Tuesday, March 20, 2007
False Economy
Tyres are boring, but money and safety is not. More money is wasted and lost on tyres than any other component. Same with safety. Incorrect tyre pressures wastes both money and safety. Thirteen percent under inflation wastes 10% of tyre life. Twenty percent over inflated also wastes 10% of tyre life too. Stopping distances increase with incorrect tyre pressures. Handling, ride, and control depends upon the correct tyre pressures. Incorrect tyre pressures cause most jack knifes and blow outs.
‘She’ll be right, mate” is the common thought as we thump our tyres. Talk about false economy! Even weekly pressure checks using a quality gauge, won’t protect you once you drive out the gate.
So how important is the correct tyre pressure? It’s everything. That bit of rubber wrapped around your wheels is useless without air pressure. The wrong pressure costs you money. Excessive tyre wear, poor traction, unnecessary suspension wear and tear, chassis and axle cracks, blown tyres, tyre damage, drive train wear and tear, poor ride and handling, accidents, and driver health and safety are just some of the costs.
So, what can you do about it?
Tyre pressure monitors, that constantly check the pressure and then radio this information to a dash mounted display unit is the absolute minimum that every vehicle should have. This is the law on all new cars in the USA. So it should be here. Who would be silly enough to drive without an oil pressure gauge or temperature gauges? Shouldn’t you know what is in that bit of rubber?
Tyre Pressure Maintenance systems are even better. These automatically add air pressure to any and all tyres, keeping them at the set pressures automatically, and then signalling the driver, if too much air is lost. Testimonials from around the world indicate savings of 30 to 50% of over all tyre costs. Who can afford to throw away 7 tyres on a twenty two wheeler? And yet most people do just that. False Economy.
Central Tyre Inflation (CTI) is the best. In fact, AIR CTI is the only means of adjusting your tyre pressures to the correct pressure all of the time. Other wise, you are wasting both money and safety.
And yes, almost all truck tyres are incorrectly inflated at least part of the time, if not all of the time. Talk about ‘false economy’.
And what is the correct tyre pressure? This is a good question. On the side of the tyre, it may say something like ‘maximum load 2650 kg at 8.0 bar 115psi. This doesn’t mean that 115 psi is the correct pressure for you. In fact, it is probably way too much for 99% of us. How many of us can carry 21 tonnes on our tandem drives? On a recent trip to Albany, we weighed an empty chip truck. The load on the drive tyres was only 8 tonne. His tyres were 250% over inflated! What’s that do to his tyre footprint? He’ll be driving around on 40% of the correct bit of rubber. The tyre will bounce off every bump making a pebble look like a gibber. If he puts on the brakes, it’ll lock up and slide, and tyre wear??? And he regularly travels off highways on rough dirt roads. What a hammering both the truck and the roads are getting. He’s making bull dust and wrecking his truck at the same time! Talk about false economy.
If money and safety are important to you, then do something about it. Modern technology will make your whole truck work better for less. Ring AIR CTI on 61 (0)3 5127 6128 for more information.
