Falken complements Cammack tyre maintenance regime
Rail and Palletways haulage specialist Cammack Transport has found that a combination of regular tyre maintenance and a switch to Falken for its truck fleet is extending the life of its tyres and has eliminated issues with drilling, a problem caused by small pieces of debris getting lodged in tyre treads.
The Winsford-based, family-owned company has been operating for 26 years and switched to tyres from Japanese brand Falken in 2019. It now uses a combination of Falken BI 856s as drive tyres and RI 151s for steering across its fleet of 20 Renault (T Range Tractor, Premium Tractor, Premium Rigid and Midlum Rigid units), DAF (CFs) and Volvo trucks.
“We use our Renault trucks for our rail component transport service, carrying wheels, bogies, traction motors, anything that fits on or around a train,” explained company director Paul Cammack.
“We operate solely in the UK, the furthest we go is Inverness up north. We also go to Plymouth and Ramsgate. Wherever there is a rail depot, we go. It’s mainly motorway driving and straight roads, so we don’t need as many tyres as you’d expect each year.
“The other major part of our trucking business is Palletways though, and that’s a bit different,” he continues. “Those trucks are a bit harsher on the tyres, they don’t do big mileage but they wear the sidewalls out quicker by rubbing up against kerbs.”
Falken’s RI 151 tyre, which Cammack Transport uses for its steering, is said to be the ideal choice for its more challenging journeys. The RI 151 is a durable tyre with premium casing designed in Japan that is made from the highest quality components, says Falken.
Nevertheless, Cammack still puts a significant amount of effort into ensuring the tyres in use on its fleet are serviced regularly and monitored to maximise durability and reduce the risk of tyre-related issues and blowouts on the road. Every tyre is inspected each day before heading out on a journey and Cammack’s staff ensure that tyre pressures are checked every six weeks.
“We manage our BI 856 and RI 151 tyres well and rotate our tyres in-house,” explains Cammack.
“We’ll fit new ones on the front of the tractor units, then when they get to 6mm of tread depth we will take them off and put them on the second axles. We recut the drive tyres and that’s the same with our trailers. We fit new ones on the back, recuts on the middle and we find that gets us the best wear out of them.”
Cammack’s most significant issue before it began using Falken tyres was drilling, which is a problem it has now solved.
“The drilling we used to suffer was on our drive tyres, and that was one reason we changed from our old tyre supplier because we were getting a lot of issues like that,” Cammack says. “We were having to scrap perfectly good tyres with 8mm of tread left on them sometimes. We haven’t had an issue since switching to Falken, it’s made a big difference.
“The service and products we used before weren’t up to much, so we were looking for a change. Overall, despite the challenges of the pandemic during the last three years with Micheldever (Falken’s UK supplier), we have coped well really. Even when we have experienced tyre stock issues, as soon as they have come in we have had a resupply, and have kept a stock of different sizes as spares in a dedicated off-site storage room as a result.
“We’re only three-quarters of a mile away from the Micheldever staff we deal with, so if we need something, they come and solve the issue. The relationship we have is working well and keeping costs under control.”
