Retreading
Posts
Putting tyre service at the centre: Bridgestone North region commercial director on truck tyres, webfleet and Hotread
18 months ago, David Almazan joined the Bridgestone North Region as commercial business unit director. During that time the commercial vehicle sector in general as well as the UK fleet business proved their resilience and creativity and the market has experienced a number of shifts. Tyres & Accessories caught up with Almazan at the company’s relatively recently refurbished Warwickshire headquarters in order to find out more about how the leading tyremaker’s commercial vehicle strategy is evolving.
30 million retreads and counting: Michelin celebrates 100 years of tyre re-manufacturing
Michelin started retreading tyres back in 1923. In the years that followed, the process was refined and demand grew, with the Michelin Remix process (REmould, MIchelin, and X the designation for the French tyremaker’s radials) born in the 1960s. Demand for retreads continued to increase, leading to the expansion of production at the Stoke-on-Trent plant in 1968. Since then, around 30 million worn tyres have been remanufactured at the Michelin plants in Stoke-on-Trent, UK and Homburg, Germany. With around 10 million of those retreads manufactured at the Campbell Road, Stoke-on-Trent operation, Tyres & Accessories went to see the latest developments at the largest retreading facility in the UK and arguably one the most modern retreading facilities in Europe.
Galgo adds 5 designs to ‘Extreme’ range of winter treads
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 becomes first retreader to raise sustainability linked financing
Anna NekrashevichVaculug 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.
TRA briefing delegates urged to book now
TRAWith 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.
Import glut ripples across European truck tyre market
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.
Vipal Rubber celebrates 50 years
VipalIt 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.
Retreading & recycling focus at The Tire Cologne 2024
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.
G&S Tyres joins Marangoni Ringtread Network
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.
Bandag endorsed by Australian circular economy program
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 and Kraiburg expand Insa Turbo cooperation
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.
GalgoMaragoni Ringtread achieves “A” grade for energy saving
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.
