A traditional Niguelas fleet owner in the region of Granada, Spain, which has used Vipal precured tread to travel over 300,000 kilometres of highways has carried out a road test of Vipal’s VT110 tread to test its quality.
According to Antonio Gijón, from Operadores de Transportes S.L., testing started in February 2016 on one of the company’s fleet trucks, which today comprises 70 trucks and 90 semi-trailers. The tyre in question achieved 300,992 kilometres. The vehicle selected for the test, a Volvo 500, received four traction tyres, which were retreaded with Vipal’s VT110 pre-cure tread.
“This work with fleets has been really important for demonstrating the advantages of retreaded tyres. The savings can be felt in practice and efficiency is guaranteed, especially when we apply the most suitable solution for each type of vehicle and driving condition," emphasized Vipal’s Commercial Coordinator in Europe, Fabrício Nedeff, noting that the partnership with retreaders has also been fundamental. For the Antonio Gijón shipping company specifically, which transports all types of cargo, including perishable products, support from Graneuman, a key Vipal retreading partner in Escúzar, Granada, proved essential to achieving the results.
The design of the tread pattern developed for radial tyres on the drive was conceived to optimise traction capability. With grooves designed with stone ejectors at the bottom to keep rocks and other objects from getting embedded in the tread, the VT110 from Vipal gives the casing better protection against damage. The width of its central blocks also offers a wider area of contact with the ground to deliver higher mileage, and its more reinforced shoulders give the blocks better pullout resistance. Also available for the ECO version.
Vipal also released several test results from Europe last year, including one in Spain, which proved the superiority of the VRT3 tread in the highway cargo transport tyre segment. Subjected to extreme operating conditions in the Pyrenees Mountains, a route between France and Spain, the VRT3 tread used on the tyres of a Scania R440 - 6x2 truck delivered the best results when compared against new tyres from a leading European market brand. The yield was 52% higher with the Vipal tread, covering 112,710 kilometers with the VRT3, while the new tyre registered 74,300 kilometres.
