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FUEL-SAVING TYRES AT CFI Bruce Stockton is CRS vice president
Page 48
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maintenance. He is the man held accountable if things stop rolling, and is also responsible for the switch from conventional twin tyres, yielding a 4.4% fuel saving.
Ten years from now, almost all standard drive-axle tyres will use two single pieces of rubber instead of four. Tyres such as Michelin's X One will become commonplace in the UK. The reason for this is the desire for efficiency, especially in Europe, where fuel consumption, unit costs and afterlife disposal come under significant scrutiny.
It may come as no surprise to learn that our cousins across the pond are also becoming more efficient. This could happen in much the same way as happened with trailers: those with all but long-term memory loss will remember a similar scenario when super singles replaced twins at the back end. "So what happens when you get a puncture?" is a common criticism. A valid point, but one Stockton thinks traditionalists may be overplaying, particularly when it comes to deflation. "If anything, CFI has noticed a marked decrease in blowouts," he says. "With twins, there's the danger one tyre could be, in effect, carrying the weight of the adjoining tyre which has completely deflated-the problem only ever becoming evident at speed. But with a single tyre it's much easier to do a visual check." He also points to the fact that inflation is easier, as the driver or tyre fitter has easy access to a solitary valve.
"We've been using X One since 2003, so everyone takes them for granted. But at the start we did have a fair amount of scepticism ourselves, as did other people," Stockton admits. "But if you think about it, losing a rear tyre is far less dangerous than losing a steer-axle tyre." He may have a valid point, as we would never dream of running twins on the front for safety reasons.
Stockton has become so confident of wide singles that he regularly helps other US fleets answer some of the critical questions associated with moving away from conventional twins.