Retreading
Pre-Q Galgo Corporation has added five new designs that have been “lab-tested down to 80° below”. The Extreme line now includes: LDD (Long Distance Drive) 24/32, DLM (Drive Lug Medium) 18/32, PB (Power Block) 26/32, SD (Snow Drive) 25/32, MPO (Multi Positional) 22.5/32 for a total of 18 designs that have been lab tested down to 80° below.
Vaculug has raised financing from Queens Road Capital in what the company describes as a world-first Sustainability Linked Financing Package (SLFP) for any retreading company. Vaculug will use these proceeds to fund its significant expansion and growth.
With the UK alone generating some 600 kilotons of post-consumer rubber annually and with the Tyre Recovery Association (TRA) and its Responsible Recycler members handling the lion’s share of it all, connecting with the latest developments in the field is as important as ever.
The ups and downs of European retreading continued last year. According to current figures from the European Tire & Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA), the association members retreaded and marketed a total of 4.298 million truck tyres in Europe (excluding Turkey) in 2022. This corresponds to a decline of at least 6.2 per cent compared to the previous year, but is still 4.9 per cent above the figures for the previous year. However, since the new tyre business of the ETRMA members was largely stable (down 0.5 per cent), the importance of retreaded truck tyres fell again significantly compared to the new tyre market and was only 37.2 per cent at the end of last year. The association’s figures also show something else very clearly: the EU tariff effect, which had reduced imports of truck tyres (by non-ETRMA members) for a number of years, has now completely fizzled out.
It was at a gas station in 1960 that Vicencio Paludo found the opportunity that would make him start the company that is now 50 years old, Vipal Rubber. The only one in the world with a complete line of products for retreading and repairs for passenger, commercial, agricultural and off-the-road (OTR) tyres, the company was born from a latent need: to offer lorry drives a solution to their tyre problems. From the first patches, going through the production of camelbacks, treads, and tyre retreading machines, to the manufacture of new tyres for motorcycles, one of the largest rubber manufacturers in the world emerges.
The organiser of The Tire Cologne 2024 promises to pay even more attention to the circular economy at next year’s show, with tyre retreading and recycling now “concentrated in a centrally located themed area.” The tyre industry exhibition returns to Cologne, Germany between 4 and 6 June 2024.
It was with profound sadness that we learned of the death of former RMA Administrative Director Sheila Ikin on 10 July, following a lengthy battle with cancer.
After more than 30 years as a Bandag franchisee, G&S Tyres has joined the Marangoni Ringtread Network. The company has also joined the NTDA as both a retreader and a tyre distributor – the latter in relation to its on-site car tyre fitting business. Tyres & Accessories recently visited the company’s Barking, London headquarters in order to find out more.
Tyre Stewardship Australia (TSA) has recognised Bandag as a Circular Economy Collaborator, acknowledging the retreader’s contribution to keeping tyre-derived products and materials circulating in the economy for as long as possible, thereby reducing reliance on raw materials. Announcing Bandag’s induction into the April 2022-launched program, TSA shares that the Bandag process contributes to the association’s vision for a national end-of-life tyre circular economy.
Grupo Soledad-member Insa Turbo reports that Kraiburg has been able to significantly expand its share in the Spanish retreading material market. Grupo Soledad is one of the key players in the Spanish market, with its distribution network totalling more than 100 of its own shops and a franchise network with 1,000 points of sale in Spain and Portugal. And what’s more, the two plan to cooperate more closely in future.
Pre-Q Galgo Corporation exhibited at TAPT (Tennessee Association of Pupil Transportation) conference on 6 June 2023, in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
Marangoni has manufactured a Ringtread tyre that achieved an “A” class energy saving level in the same test used for new tyres (ECE.R 117). The result was achieved by applying a Blackline tread ring with an optimised design for low rolling resistance on a high-quality casing, which featured the best rolling resistance class already in its first life. The ring used for this test featured “a special compound created ad hoc for the occasion”. Retreading took place at Marangoni’s plant in Rovereto, where the group’s headquarters and R&D centre are also located. The test was carried out by the independent test laboratory Prüflabor Nord.
In a significant development building on the retreading brand’s pre-cure heritage, Bridgestone-owned Bandag is expanding its portfolio of mould-cured retread activities with the launch of Bandag Hotread.
On 16 May, Bridgestone Americas held a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of work to expand its Bridgestone Bandag, LLC manufacturing plant in Abilene, Texas. The US$60 million project will increase the facility’s floorspace by 50,000 square feet and meet growing demand for the company’s tread rubber products, with operations at the expanded plant scheduled to fun on six and seven-day production schedules.
A strategic meeting in Valencia, Spain afforded Vipal Europe the opportunity to review the year that’s been. Amongst the significant changes to occur in recent times is the inclusion of the entire African territory within the Vipal Europe remit. This follows the addition of the North Africa and Middle East regions to the Vipal Europe operation in 2021.
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Anna Nekrashevich
TRA
Vipal
Galgo