Top tyre advice from Bandvulc
When it comes to tyres and wheels it is essential that you specify the right tyre for your operation and application when you order the vehicle from you vehicle distributor. Most OEMs will give you a choice of tyre make and pattern that best suits your business and helps you to keep costs under control e.g. Continental Hybrid for regional work or Conti CrossTrac for on/off road and construction applications where you need more protection.
Once you have the right tyre for your application and the vehicle is delivered then make sure the pressures are correct for the loads you will carry – this will be a massive help with safety, tyre mileage and fuel consumption.
For more critical loads such as people or livestock then you may want to consider a tyre pressure monitoring system such as ContiPressureCheck which can be in cab, via ContiConnect or through your telematics system.
Whichever, route you choose you will reduce breakdowns to a minimum and save tyres getting destroyed or damaging other vehicles if they have a puncture and overheat.
All premium truck tyres are designed and built to be regrooved and we would recommend this is done when the tyre is worn to around 5mm of tread. This means you are gaining extra life when tyre wear is slow and fuel consumption is at its optimum.
Most operators in the UK use retreads as a safe and environmentally way to keep costs to a minimum. Once the worn tyre is removed, ask your service provider to return it to someone like Bandvulc who will inspect and check each casing over 20 times before releasing it for re tting. Each tyre is hand inspected by experts, shearographied twice to look for air pockets the human eye cannot see and in ated to 150psi to test secure. That is why the claims level on Bandvulc’s casings is just as low as new tyres. Smart operators set up a casing bank so that they have retreads available each time they need to replace drive or trailer tyres and then top the bank up with the casings that are removed.
Retreads save 80 per cent of the raw materials in a tyre and save the operator money in today’s ultra-competitive eet market. Bandvulc also offers a range of specialised tyres for buses and waste management where sidewall wear is more relevant than tread wear for multi stop operations. Where fuel is a major issue they have new and retread tyres which give a very low rolling resistance and save you diesel every kilometre.
Arthur Gregg, Managing Director states: “Selecting a good tyre management company is also essential so that you can focus on your core business and only need to know about exceptions, which are causing your costs to rise.” Conti360 eet services has over 100 experts waiting for you call 24 hours a days – every day of the year. Conti360 managers over one million wheels from some of the UK and Ireland’s largest eets – ensuring they deliver on time and within budget.
He added: “Wheel security is a massive safety concern and with regular checks by Conti360’s network of fully trained 360 partners across the UK and Ireland then we can identify issues early and take remedial action before something more serious happens. We have a range of safety videos available online to assist and for more comprehensive training we have ContiAcademy in Lutterworth, our fully equipped training school for those who want more,” Arthur added.
“At end of a vehicle’s life we can ensure your vehicle leaves with the correct level of tread and any relatively new tyres and repairs are removed and fed back into your eet making sure you waste nothing and giving you the lowest overall driving cost, or LODC as we know it.” He concluded: “Whatever your need or business give us a call and we will get one of our account managers to contact you for a no obligation discussion on how we can help you keep tyre and fuel costs under control.”
Contact www.continental-tyres.co.uk/truck or www.bandvulc.co.uk if you want to know more.