Retread Trends
Consolidation has brought out the best in retreads. To the point, say proponents, that they are as good or better than new tires.
Evan Lockridge
Contributing Editor
The retread truck tire business has changed a lot in 15 years, with a number of trends leading to better products. And new trends are expected to lead to even better retread truck tires for the industry in the future.
One of the biggest trends in recent years has been rapid consolidation in the retread business. Gone are many independent retread operations that dotted the landscape in the 1970s. When passenger car retreading faded into the sunset due to the globalization of the passenger tire market and the advent of radial tires, many retread operations converted to truck tires.
But most soon closed up shop, either because they were unable to afford modern equipment or they were bought out by larger operations. Today's retread plants are mostly owned by big tire makers, along with some independents, all of whom are using high-tech equipment.
Harvey Brodsky, director of the Tire Retread Information Bureau, says this shakeout and investment in new equipment is good news. It has resulted in a product failure rate that has shrunk so much that retread tires are now as good or better than new tires.
"From a fleet's point of view, this is a colossal improvement, and can save them a ton of money," he says. Just how much? Today you can pay $125 to $150 for a retread, compared to $350 to $400 for a new tire.
A more recent trend is the increased selection of tread designs for retreads. Brodsky says new tire makers can't afford to offer tread designs for extremely specific applications. They have to make ones that can be sold to a lot of people. A retreader, on the other hand, can offer something more fitted to a specific niche.
"There are many more tread designs in the retread market than there are in the new tire market," he says. "That enables a user to have a tread design that is specific to his application, prolonging the life of his tires. Bandag was the first to bring this to market, but all of the big guys have it today."
In the future you can expect to see even more changes in the retread business, including some that go beyond the tires themselves. Joe Zekoski, director of retread systems at Goodyear, says retreaders are becoming more involved in making their product part of the whole tire life cycle.
"We view retreads as an integral part of the cradle-to-grave tire service program," he says, "and we see the linkage of retreads to new tires as more critical than ever to help meet the total tire needs of fleets."
Zekoski sees retreaders' information technology systems becoming more integrated with those of truck fleets. This, he says, will give fleets of all sizes information on their retread casing histories and where their retreads are within the retread network.
Bill Sweatman, president and CEO of North America retreading systems at Marangoni, sees retreaders helping fleets develop more predictive maintenance techniques in their tire programs. This will help avoid downtime, where costs have gone up in recent years.
"Premium retreaders and suppliers are collecting a lot of information, and we are rapidly learning what works," he says. "What you want to do is put a tread on that casing and use up as much of the useful life of it [as you can], and then manage it out of your system before it fails."
As for what goes into retread tires, expect some big changes that will make them even longer lasting. Both Zekoski and Brodsky say improved rubber chemistry, or compounding, will play a bigger role in the coming years. This, Zekoski says, is because such advancements in new tires are coming faster, and those changes will be integrated faster into retreads.
"It used to be that getting 100,000 miles from a tire was a big deal," Brodsky says, "but today we are getting several times that. Now we are getting closer to having a million-mile tire." In addition to longer life, these improved compounds also mean a tire with fewer problems and more resistance to highway hazards.
Interest in retread tires is increasing, due to increased operating costs for fleets, especially fuel, says Marangoni's Sweatman. "When prices are high, fleets are looking at their tire retread program closer than ever," he says. "There is no room for wasting any money, and this is an important way to keep costs down."
When you look at the big picture, it's hard to ignore the advantages of using retreads. Consolidation has led to more modern plants and a better product. Couple this with new compounding techniques plus other developments on the horizon, and it's easy to see why retreads should be a part of any fleet's tire management program.
