Tire costs are typically the third-greatest expense of most fleets, behind fuel and labor.
To reduce these expenses, operations need to determine how to get more life out of their tires. Keeping tires properly inflated and managing their wear and tear can help save fleet operations thousands of dollars.
Get tips on how you can better manage your tires to reduce your operation’s overall expenses.
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Establish a Tire-Tracking System
Installing a tire-tracking system can help manage your fleet’s overall tire usage.
An effective tire-tracking system monitors the performance and history of each tire throughout its lifespan. The system can store mount and dismount transactions. It can also tie the tire’s history into a master file that tracks how tires from a particular manufacturer are performing in your fleet. Monitoring this information allows operations to pull the exact cost-per-mile (km) for tire use.
Tire-tracking systems – like RTA’s – also include the following features:
- Tire size tracking
- Tire PSI tracking
- Tire tread depth tracking
- Predictive failure reporting for tires on the road
- Tires in inventory list
- Full tire history reporting
- Tread types tracking
- Lease tire tracking
- Tire image storage
- Tire purchasing
- Tire history
- Tire purchasing through Purchase Orders
- Tires in inventory
- Cost-per-mile(km) per tire, per type, per manufacturer
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Properly Maintain Tires
To get the most out of each tire, it’s important for fleet operations to properly maintain them. Operations should make checking tires’ wear and tear, treads, air pressure and alignment part of their routine preventative maintenance services. Monitoring these areas can help save fleets money in the following ways:
- Under-inflating a tire just 10 percent can reduce its lifespan by 7 percent.
- Proper tire pressure can increase gas mileage by 3 percent.
- Tires that are ¼-of an inch out of alignment affect the tire life by 25 percent.
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Make Smart Tire Purchases
Even with an effective tire maintenance program, eventually all tires will need to be replaced. It’s then up to the fleet manager to make smart choices to determine when to purchase tires, and what type and what brand to select.
Using the following tips can help fleet managers make effective decisions when buying tires:
- Purchase tires with greater carrying capacity than what is needed.
- Purchase brand-name tires with the fewest known flat tire histories.
- Purchase tires at the lowest available price; shop around – bid out if necessary.
- Purchase tires with the least rolling resistance.
- Purchase tires with the greatest recap potential.
Following these guidelines will help operations get more use out of their tires and save money.
To learn how RTA’s Tire-Tracking System can help your operation, contact us today to request a free demo.