Used Tires Under Attack Again OUR THOUGHTS Friday, March 02, 2007
Used Tires A Booming Business
The sale of Used Tires is a booming business.
The Rubber Manufacturers Association The trade Industry Group for Tire Makers estimates an estimates 30 Million Used Tires are sold to motorists every year.
Safety Research and Strategies Inc,of Massachusetts,a so called "consumer watchdog" is on the attack against the Used Tire Industry.
This Used Tire Dealer owner of Used Tires Inc,and the websites/URL's
www.usedtire.comwww.usedtires.comwww.usedtrucktire.comwww.usedtrucktires.netHas the following to say about the product we sell!!!!!
SRS is headed by Sean Kane.This Used Tire Dealer had a conversation with Mr Kane two days ago. After Tire Business an Industry Trade Journal had a report on its website,
www.tirebusiness.com
After reading the posting on Mr. Kanes website alluding to the Used Tire industry selling product that may have hidden dangers and is questioning the industries inspection techniques.
First lets get the record clear. No one want to sell anyone Potentially unsafe or potentially dangerous product.The truth about tires is they are a great and durable product sometimes so durable that they may have a second life.Just because a tire was changed does not make it unsafe and a scrap tire.The tire is either good or not to be reused as a "USED TIRE" that will be determined after it is inspected.To discard a "Used Tire before its time is to reverse twenty years of progress the Tire Industry has made in dealing with Scrap tires and their Recycling.The federal government thru the EPA recognizes the sale of Used Tires as the highest form of recycling "REUSE".
In our conversation Mr Kane admitted his group is funded by Trial Attorneys. Mr Kane claims there is a need for better and more rigorous inspections and seems bent on the use of a shearographic machine and insinuates all large used tire resellers should have one.He also is bent on a tire aging law.
During our conversation Mr Kane admitted not all tires are created equal and climate,driving conditions, the driver ,and the actual tire itself the speed rating and rubber composition are all factors in determining the life of a tire.Mr.kane agreed with this tire dealer that a Z rated tire with 4/32" of tread remaining
would last longer than a tire of a lower speed rating with 4/32" remaining.So just raising the minimum tread depth standard would accomplish basically nothing.This used tire dealer has been to Federal Court in Puerto Rico and to the First Circuit Court Of appeals in Boston to defend our constitutional right to sell a legitimate article
of
commerce "UsedTires" 30million consumers can not be wrong!!!!!
Mr Kane alluded to the fact that when this Used Tire Dealer of over twenty years said I,and any company I was ever associated with Have Never Been sued for selling a defective product he allude it was because they could not track the tire from its making thru its ultimate sale as a Used Tire. Well Mr Kane I to have Plaintiff lawyers some
of the Best here in Broward County Florida www.koppelandbates.com
and you and I know the tire can be tracked.How else can you allude you have documented 85 cases here and they sold used.
Mr. Kane all tires in use today on the roads of Ameica are USED TIRES including those you drove to work on today!!!!
Mr Kane as I suggested to you in our conversation ANYONE who Drives on the road today with out question the single most dangerous thing on the road is motorists
TALKING ON CELL PHONES WHILE DRIVING" Please Mr Kane start research on the Makers of cell Phones and the cell Phone companies and see how many people their product has indirectly mamed and injured and go bother them!!!!You will be doing all of us a favor saving hundreds of thousand of potential accidents from occurring
saving hundreds of thousand of potential accidents from occurring.
Reprinted from
NY TIMES Damon Darlon
MARCH 17 2007
Used Tires and Safety
About 30 million used tires were sold in the United States last year, almost 10 percent of all replacement tires sold.
Used tires are a money-saving choice for people who need to replace tires on a leased vehicle or on a car they are planning to sell soon. A new Goodyear Eagle RS-A that goes for about $100 at a Big O tire store sells for about $18 at BorderTire.com, a used-tire dealer.
Jobbers collect used tires from tire stores and the auto departments of Wal-Mart or Sears after they are replaced with new tires. The used-tire companies can get about $1 each by scrapping them or up to $10 apiece selling them to tire dealers. The profit margins for used tires are far better than for new tires, which explains why almost every tire store sells them.
Reputable dealers examine the tires and grade them. But the problem is that most consumers, unless they have a degree in polymer science, will not be able to see flaws in a tire. Some tires are detailed — that is, meticulously cleaned — and even painted so they look younger.
Sean Kane, an auto safety consultant at Safety Research and Strategies (safetyresearch.net) in Rehoboth, Mass., said that although consumers look at the depth of tire tread, the real concern should be the age of the tire. He wrote in a recent issue of The Safety Record, his firm’s newsletter, that “tires age in a way that often cannot be detected visually.”
A tire that looks new can be deteriorating internally, he said, in the same way that an old rubber band in your desk drawer might gradually develop cracks. It all depends on how the tire has been driven — underinflation ruins a tire — or where it has been stored.
Mr. Kane said that the scope of problem tires was unknown. But he said that he had found 108 incidents in which tires older than six years were involved in loss-of-control crashes. These incidents caused 85 deaths and 115 injuries. Slightly less than a third of the vehicles had tires that were bought used.
State governments regulate how much tread must be left on a tire — the depth varies state to state — but not the age or integrity of the tire’s structure. Mr. Kane wants tires taken off the road after six years.
Howard Levy, president of UsedTires.com in Boca Raton, Fla., said Mr. Kane’s proposal might not do consumers any favors. He said that rules regulating the age of tires on the road would mean consumers would spend more to swap out tires long before their useful life was over. The tire makers would love this, of course. “I don’t see where the real benefit comes for the consumer,” he said.
If you want to know how old your tires are, look at the wall of the tire for the word “DOT” followed by six numbers. The first two designate the factory where it was made and the next four denote the week and year of its manufacture. For example, 3105 would mean the 31st week of 2005.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration site has information on that code and all the rest of the text on a tire at www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/TireSafety/ridesonit/brochure.html#dotc
