Michelin Retread Technologies – 10 Years in North America

November 16 marked the tenth anniversary of Michelin Retread Technologies (MRT) operating in North America. Since its beginning in 1997, MRT has grown to include 45 franchisees, with 77 retread locations across the US, Canada and Mexico, and during this time the retreader has opened a tread pressing plant in Covington, Georgia. The company doubled the capacity of this facility in 2005 and two years later built a second tread pressing plant in Querétaro, Mexico.

“The pace at which Michelin Retread Technologies has grown since its inception is a tremendous tribute to the quality and workmanship of our franchisees, as well as the value created by the innovative MRT process and products,” said Jean-Michel Guillon, chief operating officer, Michelin Americas Truck Tires. “Being able to apply some of our new tyre technologies to the retread products certainly has brought significant value to the fleet customers.”

In its first decade, more than 17 million tyres have been retreaded in North America using the MRT process; more than 180,000 tonnes of rubber have been utilised. With 44 retread patterns available for a variety of applications, MRT offers the North American truck market more than 200 different retread options in total.

The retreader continues to bring new products to the market, including the XDA Hypersipe retread introduced last year, which draws upon Michelin Durable Technologies to mould tread features on both the top and bottom of a pre-cured tread band. MRT also offers a range of retreading options for Michelin X One wide single tyres. Michelin points out that all MRT treads are built with Michelin proprietary tread rubber compounds and patterns, allowing the retreads to mirror the aspects and performance of new Michelin tyres.