The RL-5K, Goodyear’ s newest radial OTR tire, is constructed to withstand the air pressure necessary to deliver a 16 % increase in load carrying capacity compared to its predecessor.
By Seth Skydel
Traveling across challenging surfaces strewn with rocks, nails and debris, means that tires on construction vehicles and equipment face obstacles unlike those in other types of operations.
“ For construction contractors, those types of tires need to be optimized for durability and high mileage, as well as cut-and-tear resistance and minimal stone retention,” said Shaun Uys, VP of commercial vehicle tires, U. S. at Continental.“ They also need to be made for durability and traction.”
Tony Cresta, director of product management at CMA LLC / Double Coin, said one of the biggest tire-related issues contractors face with tires is downtime.
“ Your equipment may change jobsites multiple times in a month, depending on the progression of each job and the needs on site,” he related.“ Having equipment down can delay the progress of not one but multiple job sites, and time is money.”
“ The biggest tire issue that construction contractors face is uptime, the same issue facing worksite and equipment managers everywhere,” agreed Josh Altier, category planning & customer service manager, Global & Americas OTR, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.
“ We believe the search for more uptime inevitably leads to a focus on tires because tires are one of the largest investments many contractors make. Nothing rolls without them so today we’ re making investments in the design, compounding and construction of our tires.”
“ We work with our dealers and customers to understand their needs and invest in tire maintenance practices that help increase performance and extend usable tire life,” Altier continued.“ We’ re also focused on building maintenance programs with our customers to efficiently inspect tires and to track performance so we can make actionable decisions based on data analysis and insights.
“ We believe in being a proactive partner for our customers to manage their up-front capital investment and ongoing maintenance plans to optimize their tire investment.”
Relationships with tire dealers that operate service trucks, have the personnel capabilities for service calls and carry the inventory customers need is a great way to minimize on / off-road tire-related downtime, noted Tony Cresta at Double Coin.
“ Double Coin doesn ' t offer programs directly, but many of our servicing dealer partners do,” Cresta said.“ Programs can be as simple as getting a walkaround tire checkup, more detailed tire health reports on air pressures and tread depths, wear patterns, etc. in your fleet, or signing up with a tire dealer for a fleet tire maintenance program. Having a service call on your schedule can make a
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