What’s Treading with Tire Review Babcox Media

Reading the tea leaves is never simple for an OTR tire dealer. With the market so closely tied to typically cyclical industries like construction, mining, agriculture and forestry, many OTR tire dealers will tell you they've experienced their fair share of both feast and famine.

So far this year, though, the OTR tire market has been relatively steady, according to Triangle Tire's OTR Director Stephen Reynolds.

"If there's one thing that I've found to be true in the OTR world, it's that it's a variable rollercoaster. It's always either going up or down. So if you can maintain a flat line, that's something of a moral victory in my opinion," Reynolds says.

In this episode of What's Treading with Tire Review, Reynolds gives us the details on the current state of demand, as well as where he sees the market heading as we approach 2024. Plus, we learn about how freight rates and Triangle Tire's recent warehousing expansion are affecting tire dealers.

Tire Review: www.tirereview.com
AAPEX: www.aapexshow.com

Over the last few years, Wegmann Automotive has found diversification to be a huge boon for business, whether that comes from various wheel weights options or the acquisition of Alligator TPMS in 2019.

"I think everybody's always looking for ways to grow their organizations. We have a very large amount of business in the wheel weight space," says Greg Parker, the national account sales and marketing director for Wegmann Automotive. "In order for us to continue to grow, we need to get outside of that and grow into new product areas. We're excited about this. I mean, obviously, valves are a critical component of wheels and tires. The more that we can put in that box or put on that pallet to ship to our customers, the better it is for them and the better it is for us."

In this episode of What's Treading with Tire Review, Parker discusses the shift from lead wheel balance weights to non-lead alternatives, such as steel and zinc, due to environmental regulations, as well as how Wegmann Automotive is adapting to these changes and investing in non-lead products like plasteel. Parker also delves into how the addition of Alligator's TPMS business has enhanced Wegmann Automotive's business in North America, enabling the company to diversify its product offerings.

Tire Review: www.tirereview.com
AAPEX: www.aapexshow.com

There are four particular American tire shops where the shop floor looks quite a bit different than what you might be used to. Two enormous robotic arms are lifting 80-pound tires with ease, waltzing to an orchestra or shop sounds as they change a set of four customer tires in 20 minutes. According to executives at RoboTire, who've designed and installed these robots, these robots are just at the tip of the iceberg of their capability.

"We're ramping manufacturing, but then we also have continued to make new improvements. So compared to last year, the robots are probably about two times faster [now] than what they were," says Victor Darolfi, CEO and founder of RoboTire. "We've done layout improvements to basically minimize space constraints to going into shops. And then there is a whole new slew of services that RoboTire will be pushing out over the next couple of months from that side of the world to, again, add a better value prop to our end user."

On this episode of What’s Treading with Tire Review, we speak with Darolfi and Ben Wilson, senior manager of Operations for RoboTire, about recent dealer feedback, how the technology was designed to help control the technician shortage and what's next for RoboTire.

Tire Review: www.tirereview.com
AAPEX: www.aapexshow.com

Kumho Tire recently launched the Solus TA51a tire, a grand touring all-season tire that consolidates two products into one. Kumho has also been simplifying other product lines as well; According to Shawn Denlein, president of sales and marketing at Kumho Tire USA, it’s a strategy that will become a huge boon to tire dealers.

“In 2018 we started this strategy of trying to consolidate all the lines, and there's a lot of benefits to this,” Denlein says. “One, you have an extreme benefit from the manufacturing side, because you're able to concentrate obviously just on one tread. From a developmental side, it's also important because it allows the engineers just to focus on one tread. From the dealer side, you're carrying less inventory and it's not as complicated. Back in 2018 we had 13 treads and now we have nine."

On this episode of What’s Treading with Tire Review, we grill Denlein on details about Kumho’s new TA51a grand touring all-season tire, tire segments the company has its eye on, and how expanded warehousing is expected to help tire dealers in North America.

Tire Review: www.tirereview.com
AAPEX: https://www.aapexshow.com/

When your Average Joe or Jane hears the word Continental, what do think first comes to mind? A hotel breakfast? An airline? Plate tectonics? In large part thanks to Brian Beierwaltes, senior manager of marketing at Continental, many consumers out there first turn to the tires manufactured by a global tire brand.

Every tire manufacturer has its own unique marketing strategy. So, how does a Continental marketing executive keep tires top of mind?

"From the tire side, I really think we leverage our performance side of things and the value that we bring to our consumers, creating great products that ultimately showcase themselves and how they help people on a daily basis when they're driving," Beierwaltes says.

On this episode of What’s Treading with Tire Review, we pick Beirwaltes's brain about creating a successful marketing campaign for an industry giant; what consumers care most about with their tire purchases today; and what tools Continental gives tire dealers to help them close the next sale.

Tire Review: www.tirereview.com
AAPEX: www.aapexshow.com

A cloud of smoke arises from the GT Radial Champiro SX2 RS tires as Formula Drift Driver Odi Bakchis brakes to a halt. The tires are hot and worn after a few laps drifting, but they’ve kept Odi on the track for the full afternoon. So, what does in to the technological marvel that is race tires?

To answer this, David Poling, Giti Tire USA’s director of tire development and product marketing, sits down with us on this episode of What’s Treading with Tire Review, presented by AAPEX. Dave not only explains the technology that goes into race tires, but also how GT Radial’s tires for Formula Drift are built for the conditions and how this racing circuit serves as a proving ground for the company’s technology at a dealer’s counter.

How motorsports is the ultimate proving ground for tire technology (1:02)The history behind GT Radial’s Formula Drift partnership (2:15)What GT Radial need to consider in making a tire for Formula Drift (5:55)How GT Radial’s Formula Drift partnership influences its brand awareness and can be a selling point for dealers at the counter (9:00)Ways race tire technology can influence the compounding and construction of other performance tires (12:22)Major advances in race tire technology in the market today (17:22) Subscribe to the audio podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts and find the video version on YouTube.