Here’s a blueprint for lowering cost per mile.

by Tim Miller

Unless you want to pick tires for your construction trucks based on “gut feelings,” intuition, or data gathered by your peers, a good recordkeeping system to track tire performance and costs in your fleet is vital to making wise tire decisions. And whether your records are on paper or on high-powered, tire-specific spreadsheets is up to you.

A good recordkeeping system will store all the data you need to determine the actual costs associated with the tires in your fleet. The Technology and Maintenance Council’s (TMC) Recommended Practice, RP 208, serves as an excellent reference and details all the essential parameters to measure in order to accurately analyze tire-related costs.

While most of the initial costs in a tire-tracking program are obvious — new tires, casings and retreads, and repair materials — there are other related costs that must be taken into account. These costs include the labor associated with tire management and repairs, tire replacement costs, and the cost of downtime associated with any tire issues that occur. Warranty credits for new tires and retread and repair warrantable conditions also must be documented and figured into the overall costs of tire-related expenses.

Paper versus computer tracking

There is nothing wrong with keeping paper records of when tires were installed on a vehicle, when they were removed, and associated tire costs. If you manage a handful of vehicles, paper records might work. But as the number of vehicles in a fleet increases, the complexity of keeping records “the old-fashioned way” becomes more difficult.

Monitoring tire depth should be done on a regular basis. Data should be entered into the program when tires are about 25-, 50-, and 75-percent worn, as well as when they have been removed from service.

You should be proficient in a spreadsheet analysis program that will record all the data and make the calculations you need to determine the total costs and, even more importantly, the cost per mile of every tire in your fleet.

If developing a complex spreadsheet is not in your skill set, you may wish to invest in software to help your cause. There are many software packages currently on the market that can help you with this tracking.

Information-based decision making

Good tire-tracking software allows construction companies to document tire-related information (mileage and cost) and calculate cost-per-mile in several ways. Information for each vehicle should be entered, along with mileage, when new tires or retreads are installed. Down the road, costs associated with these tires also should be documented. Tread wear should be measured and entered into the program when tires are 25-percent, 50-percent, and 75-percent worn as well as when they have been removed from service.

Although cost-per-mile can be calculated and shown graphically at any time by brand or tire type, it is best to wait until tires are at least 50-percent worn to draw any preliminary conclusions.  Better yet, wait until a significant number of tires are “out-of-service” before using the data to help make major purchase decisions. This gives you a more accurate picture of what’s happening with your costs.

Once tires are out of service, data gathering can continue through scrap tire analysis. This type of data often can be captured, and summarized results can be shown with various charts and graphs.

Knowing why tires are removed and the age and number of retreads you are getting on casings, indicates whether your tires were properly maintained. For example, if tires are full of debris and failing when punctures occur, frequent yard cleanup or tire inspections  — or both — might extend tire life in your fleet.