Retreading
Hercules Tire has introduced the Hercules H-801 all-position premium highway tyre. The newest addition to the Hercules H-Series line of medium truck tyres, the next generation H-801 excels in regional steer applications, delivering exceptional treadwear and superior handling capabilities.
Bridgestone America’s retreading operation is suing a van-transport company for trademark infringement, reports indicate. In a suit filed this week in the US District Court for Middle Tennessee, Bridgestone Bandag Tire Solutions says the newly-designed logo used by Bandago, a California-based company that provides van rentals primarily for touring musical acts, may cause consumer confusion.
While the North American tyre market struggled to create demand for additional volume in 2013, Bill Sweatman, president of Marangoni Tread North America, announced the company managed to achieve a 70,000 unit sales increase for the year. “Growing faster than the market is a key indicator that we continue to collectively provide our customers with best-in-class products, service, support and the best network of independent dealers in the industry,” he said.
The UK distributor of Spanish 4×4 retread tyre brand Insa Turbo has reported “extremely strong” growth for the product, having increased year-on-year sales by more than a third in 2013. Micheldever (MTS)’s 4×4 specialist division Southam Tyres said unit sales have risen by 36 per cent, as sales director Alan Baldwin suggested several reasons for the brand’s strong performance.
Although a date still hasn’t been set for the inauguration of its large new tyre factory in India’s Tamil Nadu state, on 18 December Michelin inaugurated two new certified Recamic retreading facilities in the state. The commercial vehicle tyre retreading facilities, located in the Chennai and Pudukottai regions, have been established in collaboration with TVS Tread, the retreading arm of TVS Group.
The Tire Retread & Repair Information Bureau (TRIB) and the American Commercial Tire Network (ACTN) have jointly launched a video highlighting the environmental benefits of retreading. The video can be seen on the retreading organisation’s YouTube channel and in the video section of its website. TRIB says it will also display and distribute the video at the trade shows it attends and offer it to news outlets in order to highlight the positive environmental aspects of retreading.
Heading up to the first anniversary of the European tyre label’s implementation, Tyres & Accessories took the opportunity to ask about tyre manufacturers’ label experiences with commercial fleet operators. From Chris Evans, director of Pirelli’s UK and Ireland Truck business unit, we learned that fleet reactions to the label have been mixed. “It’s a good tool to help end users collect essential information when choosing new tyres,” he relates. “But fleets recognise the tyre label cannot substitute the wide range of information offered by the manufacturers and service providers which detail many of the other facets of a truck tyre, such as mileage and retreadability. Often a fleet will prefer to test in real time, usually back-to-back with competitor or traditional products to see true performances in their own environment.”
Purchasers of Toyo truck and bus tyres in the US will now enjoy a more comprehensive casing warranty. Toyo Tire U.S.A. Corp. says its improved casing warranty for its medium TBR range sees the casing value increasing to US$110 for the first retread on many popular sizes. The company also offers a rubber allowance of up to $50.00, based on the tyre’s remaining tread depth. Toyo Tire U.S.A. opines that these latest changes to its casing warranty make it one of the best in the tyre business.
Five years into a partnership with Tatko Otomotiv Group, rubber and retreading material supplier Kraiburg is celebrating increased market share in Turkey. According to the company, the Turkish market for HGV retreads is of paritcular strategic importance to Kraiburg Austria, with an annual volume of around 9,000 tonnes of material.
Historically, many fleets have taken a short-term view of their tyre policy and failed to plan ahead. This is particularly the case for fleets facing immediate pressures, as the temptation not to consider three years in the future is strong for operators who are uncertain if they’ll even remain in business that long. Yet short-term savings can prove costlier in the long run, and Michelin opines that fleet operators need to consider their tyre choice in a similar way to their vehicle choice – they need to ensure it is right for the application and vehicle.
TRM, the Marangoni Meccanica division dedicated to the sale and development of retreading machinery, is reporting that its premium “Black Dragon” tyre building machines have pushed the envelope in terms of technology and helped inspire growth in mould cure retreading in general as well. The Black Dragon, purportedly the best machine of its kind available in the market for bead to bead application, is available in two versions: the Black Dragon 90, featuring a rotating twin turret serving a 90mm extruder for tread application and a vertical extruder for sidewall application, and the bigger version Black Dragon 120 (formerly known as Alpha Twin Dual Black Swan), featuring a 120mm extruder for the tread and two sidewall extruders.
Ten new products are joining the ContiTread pre-cure retread portfolio. The first of these is the M+S marked LDR 1+ drive axle tread; fives sizes are available –205/75 R 17.5, 215/75 R 17.5, 225/75 R 17.5, 235/75 R 17.5 and 245/70 R 17.5. Continental says these treads are aimed at retreading partners catering to inner-city and regional hauliers operating light and medium-heavy trucks. Two new winter tyre treads have also been released.
Following its pilot introduction in Italy, a year ago Giti Tire rolled out its GT Assist commercial vehicle roadside service assistance programme in the UK. The launch of this 90 minute response service, which is operated in collaboration with the RAC, means that since the end of last year Giti Tire has been able to offer a full fleet portfolio of new GT Radial tyres, GT REE Tread mould cure retreads, along with tyre maintenance through its network of more than 180 independent dealers in the UK and Ireland.
Continental has opened its new ContiLifeCycle Plant at its Hanover-Stöcken facility alongside the launch of its Technology Center Campus. With various other retreading and technology centres around the world, the facilities are characterised as nuclei for Conti’s global technological operations; Conti both sends “out into the world” its technological innovations from the Campus, in the words of Tire Division head and Executive Board member, Nikolai Setzer, and brings in specialists and their expertise from global markets to help develop technology for different markets. The LifeCycle Plant is thought to be the most technologically advanced retreading facility in the world, integrating into the manufacturing processes improved rubber recycling capabilities.
Bridgestone Europe has introduced a new Bandag tread intended for urban applications such as city buses and waste collection vehicles. Called the BDU2, the tread will be available in various widths, allowing for retreading of the most common casing sizes used within this segment.
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