Retreading

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TPMS: Chrysler Pacifica – 2022

Even though Bridgestone retained nine former GCR locations and two plants after selling off those other assets, those have been realigned and rebranded into a new business, GCR Mining.

The tiremaker says the two plants aren’t retread factories and that retreading isn’t part of the GCR Mining operation. “Bridgestone Americas no longer has any retreading plants of our own,” says a Bridgestone spokesperson.

That moves all of Bridgestone’s retreading business into the hands of its Bandag dealers — and removes Bridgestone from MTD’s Top Retreaders list. (Two other dealers fell off the list this year after they were acquired. Pomp’s Tire Service added to its network with the purchase of Tredroc Tire Services Inc., which was based in Elk Grove Village, Ill., and Southern Tire Mart grew again after purchasing Redburn Tire Co., which was based in Phoenix, Ariz.)

Jason Roanhouse, vice president of North American Bandag Operations for Bridgestone Americas Inc., says those Bandag dealers are making investments in their facilities.

“Bandag equipment demand is at its highest level in well over a decade, indicating that dealers expect to see a return on their investment in retreading. I think this also indicates dealers expect to see significant growth in the entire suite of fleet solutions offered to provide fleets with products, services, technologies and data to help drive their efficiency.”

Bridgestone maintains three tread rubber manufacturing facilities — in Abilene, Texas, Oxford, N.C. and Griffin, Ga. The company has announced a $60 million investment in the Abilene facility.

Investing In Retreading

Despite uncertainty in the economy and retread market, companies are still investing in equipment and in their people.

Since purchasing Piedmont Truck Tires Inc. in early 2022, McCarthy Tire Service Co. Inc. has completed the changeover of a Piedmont retread plant in Graham, N.C. from the ContiLifeCycle process to Bandag. McCarthy Tire Service also completed construction of a brand new Bandag medium truck retread shop in Syracuse, N.Y. The first retread rolled off its assembly line on Dec. 14, 2022.

At CMC Tire, Richards says his dealership added a new retread chamber and builder in 2022 to “keep pace with the growth experienced during the course of the year.

“We also re-organized our management team to be more focused on data and analytics to maximize production, while minimizing cost and optimizing on-hand inventory.”

Wonderland Tire Co., which is based in Byron, Mich., has added three new Cima presses at its Wayland, Mich., location for increased production of the dealership’s AcuTread product.

Jon Langerak, chairman and CEO of Wonderland, says the company is also installing eight Cima presses and support equipment for production of AcuTread products in Lebanon, Tenn. These presses will increase capacity at both manufacturing facilities to around 130 to 160 tires per day.

Noah Hickman, president and CEO of H&H Industries Inc., which is based in Oak Hill, Ohio, says his company purchased an OTR buffer and finished installation at the beginning of 2023.

H&H Industries also released a new mobile OTR tire program that allows service providers to access tire retread and repair data while in the field.

While some dealers are making big capital investments, others are dedicating resources to other priorities and projects.

“As of right now, we are focused on staffing and maximizing output in our shop,” says Dorsey Tire’s Chamblee. For Ziegler Tire, 2022 was a “status quo” year for spending. However, thecompany upgraded some equipment to help reduce downtime.