rechapage.fr
a site to put paid to preconceived ideas
As retreading is a reliable, virtuous and economic alternative to buying new tyres,
the French rubber union and tyre professionals have created a website exclusively devoted to this method of renovating tyres
On 20 November, the French national union for rubber and polymers (Syndicat national du caoutchouc et des polymers, SNCP) and the French union of tyre professionals (Syndicat des professionnels du Pneu, SPP) launched a website devoted to retreading tyres (french only). The main target audience is those who use a lot of tyres: road hauliers and shippers. As 10 % of Aliapur’s annual collections of truck tyres can be reused or retread, the company applauds this initiative. Its aim is to promote a tyre renovation model that is economical, ecological and virtuous, and which makes it possible to safely prolong the lifespan of tyres.
In practical terms, tyre retreading consists in replacing the tread after making sure of the quality of the casing. This operation is carried out by qualified professionals in authorised workshops. Although it can be used for passenger vehicle tyres, for the most part it concerns industrial tyres: trucks, civil engineering vehicles, agricultural vehicles, airplanes, etc.
For both the professional organisations behind this website, “the technology that makes it possible to give tyres a new lease of life has been used frequently for several decades. Today, it produces quality levels equivalent to those of new tyres”. The site is intuitive, practical and informative, and it clearly shows its desire “to put paid to preconceived ideas”. It has been designed as a toolbox, covering as much the technical and statistical aspects of retreading as the advantages for users. It also has a library of documentation and videos.
A unique simulator
Above all, and this is unique in the transport sector, the site offers a Green Deal Tyre® simulator: this can be used to compare the economic and environmental performances of truck tyres that can and cannot be retreaded. In addition to the rather standard data on tyre costs per km and CO2 emissions, this simulator is capable of calculating what a given type of tyre costs in fuel or maintenance, how much raw material was needed to manufacture it, and how much waste it will produce once it has reached the end of its life. In short, rechapage.fr provides professionals with all the answers to the questions that they might be asking, to help them make an informed, fully transparent decision on how to equip their vehicles.