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Hauliers being misled laims tyre maker
Page 5
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ICHELIN is accusing the etread Manufacturers Assoc ation of "protecting their n interests at the expense the UK haulage industry" y giving misleading in fm about regrooving t lick tyres.
The RMA claims that rerooving makes a tyre more s sceprible to shocks and so creases the possibility of
sing damage. This, along ith "indifferent regroov1 g", says the RMA, makes t e casings useless for retread' g.
At a press conference last eck, Michelin said that this untrue and that the RMA is ierely protecting its own in. -rests and covering up the adequacies of its members ice p26).
Michelin points out that its yres are designed to be rerooved and that 60 per cent
f the casings that are re-readed by Michelin's own emix process have already een regrooved.
The company says that its emix process is more thor ugh than its competitors' as t removes all the base 'libber o allow the steel breaker strip or even the bracing plies) to e examined and if necessary eplaced.
This permits Michelin to Michelin supports removing, renovate and retread a casing that most other retreaders would reject, partly explaining their difference in opinion over regrooving.
Both sides also use a safety platform for their arguments. The RMA says a regrooved tyre is less safe because the thinner base rubber is more easily penetrated.
Michelin says it is a safer tyre than a well-worn one belore regrooving because of its better water dispersal ability.
While the RMA is lobbying to make regrooving illegal Michelin urges operators to regroove their tyres to extend the tread life by up to 28,5 per cent in the case of a Mi chelin 11-22.5XZY.
This week, haulier Andrew Savage of Transand in Heathfield. Sussex told CM that three independent tyre service companies had confirmed that a set of four Michelin XZT drive axle tyres have only two millimetres of base rubber on them and so are not regroovable.
Michelin says that the XZT can be regrooved to a depth of 3mni and still have a safe margin of base rubber. The tyres in question have covered 64,(X)Okm on a Scania R112.
A representative from Michelin was to inspect the tyres and attempt to regroove them yesterday (Friday).