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POLAND
Vipal and Arko-Gum Celebrate Partnership in Automotive Fair
Being close to consumers in more than 90 countries where it operates is something very important for Vipal Rubber. And initiatives towards that goal can only be done by relying on the company's partners. Recently, Vipal attended the Targi Techniki Motoryzacyjnej (TTM 2016), a fair focused on the automotive technology sector in Poland, along with Arko-Gum, a Polish company that distributes products of the brand's repair line. The fair took place between March 31 and April 3, in the city of Poznan, Poland. TTM brought visitors from all over the Europe to the stand of Arko-Gum. The company offers the complete mix of
Vipal repair lines of products for Polish customers.
The relationship between the two companies began in 2010, and events like this, bind together to strengthen the relationship. "The Vipal partnership with Arko-Gum is of the utmost importance to us and has assisted in the consolidation of Vipal repairs on the Polish market," said the Manager of Vipal Europe, Alessandro Campos. The same case was also highlighted by the owner of Arko-Gum, Arkadiusz Stepien, who highlighted the support of Vipal and quality of the brand's products as key factors for the success of their co-operation.
Retreaded Car Tyres Under Pressure
However, even in Poland the tide is turning against retreaded car tyres. In a market where low costs were the key marketing points, retailers are now likely to move away from selling retreaded car tyres.
An extract from an article in Polish tyre publication Oponeo explains with some frankness why car tyre retreads are different from truck tyre retreads.
“Retreaded tyres for passenger cars?
Retread tyres are widely used on trucks and buses, However, the car owner needs to understand the fundamental difference between a truck tyre retread and a car tyre retread. Firstly, most truck tyres are now designed to be retreaded. There is an assumption at the design stage that the tyre will be retreaded. And they are retreaded with specialist materials designed to work with the original casing.
Truck retreaders work with truck tyres, which are checked for any damage, and rejected, or repaired if possible. The tyres that are accepted have the tread buffed away and the sidewalls smoothed off. This prepared carcass is then given a new rubber coating and vulcanised in a mould, or has the tread replaced with a new pre-cured tread.
Retreaded car tyres are different. Companies usually deal with tyres that may be 5-7 years old. They are then checked for the presence of various kinds of damage. The next step is to peel off the remnants of the old tread and smooth the side wall. Onto the prepared carcass raw rubber is applied, which is then pressed and vulcanised in a mould. Essentially the process seems similar to some truck tyre retreading.
In theory, everything sounds good, but remember one important detail: the carcass of the tyre already has a few years of age. If the design is not suitable for retreading, that casing will have a long life and may face excessive stresses. Excessive exploitation of such tyres do not bode well. Retreaded tyres are
theoretically produced from similar blends new. It must be remembered that the bonded rubber compounds are the best kept secret of all tyre manufacturers. Not without a reason. They are much more refined and, consequently, better than the mixtures used in the retreaded car tyres despite apparently similar composition. Retreaded tyres will never provide the same performance in terms of safety, as new.
Additionally, due to the characteristics of the compound, the delayed tread development and even its tread depth, more noise is generated by retreaded tyres in use.” – Translated from Polish
This is a pretty damning argument against the use of retreaded car tyres; Oponeo goes on to argue the case for budget line tyres from the leading manufacturers, pointing out that these budget lines, when bought from a mainstream manufacturer, are usually outdated premium patterns and compounds that have been superceded by more advanced designs (which actually counters the noise argument against retreads as the older designs will be less efficient and noisier than their successors).
When the media turn against car tyre retreads in a market where they have a strong presence, then the industr y is in trouble and needs to do something to defend itself. The difficulty is that in order for the good guys to succeed at car tyre and light truck retreading, those with the lower standards need to be removed from the market, Ironically, the competition from Chinese tyres is more likely to remove the quality producers with their higher standards and higher costs, so the future of car tyre retreading may look bleaker now than it has for many years.
Everyone understands that the retread car tyre sector has been under pressure for some years, almost wiped out in countries such as the UK, and restricted to imports in many other EU states.
In the spring, as the tyre retailers in much of Europe see their seasonal boost as customers swap out their winter tyres, the press in Germany has been awash with guidance on buying replacements and much of it is bad news for the car tyre retreader. The same old issues
about quality and longevity are brought up, and retailer after retailer claims not to sell retreads at all. Yet, the winter tyre market is a strong selling sector for the car tyre retreaders, so one must presume that some retailers in Germany do sell retreads, even if only for the winter market. One of Europe’s largest producers of car tyre retreads is Poland and Polish retreaders export their tyres, particularly winter but also summer and motorsport tyres, to the rest of Europe.
64 Retreading Business