Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/443069
38 COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | JANUARY 2015 EQUIPMENT: WIDE-BASED TIRES haul or tanker operations, Weller says. Efforts to improve retreadability of wide-based singles are ongoing and are showing potential to add additional use- able lives to the tires, Loos says. "You can still expect retread rates to be higher for singles because the tires are wider and larger, and there is a volume is- sue to consider – there just aren't as many used wide-based single tires out there compared to duals," he says. "Those tires currently don't get retreaded at the same level as conventional dual tires." Retread performance must match new tire performance, Buckham says. Wide- based tires are more sensitive to road inputs than dual tires, so starting with the highest-quality casing is critical. Good- year's patented UniCircle tread consists of a continuous ring with a seamless con- struction that matches the casing's shape, a design intended to minimize the tread rubber's distortion. "Since there is no cutting or splicing during the UniCircle tread application process, the resulting retread is uniform and balanced," Buckham says. "This helps extend casing life even more while opti- mizing tire mileage and maintaining low rolling resistance." Fleets seeking an advantage "get" wide- based tire technology, Crehan says. "The most competitive fleets have maintenance practices and keep maintenance records to assist them in understanding how wide singles can assist them with the advantages of saving fuel, gaining payload, reducing GHG (greenhouse gas) and emissions and gaining productivity," he says. Also, with more fleets using wide sin- gles, the used truck market is seeing more vehicles with the tires. "This presents an- other advantage to used truck purchasers – to be able to acquire the new technology of wide single tires without the conversion cost of retrofitting," Crehan says. Used truck dealers often convert a truck on dual tires to wide singles and work the conversion cost into the loan, he says. Delivering Insights. Driving Results. TM 866.419.5861 www.Lytx.com © 2014 Lytx, Inc. All rights reserved Proven Experience. Proven ROI. 450,000 drivers logs 60,000,000 billion miles 25 950 ȵHHWV collision cost reductions 50-80 % Up to fuel savings Up to 12 % Only Lytx has analyzed the driving behaviors of over GULYHUVLQPRUHWKDQȵHHWV2QO\/\W[KDV evaluated more than 25 billion driving miles. Only Lytx has compliance management services. We combine the power of the DriveCam ® Program and RAIR ® Compliance Services with unparalleled data, and insightful analytics to help predict and prevent unsafe GULYLQJLQ\RXUȵHHW Yokohama Tire Corp.'s TY517 commercial tire was added to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's SmartWay list.