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TRIB Marks Earth Day with Green Retreading Reminder

April 22 is Earth Day – and according to the Tire Retread & Repair Information Bureau, you could do a lot worse than celebrating the environmentally themed day with a set of retreads. TRIB comments that retreaded tyres are one of the most environmentally friendly of all recycled products, as they contain one of the highest post consumer contents because the actual tyre itself is being recycled.

The oil savings with retreads is also very significant, adds TRIB, as tyres are basically petrochemical products. It takes approximately 83 litres of oil to manufacture one average size truck tyre. Since most of that oil is found in the tyre casing, which is re-used in the retreading process, only about 26 litres of oil are needed to retread that same tyre. Thus a fleet using as few as 100 tyres a year can help save almost 5,700 litres of oil annually, notes TRIB.

22nd April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Trelleborg Fined US$11M for Cartel Involvement

Sweden’s Trelleborg Group reports it has reached an agreement with the US Department of Justice regarding investigations involving marine fenders and marine oil hoses. These investigations, Trelleborg adds, commenced in 2005 and 2007 respectively, and it has been awaiting a decision from the authorities “for a lengthy period.”

The agreements entail that the two Trelleborg Group subsidiaries in question shall pay a combined fine of US$11 million to the US authorities. The agreements are to be approved in court. The Group’s French subsidiary has previously paid close to $2 million in damages to aggrieved customers as settlement of a class action, which concerned Trelleborg and other companies, for alleged illegal price fixing concerning marine oil hoses.

21st April 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Targeted in French Tax Investigation

Michelin, along with oil company Total and sports firm Adidas, is said to be under suspicion of evading taxes in France through the use of bank accounts based in the principality of Liechtenstein. According to the AFP news service, the Paris prosecutor’s office has confirmed reports that the French finance ministry had in late 2008 provided it with case files concerning foundations linked to the three companies, as well as some 30 French individuals. It said it will open a preliminary investigation into the three companies, the first step towards a possible indictment on tax evasion charges.

31st March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Dana’s CTIS Celebrating Quarter Century

This year automotive component supplier Dana Corporation celebrates 25 years of supplying its Central Tire Inflation Systems (CTIS) to military and commercial vehicle customers. Initially developed for use by the US armed forces in 1984, Dana reports that it now supplies its CITS to OEMs in the North America and global markets.

“Dana CTIS is selected by more military vehicle OEMs than all of the competitive systems combined,” said James Beverly, Dana’s chief engineer of advanced chassis control systems. “The product is used extensively by the US Army and Marine Corps, as well as NATO forces, and in a variety of commercial vehicle applications such as oil field exploration and construction.”

26th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Yokohama USA to Introduce Eco-Friendly GT3 Tyre

Yokohama has announced that it will introduce a series-wide environmentally-friendly race tyre in the GT3 Challenge. Mark Chung, the company’s US director, corporate strategy and planning, stated, “The orange oil technology is extremely exciting for our race programme; reducing petroleum inputs by approximately 10 per cent and increasing recyclability while maintaining the high performance levels of previous race slick compounds.”

17th March 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Strength & Comfort the Goal of Goodyear’s Latest Wrangler

New from Goodyear in 2009 is the Wrangler AT/SA, a tyre for 4×4 drivers seeking mobility both on and off the road. The Wrangler AT/SA has been released onto the market following extensive testing on the company’s on and off-road test facilities – tests that Goodyear says show the new tyre to outperform its major competitors and its predecessor in both wet braking and wet handling tests.

Durability on rough surfaces comes courtesy of a generous serving of Kevlar. Two layers of the five-times stronger than steel material are built into the tyre in addition to the its two high-tensile steel belts; the main benefit the layers offer, says Goodyear, is improved resistance to punctures in the tread – however Kevlar layers also act as a sound barrier, absorbing noise for an especially quiet ride. This combination of strength and silence is part of what the manufacturer calls its ‘SilentArmor Technology’, a proprietary innovation first introduced on Goodyear 4×4 some four years ago.

24th February 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Vietnam’s Rubber Industry Suffers as Synthetic Rubber Use Increases

Vietnam, the world’s fourth largest rubber exporter, is faced with rapidly dropping natural rubber prices as a result of the global recession and the increasing use of synthetic rubber. According to the Vietnam Rubber Association, global tyre production, which accounts for more than half of the world’s rubber supply, is expected to grow more slowly in the years to 2010. Growth of between 2 and 3 per cent is anticipated compared with the 3.4 per cent growth enjoyed in 2007.

Tran Duc Vien, director of the Hanoi Agriculture University, said that current crude oil prices, which have dropped more than 70 per cent since July, are encouraging the use of synthetic rubber, which is in turn causing natural rubber costs to sink. This increased use of synthetic rubber has coincided with Vietnam’s peak latex production period (September to December), and a huge supply of rubber has arrived onto what has become a buyer’s market – in 2007 a ton of natural rubber could fetch US$2,700. In December 2008 this same quantity sold for only around $1,300. Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development are forecasting further price drops in 2009.

5th January 2009/by Tyrepress Editors

Titan’s Taylor Talks About 2009 Goals

A glimpse at what year-end 2008 and 2009 has in store for Titan International has been provided in a company statement by chairman and CEO Maurice M. Taylor Junior. “It has been a remarkable year for Titan and its employees,” noted Taylor. “No one outside of this corporation will ever know how great this team of Titan employees are.

“In the past two months I’ve visited the oil sands, mines, farm equipment dealers, farmers and executives of major farm original equipment manufacturers,” he added. “It’s hard to believe with all the gloom on Wall Street, television and clueless politicians’ commentary that 2009 should be a great year, but that is what I see.”

9th December 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Dunlop Oil & Marine Pleads Guilty to Price Fixing Charges

Grimsby based marine hose manufacturer Dunlop Oil & Marine has agreed to plead guilty to taking part in a scheme to fix prices and rig bids. The US Justice Department says the company has also agreed to pay a $4.54 million fine for its wrongdoings.

This please follows previous charges handed out to executives in the UK and several other countries. Three British businessmen were sentenced to imprisonment.

2nd December 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Kraiburg Installs New 3.6 million euro Internal Mixer

Kraiburg Austria recently powered up a new internal mixing line. According to the retreading material supplier, the new machinery will primarily be used to produce high-performance compounds for tyre retreading. The new equipment is said to be more efficient and capable of mixing compounds with little or now oil. This means polymer chains are maintained better, which has a positive effect on mileage.

The new line is now producing K_base, K_tech, and K_plus products. Prior to the installation of the new machinery the K_tech and K_plus products, which are said to be “very demanding from a technical perspective,” have only been available in limited capacities.

2nd December 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Asian SBR Prices to Fall Further, Predict Manufacturers

Asian based tyre manufacturers and producers of styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) believe regional prices for the commodity can fall even further beyond the 40 per cent experienced in November. While spot prices to China for non-oil grade 1502 dropped to around US$1,500 to $1,600 a tonne in mid November, market sources speculate the going price could reach as low as $1,100 to $1,200 a tonne by the year’s end.

20th November 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Tyre Trouble Lands Man in Prison

Kwik-Fit recently urged us not to be DIPSTICs – Drivers In a Poor State to Inspect Cars. This prompting came following survey results showing an embarrassingly large percentage of us don’t really know how to check oil levels, maintain tyres or even open our car’s bonnet. A man in the US city of Aurora, Colorado would have done well to heed this advice…..

The 51-year old telephoned the police some time before 2pm on October 29 to report a flat tyre. Would the boys or girls in blue kindly come out and assist, he asked. Fortunately – or so it seemed – for the man, a patrol car was already in the vicinity. It had been dispatched to attend a hit and run accident in which three parked cars were damaged, and was already on its way when the officers were called upon to be good tyre Samaritans.

11th November 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Don’t be a DIPSTIC!

In hot pursuit…..of careless vehicle maintenance. According to Kwik-Fit, millions of UK motorists are at risk of being a DIPSTIC. Mind you, when the fast fit giant says this it isn’t doling out the harmless insult made popular by Hazzard County sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane – it means each of these road users is potentially a Driver In Poor State To Inspect Cars. Strong words indeed, but Kwik-Fit has survey results to back its claim.

6th November 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Fleets Warned to Take Fuel Saving Steps

Fleets have been warned that they should still be taking proactive measures to manage fuel use – even though petrol and diesel prices have started to fall from recent peaks. Crude oil prices are now more than a third lower than the July peak of $147 a barrel. Pump prices are some way behind this kind of drop but petrol is already nearer an average of 110 pence per litre rather than the 120 pence of recent months.

4th November 2008/by Tyrepress Editors

Wal-Mart Closes Unionised Tyre Centre

Following the closure of a unionised Quebec tyre and lubrication shop, Wal-Mart has said that costs related to the first labour agreement imposed on any of the world’s biggest retailer’s North American locations were to blame. The closure was enacted because the agreement would have raised operating costs by 30 per cent and forced “dramatic” price increases on products, said the retail giant.

Andrew Pelletier told Bloomberg over the telephone that, “The union contract that was imposed is simply unworkable,” and that the agreement would have seen wages rise by a third – more than ten times the average hourly rate of Quebec companies this year. The Canadian president of the United Food and Commercial Workers, Wayne Hanley, responded that, “if you join a union, they’re going to close your shop… It’s hard to see how the additional labour costs were going to drive up the price of a cheap oil change, while at the same time they rake in multi-billion-dollar profits every year.” The company said that the six workers at Wal-Mart Tire and Lube Express, Quebec would be offered jobs elsewhere.

17th October 2008/by Tyrepress Editors