Uncorking the big tire bottleneck

CBSmarketwatch ^ | 11-17-2006 | shawn langlois

[em2vn]

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - For those digging and hauling their way through the commodity boom, "naked" and "barefoot" are anything but sexy. The terms refer to monster trucks without tires - a painful sight to companies scrambling to keep pace with soaring demand in the energy, mining and construction industries. For small-time miners, trucks idled on bare axles are losing money by the minute, forcing them to curtail operations during an historic surge in metals prices worldwide. Meanwhile, the tires themselves have become red-hot commodities, fetching tens of thousands of dollars apiece -- even for retreads, in some cases - and creating huge headaches for companies struggling to get their over-sized equipment rolling on the job site. But Michelin, Bridgestone and Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. simply don't have the capacity to build the tires fast enough.

[em2vn]

I love big business.

[BadAndy]

This is why I invented the steel tire. Unfortunately it never caught on.

[bondjamesbond]

Have you considered inventing the rubber road?

[Lokibob]

Lovers lane in this town is called "Firestone", because it is where the rubber meets the road.

[the_devils_advocate_666]

You mean this one:

I'm not sure why they ever tried to improve on this model:

[SF Republican]

Have you considered inventing the rubber road? that was an idea a few years ago. I recall they were experimenting with used tires to make a road surfacing material. From early reports the roads were very quite due to rubber on rubber, but I saw very little after-wards. This was 15 years ago, it obviously did not work out.

[dennisw]

WOW! Innneresting!

[Last Dakotan]

The first one is a nickle plated diamond grinding wheel - unless you knew that.
Freep metalworking ping.

[showme_the_Glory]

Truck manufacturing is exped to slow down a "little" this year. It should allow component manufacturers to catch up.

[dennisw]

[rockinqsranch]

Thanks for the post. It's interesting as usually crisis in one aspect of an industry can cause a chain reaction effecting other aspects of that industry and those that industry serves. A situation such as this will ultimately cause increases in consumer costs. Good to know.

[mutley]

"The first one is a nickle plated diamond grinding wheel - unless you knew that. Freep metalworking ping."

With the diamond grit electroplated onto the metal.

The other one is a millstone.

[camle]

decades ago, there was a cartoon on the walt disney show that argued: why not make the roads out of rubber, and the tires out of concrete. the cartoon was hilarious with cars bouncing all over the place!

[RightWhale]

Always experimenting with road materials because nothing seems to work or survive satisfactorily in this climate, DOT is using rubber surfacing compounds on local roads. The best thing to preserve the road I have seen so far is to paint the blacktop white, but traction is reduced.

[rockinqsranch]

Yes...I recall now that you mention it.

It was the era of focus on tire recycling as the Left was spewing venom about the mounds of tires as well several fires occured in "Tire Morgues" in various locations about the country. Those fires are let burn fires I understand. Very difficult to put out.

Experimentation with everything from road surfacing materials, soaker hoses, to sandals.

Last I heard many of the experiments were simply not cost effective for production. Perhaps somebody else knows more.

[Larry Lucido]

A tire bubble? Now, when tires overinflate, that could result in quite a bust.

[Larry Lucido]

This is why I invented the steel tire

Maybe if they were rubber-belted?

[Fierce Allegiance]

Does your invention look like this:

Or this

[Ignatz]

The first one is a nickle plated diamond grinding wheel - unless you knew that.

Wow. Why would you want to grind nickel-plated diamonds? To make nickel-plated diamond dust?

[Camel Joe]

Perhaps it would have had you chosed Reardon Metal instead of steel.