Black. Round. Vital for trucks: tyres. One of the two biggest cost positions in any transport operation besides fuel, tyres are under constant pressure to perform. Product offerings are abundant, ranging from retreaded to brand new, from cheap to ultra-premium. There is a good reason thought why one should opt for premium tyres, as Mr Alvin K L Teo of Teoh Company Logistics (M) Sdn Bhd had to find out the hard way.

Sourcing overseas, he found a tyre supplier that promised a good deal. Considering his fleet being 70-strong, he opted for a bulk order, stuffing an entire container with tyres. Sure to have struck a good deal he immediately fitted them upon arrival. Only then he found out that a good 20 percent of the tyres were not usable right away or faulty to the point that they could not be used at all. Those that could be salvaged had to undergo extensive balancing in order to make them work. “I realised that the extra work we had to invest in sorting and fixing the tyres, along with the wastage of tyres that could not be used, added to the cost of the shipment and trip, have made this a rather expensive experiment. This, we would not do again,” Teo told Asian Trucker.

To ensure that his (expensive) tyres are safe and perform, Teo took a more technical approach. Upon the recommendation of Allegiance Malaysia’s Mr Lee, Teo decided to try the Wabco system for a batch of new trucks and trailers. Through the use of this add-on, transporters are able to improve tyre performance by up to 30 percent. Teo opines that tyre management should not be left to the drivers as they have different priorities. What he found is that the EBS also helps to prevent tyres to become unbalanced due to heavy breaking, causing uneven wear of a tyre, thus protecting other components as well. “Whenever trucks go downhill, this feature is a real big help, especially, when the trucks are fully loaded.”