., were tire-related. For trailers, 48 per cent of calls were for tire troubles. And it’s not like there’s a close second, as these charts show. (Figures are based on 26,678 road calls.)

Top 5 Reasons for Breakdowns
1. Tires 53.5%
2. Towing 9.2%
3. Jump or pull start unit 6.7%
4. Alternator 4.0%
5. Wiring, plugs, lights 3.9%

Top 5 roadside repair cost items
1. Tires 55.7%
2. Towing 9.1%
3. Replace/repair alternator 6.7%
4. Replace/repair air lines or hoses 4.1%
5. Replace/repair brake chamber 3.6%

Top 5 reasons for hours lost
Based on 99,275 hours of downtime
1. Tires 36.6%
2. Towing 10.1%
3. Clutch work 5.9%
4. Repair axle, bearings, seals, hub 4.6%
5. Replace/repair air lines or hoses 4.3%
Replace/repair air compressor 4.3%

Top 5 trailer breakdown causes
Based on 63,789 road calls
1. Tires 48.0%
2. Brakes, air system, valves 12.0%
3. Wiring, plugs, lights 4.2%
4. Suspension, springs 2.4%
5. Towing (including wrecks) 2.3%
Axle, bearings, seal, hub 2.3%

Many failures happen because of underinflated tires. Survey work done by the American Trucking Associations revealed that out of 35,128 tire pressures checked, 56 per cent were more than 5 psi off target. Nearly 7 per cent were underinflated by 20 psi or more. The lesson? Most road calls are preventable: just keep your tire pressures up.