Why You Should Flat-Proof Your Tires with TyrFil

Transcript

Bryan Furnace:               Hi everybody, welcome back to Equipment World. I'm Bryan, and today we're here to talk about foam filled tires. If you're anything like me, I generally think of foam filled tires for being for scrap guys. It's guys that worry about punctures. But Mike Fullen was here to talk with me from Carlisle Construction Materials and he really opened my eyes into the different applications you can use foam filled products on, and there are some really interesting applications. [00:00:30] So my first question is, outside of the obvious of trying to avoid flats, what are some of the other benefits of foam filling tires on equipment?

Mike Fullen:                    Well, as you said, protecting tires against flats is the main purpose of tire fill, that's where it all started over 50 years ago. But through our R&D and innovation over those 50 years, we're able to manufacture a ranger products in the flat proofing portfolio to cover a vast majority of industries that weren't able to [00:01:00] take advantage of flat proofing before. For various reasons, even other than flat proofing, we were able to develop products that were far superior in heat dissipation, for example, which helped benefit the mining industry to a great degree because of the severe application in underground mining. We developed a product that is relatively soft that enables a tire to deflect and basically ride like air to help industries where they had equipment that had no suspensions, for [00:01:30] example, no shock absorbers, for example, which is most of the industrial or construction market to begin with.

                                          To the point where this particular product, called flex, is the only product that's approved on an OE basis by every major manufacturer of skid steer. Skid steers are those little bobcats that you see running around on construction sites, for example. So every major manufacturer, that includes Bobcat and Caterpillar, John Deere, Volvo, and so on, the product that they approve in their pneumatic tires [00:02:00] that will not void the warranty on the machine is this flex product. So again, the R&D and the innovation that we've gone through over 50 years has totally expanded the market for this material.

                                          A benefit also that is somewhat overlooked but is extremely important, is the pressurization inside the tire. If you're driving your car, for example, a lot of cars today have their inflation warning systems. You'll see this on the dashboard, you see that little light pop up and it will show the tire that's low [00:02:30] and says, "Hey, you need to air up your tires." Well, this will happen normally over the course of time and, naturally, it will happen in change of seasons with ambient temperature changes. The beauty of tire fill is that when a tire is processed and filled, it's processed and filled and pressurized to whatever the operating pressure of the application calls for. If the operating pressure on an industrial tire calls a 75 PSI, for example, once that tire is filled, and pressurized, and cures, [00:03:00] that tire is at 75 PSI from that day forward, it'll never change.

                                          It doesn't make any difference if it's 90 degrees today, 20 degrees tomorrow, the pressurization stays the same. Where this can came into play, there's a number of applications. There was one application in the ports in Virginia that used machines called straddle cranes or straddle carriers, and they would be running 24/7. They're machines with very big tires on them and they would be moving all these cargo pieces around, for example. [00:03:30] The problem they were having, they weren't having a flat problem, what they were having was a wear out problem. They were only getting maybe 3,500 hours out of every tire because they did not have the time nor the means to stop this equipment, check the air, readjust the air to the proper pressure, and then keep rolling.

                                           What they did is they decided to fill these tires. Once they were filled and pressurized at the right operating pressure for that application, they went from 3,500 [00:04:00] hours on an average up to 10,000 hours on an average just on PSI, and that's a very overlooked benefit of flat proofing, is the pressurization, is the PSI.

Bryan:                               When you pressurize these with foam, in my mind it's pressurized while the foam is kind of curing and it keeps that pressure against the side wall, but you lose that aspect of a possible explosive decompression because there's no longer air in the tire, am I correct on that?

Mike Fullen:                     That's correct. That's correct. [00:04:30] Another application is debarking machines, for example. What a debarking machine does is takes the bark off trees. How this happens is the tree would basically rotate in a cylinder and the bark would be shaved off. Well, how this roller operates, it rolls on tires. Tires spin, making the roller turn around. The problem there was, one, a tremendous amount of heat buildup, the tires were basically blowing out, and it was a safety issue because the maintenance [00:05:00] people were actually afraid and fearful to go in and check the pressure on these tires, fearful that while they're in there, kaboom ...

Bryan:                               They would blow out. Yeah.

Mike Fullen:                     Like you said. Well, that can't happen with a filled tire. You can't have that explosive force, it doesn't happen. The other thing it did for that particular application is you can imagine there's a number of tires that are rolling at the same time making this big cylinder turn, right? If they have varied pressurization in these tires, and they did because they were [00:05:30] air-filled, it created a vibration problem within the cylinder where, again, we saw that problem with PSI. Aside from flat proofing, PSI is extremely important and even on a benefit as far as the viewpoint of sustainability. Now, our innovation does not only include our product innovation, it also includes our processing innovation and the equipment that we've developed over the years to help our dealers process our material inside their customer's tires.

                                           [00:06:00] The newest and greatest is what we call the AutoFil-GenII System. What this allows is the reuse of used fill being processed with new, what we call, version material and pumped into a tire, where the customer could save up to 60% of using virgin fill by reusing the old fill and basically keeping the landfills not filled with this used material.

Bryan:                               So does the foam actually stay in a semi-liquid form? [00:06:30] How are you able to reuse some of the foam in a different application?

Mike Fullen:                     How this works is, foam's kind of a misnomer. It's not really a foam, it's basically an elastomer so it pumps into a tire. There's an A and a B, a pre-polymer and a catalyst get pumped inside the tire, mixed together. Over a period of 24 to 48 hours, this liquid cures into a solid elastomer, and soft in some instances, and once it's [00:07:00] pressurized off it goes. When the tire is worn out and it's time to replace, what the dealer will do is they'll cut that old tire off and then cut the used fill that's inside that tire into chunks that are then placed into a recycling machine, ground up, and then mixed with virgin material, and we're off to the races again with brand new material.

                                          Of course, on a sustainability viewpoint also, you can only accomplish so much so what we do in partnership [00:07:30] with our customers and with the American Forestry Association, we've teamed up ... We have what is known as the One Tote One Tree Program. Our material comes and is shipped to our customers in IBC totes, 275 gallon totes. This program, this One Tote One Tree Program has been going on for years now and, through it, for every tote of material that leaves our manufacturing facility, a tree is planted by the American Forestry Association. To date, we are over a quarter of a million [00:08:00] trees that, with the help of our customers and through the auspices of American Forestry, we have planted.

Bryan:                               That's awesome. That's awesome.

Mike Fullen:                     Yeah, it's a great program, I love it.

Bryan:                               Yeah. It occurs to me, as you were talking about that, it sounds like there are a lot of applications because in my mind when I think of foam filled tires I always think of scrap guys, someone that's going to constantly run over nails and pieces of scrap metal. But you just described a huge variety of applications that I never would' have thought of for foam [00:08:30] filling tires.

Mike Fullen:                     It's tremendous. My favorite ... My favorite is we have a athletic equipment company and this company makes football tackling dummies, and in their mold they use tire fill in the base of the tackling dummy.

Bryan:                               Oh, interesting. To weigh it down? Interesting.

Mike Fullen:                     Yes, to weigh it down. So yeah, so that's one of the more unique ones, and we've done ... Again, going back to the PSI side where we said there's no dissipation of pressure, [00:09:00] we have done aircraft museums, for example, where you will have a vintage aircraft sitting there just not moving, of course, and naturally over time the air pressure in those tires with the weight of that aircraft is going to dissipate so by filling those tires, and we've done numerous of these, we solved that problem for them right there.

Bryan:                               Very interesting. This is ... I'm going to be honest, foam filled tires is not the sexiest of topics at surface level, and yet, this is fascinating. I had no idea there were this many applications [00:09:30] and this is really interesting.

Mike Fullen:                     I attribute that, of course, to the innovation, to the R&D and to improve our product portfolio so we're still looking into greater heat dissipation, we're still looking into a lighter weight fill. We're still looking into something that may be used in high speeds, for example. I attribute that, like I said, to not only the R&D and the innovation but also to our team. We don't salesmen per se, I don't call these guys salesmen. They basically, [00:10:00] with their customers, are trusted advisors. They don't sell, they solve and, in doing so, they're the ones that look and are always looking for these new applications, new avenues. Because of that, we're the leader in OE year approvals. Every major manufacturer of equipment, we have OE agreements with all these major corporations for our products.

Bryan:                               I have a final question for you, and it's kind of as my mind is sitting here processing through the applications, it seems to me that rental [00:10:30] companies would be a huge market just because you've got a bunch of weekend warriors that decide, "My God, I watched a YouTube video, I know how to run a skid steer, I'm going to go rent one," and then they're going to go out and blow tires off of the thing. Is this worth the investment for a rental company because I'm sure foam filling tires is not the cheapest thing you can do.

Mike Fullen:                     No.

Bryan:                               But is it worth the investment for a rental company doing this to their equipment?

Mike Fullen:                     Absolutely. In fact, rental is probably, they rent [00:11:00] these tele-handlers, you'll see these things that, these pieces of equipment that, for example, will hoist up roofing material so people can redo roofs, for example. That's probably the most popular application going today. On a rental basis, they'll use a solid tire, for example, or they use a fill tire. The benefit on the fill tire side, again, is you don't know where this machine's going to be used. That weekend warrior could be driving it into a swimming pool, who [00:11:30] the heck knows, right?

Bryan:                               Yes, and that's a legit statement in the rental industry.

Mike Fullen:                     Oh, absolutely, absolutely. And so, cost basis, I mean cost basis alone for the rental company, flats would be a headache. They would have to arrange to get somebody out to fix it. Meanwhile, the rental customer the clock is still ticking so the rental company's paying for this time. Now the guy who rented the equipment is kind of ticked off because now he's paying for equipment he can't use. [00:12:00] The aggravation and stress on the rental company side of trying to get this thing up and running again, and then there's the matter of who pays for what. Flat proofing of the tires on rental equipment basically eliminates all that stress, all that bother, all that cost.

                                           The benefit also is what a flat proof pneumatic tire will afford, and that will give them traction and stability so no matter where that rental piece of equipment is being used, you can rest assured that whatever the environment might be, the filled tire can handle it. [00:12:30] Whether it be going over mounds of trash or going through soft compounds as far as surface is concerned, the traction and stability of a fill tire is far superior than any other flat roofing process.

Bryan:                               Thank you for all of this information. Like I said, this is far more interesting and there are far more aspects of this than I ever would have thought at surface level.

Mike Fullen:                     I've been doing this ... I'm in my 23rd year in the flat proofing business, in the tire field business, and every [00:13:00] day is an adventure. Every day is different because the sky is the limit, I think. The applications our team come up with almost on a daily basis is mind blowing, and that's enabled us to be as successful as we are and to be able to grow to be as successful as we are. It's a very, very interesting industry.

Bryan:                               Well, Mike, thank you again for the time, I really appreciate it.

Mike Fullen:                     Very welcome, Bryan, thank you.

Bryan:                               As you can see, there are a ton of different applications that can benefit from foam filling tires, and it's got some benefits that I didn't even know existed. For instance, the heat dissipation. I had no idea that was even a thing because I'm not involved in that industry. Foam filling tires has come a long way from the days of just shooting some great stuff into your skid steer tire. It's actually come down to a pretty intense science and these guys really know what they're doing. So, as always, I hope this helps you in your business and we'll catch you guys next time.