Michelin urges operators to get into the regroove

Michelin has launched the second stage in its Stop Thirsty Tyres campaign aimed at highlighting the benefits of tyre regrooving to truck, bus and coach fleets in the UK and Ireland. The campaign will run throughout the second half of 2006 and aims to encourage the 69 per cent of operators which do not currently regroove their Michelin truck tyres ‘to get into the regroove’.

Dr Helen Buckley, Head of Marketing for Michelin’s Truck and Earthmover ranges in the UK, explains: “With all our customers our objective is to sell as few tyres as possible, by providing added value services such as regrooving to ensure each Michelin tyre provides maximum mileage performance and economy.

“Michelin new and Remix truck tyres are specifically designed to be regrooved by incorporating a layer of rubber sufficiently deep to allow a high quality regroove to take place. Despite this, only 31 per cent of the Michelin tyres returned to our Remix remoulding plant by truck operators have been regrooved, which effectively means that nearly seven out of every ten operators are missing out on up to a 10 per cent saving on fuel bills and up to 25 per cent extra mileage,” she adds.
Michelin challenges industry ‘myth’

“Once and for all we would like to dismiss the popular myth that regrooving can damage the integrity of the casing and affect the acceptance rates for remoulding,” says Dr Buckley.
“So long as the regrooving process is carried out by a trained professional, there is little chance of damaging the crown plies and no chance of damaging the casing whatsoever. In fact, acceptance rates of Michelin tyres for our own Remix remoulding process are as high for regrooved Michelin tyres as they are non-regrooved tyres,” she continues.

Regrooving – the benefits
Paul Kendrick, Michelin’s Truck Product Marketing Manager, adds: “Trials have found that regrooving helps to extend a tyre’s most fuel efficient state and can reduce fuel consumption, in comparison with a new tyre, by as much as 10 per cent. This is made possible since a tyre’s rolling resistance gradually reduces as the tread depth wears down, with the most fuel efficient state being the last few millimetres of tread – approximately the same depth to which most Michelin truck tyres are regrooved to.”

Rolling resistance is a physical force which accounts for around a third of the fuel a modern truck uses. Under the weight of a vehicle moving on an uneven road surface the shape of a tyre distorts, which makes it harder for the tyre to roll. The physical phenomenon is more pronounced the deeper the rubber is on a tyre, giving brand new tyres the highest rolling resistance of all, and making it beneficial for operators to prolong the life of their tyres through regrooving.
Another benefit of regrooving is that it makes use of all of the available tread in a tyre so it spends more time in service on the road. A regrooved tyre therefore wears more slowly since the reduced thickness of the tyre means less tread movement and so, less wear.

“The actual number of extra miles or kilometres a regrooved tyre will achieve depends on many factors. These include truck application, tyre position and even driver behaviour. However, on average, a Michelin regroove increases either a new or Remix tyre’s mileage potential by 25 per cent,” concludes Mr Kendrick.