Sterling Forest Performance Sees Fleet Adopt Uniroyal

The performance of Uniroyal tyres on timber hauling trucks belonging to Cumbrian operator John Miller Limited has prompted the company to adopt the brand for its general haulage fleet. Frequent journeys of up to 20 miles on unpaved forest tracks can be punishing on tyres, and Millers says it is impressed by how well the Uniroyal tyres have stood up to the arduous conditions they’re subjected to. Now the company is fitting them to steer axles on Mercedes-Benz Actros tractors on general haulage work and looking to achieve up to 180,000 kilometres of life before regrooving.

For the past 18 months the Carlisle firm, which has 30 trucks dedicated to timber haulage, has been using the Uniroyal FO 200 on/off road steer axle tyre on its tag-axle DAF CF85s. These trucks carry timber out of forests across the Scottish borders to sawmills throughout the region. When they’re not on forest tracks, the trucks are mainly running on A roads, which can also put tyres to the test. Such demanding conditions make it essential that drivers check their tyres daily. At Miller’s, this sort of routine inspection is further backed up with more thorough inspections carried out by the supplying dealer, Matthew Brewer Tyres (MBT), who provides a complete tyre management service to the company.

MBT often inspects a truck’s tyres two or three times a week and always at least weekly to ensure any sign of damage or under-inflation is quickly spotted and remedial action taken. When tread depth approaches 3 mm the tyres come off the steer axle for regrooving and the FO 200s are then available for use on the lift axle, thus extending their life by several thousand more kilometres.

This is, however, not the end of the story: Further life is gained through retreading, which can also later be followed by a second regrooving. Speaking of one recently re-moulded DO200, Matthew Brewer said: “the casing looked as good as new with no sign of chafing on the bead at all!”

Davie Carson, a director at John Miller Limited, says that the strenuous conditions of timber industry operations are about as testing as it gets for truck tyres. “I’ve been very satisfied with the way the Uniroyals have performed in our timber fleet. Following that experience, and on the advice of MBT, we’re now using the DH 100 on the drive axles of our Actros Mega space tractors and so far they appear to be doing well.”

The Uniroyal range covers all commercial vehicle applications, and includes products specifically intended for on/off road work in construction and forestry, for steer and for drive axles, for all-round use, and for trailers. Each of these products, comments Uniroyal, are manufactured to achieve a high first life mileage, which can then be significantly extended by regrooving and retreading in accordance with the manufacturer’s guidelines. Uniroyal tyres are sold and distributed exclusively for Continental Tyre Group by Uniroyal Truck Tyres UK, a subsidiary of King Road Tyres, one of the largest nationwide tyre wholesalers in the UK and Ireland.