A focus on changing perceptions

Retreading has long been recognised by commercial fleet operators as a major means of saving on operating costs, yet in some quarters retreads are still seen as offering less than their new tyre equivalents. Putting a stop to these misperceptions through elevating public awareness of retreading’s economic and environmental benefits has been a major focus of the US based Tire Retread & Repair Information Bureau – more commonly known as TRIB – for almost four decades. Recently Tyres & Accessories spoke with TRIB managing director Harvey Brodsky about an industry that commercial vehicle operators simply cannot afford to ignore.

“This negative perception, that retreads are less than, is unfortunately not only the case in the US,” says Brodsky. “The problem is that people see tyre debris on the highway, and chances are they’ll straight away say it comes from retreads.” Although TRIB’s educational campaign frequently addresses this topic, the organisation has sometimes seemed like a lone voice in the wilderness – until recently. In December 2008, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released its Commercial Medium Tire Debris Study final report. In its conclusion, the report stated “the proportion of tyre debris from retread tyres and OE tyres is similar to the estimated proportion of retread and OE tyres in service. Indeed, the OE versus retread proportions of the collected tyre debris broadly correlated with accepted industry expectations. Additionally, there was no evidence to suggest that the proportion of tyre fragments/shreds from retread tyres was overrepresented in the debris items collected.”

“This is something we knew all the time, but we had to prove it,” says Brodsky, who has waited a long time to see a report like this published. “It wasn’t commissioned by us, the government did this independently.” The report’s conclusion adds that the majority of tyre debris found on US highways is not the result of manufacturing/process deficiencies. Similar findings are corroborated in earlier tyre debris studies.

The TRIB managing director comments that the organisation is making extra effort to get its message across during the current economic problems, and is focusing on one area in particular: “Every major fleet in the first world is using retreads already,” Mr. Brodsky elaborates. “If our members focus activities towards these operators, all that happens is everyone ends up with a smaller slice of the pie. Instead we want to go over what we call ‘the last frontier’ – public sector, or government, fleets. As we get them using retreads the pie gets larger and we all get a bigger slice.

“They are not as concerned about the bottom line as private operators,” Brodsky continued. “The public sector is very important, but they just don’t pay as much attention to the bottom line and the environment as they should. The large cities are more responsive to retreading; it is more the medium sized towns, those with fleets of, say, sixty to a hundred trucks as opposed to thousands, that don’t want to be bothered.”

Mr. Brodsky notes that this is not just an American problem, the experience of European retreaders is much the same. To win over public sector fleet operators in the US, TRIB offers tyre maintenance and retreading workshops. It is admittedly the tyre maintenance part of the name that grabs attention, but once attendees have seen what retreaders have to offer, particularly when a workshop includes the opportunity to tour a retreading factory, close to 100 per cent leave convinced.

“These modern plants are turning out a top quality product,” says Mr. Brodsky. “The adjustment rate for top quality retreads is not the same as for brand new tyres – it is actually lower. For top quality retreads, the rate is well under one per cent, a far different state of affairs from some 15 years ago, before non-destructive testing came on the scene. Top new tyre manufacturers, in comparison, only manage around one per cent.”

Every major new tyre manufacturer now designs their tyres for retreadability, but many retreaders in Europe and North America want nothing to do with Chinese produced commercial vehicle tyres. This situation is however, says Harvey Brodsky, slowly changing: “A major Chinese manufacturer that has recognised a need to work on its quality is Double Coin. The manufacturer, a TRIB member, realises that lifting quality and becoming another second tier manufacturer is the way to go for the future. I have visited the Double Coin factory in Shanghai, and the attention to quality is incredible. Sailun is another manufacturer that is coming along, you will hear more from them.”

Another trend TRIB is observing is a resurgence of passenger car tyre retreading. “I’d be surprised if you didn’t also see this in Europe,” said Mr. Brodsky. “This isn’t happening with the 13 and 14-inch fitments, but certain retreaders are realising an opportunity exists with some of the crazy SUV sizes.” In the US one particular company, Green Diamond, is making substantial investments in this area. In the 1970s, 20 per cent of US market replacement passenger car tyres were retreads compared with virtually nothing today, yet Brodsky believes the time may be right for its return: “Today, younger people don’t have any preconceived notions about retreads – they are totally neutral and open to new ideas. They are also keener on the environment, and in this area we can get their attention. When the tyre also costs less, it represents an opportunity on a small scale.”

Harvey Brodsky doesn’t just promote retreading – he “walks the talk”, and has been driving on retreads for more than 30 years. He entered the world of retreading through a position with the California based company Lodi, then the largest manufacturer of retreading materials in the world (the company later went bankrupt after it decided the new pre-cure technology was just a “fad”). During the time a failed attempt at reviving Lodi was made in the early 70s, talk on the need for an independent association to represent the industry came up. TRIB was born in 1972 and Brodsky, after several years out of the industry, was asked to be its managing director in 1981.
TRIB has always been a non-profit member association, and Brodsky adds it does not promote any particular company or type of retreading. The organisation is governed by an unpaid 12-member board of directors, and at present this board includes representatives from Bridgestone-Bandag, Michelin, Goodyear, the TIA, Oliver Rubber and the RMA. The remaining board members are suppliers and a couple of independent retreaders. Despite being represented in 49 countries and boasting close to 500 members, TRIB has only three paid employees.

Reflecting on his years with TRIB, Harvey Brodsky concludes “I have become an old timer in the industry and have lots of fun. I’m not in a hurry to stop, I want to be around as long as I can. They say “If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.”