IRTE completes its wheel loss study
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• The Institute of Road Transport Engineers has carried out tests on major fleets in an effort to confirm the findings of last year's IRTE wheel loss study.
The back-to-back experiment involved running some vehicles with wheel fittings tightened to a torque of 815Nm (6001bft) — the level the Institute recommends — and some with a torque of 610Nm (450Ibft) — as recommended by manufacturers. In the six-month test only one wheel failure was reported, which the IRTE asserts is conclusive proof that stringent maintenance and retorqueing reduces the frequency of wheel loss.
The report will be published shortly and "passed to a higher authority", says the IRTE's Peter Edmonds. "The 1RTE has done its work and now it's up to the DTI, BSI etc, to car ry out the work as promised." There has been no advance as yet on funds for further work.