Australia's sole producer of cold-cured retreads, Bandag, has a fresh solution for the most demanding applications with the launch of the all-new BDV pattern.
 
The BDV has been developed specifically to address the need for a more durable and longer lasting retread solution for two of the toughest sectors on tyres: refuse trucks and metropolitan bus services.
 
"Route buses and refuse trucks are notorious for tyre wear and scrub, making them two of the biggest opportunities and challenges from a Bandag perspective," said Bridgestone and Bandag's General Manager of Retread Business, Greg Nielsen. 
 
"These vehicles have very specific requirements and the new BDV product has been developed to ensure Bandag is meeting the biggest requirement these operators have – wear life."
 
Bridgestone and Bandag have conducted real-world comparisons of the new BDV and the current BRM products on a number of urban fleets, across both the refuse truck and route bus market. These tests showed an improvement in wear life of between 10-30 per cent depending on the application and maintenance regime.
 
According to Mr Nielsen, the success of the BDV comes from the new tread design as well as the introduction of a new hard-wearing compound.
 
"BDV is a brand new pattern to be produced by Bandag Australia, but it also utilises a new compound for our market. The combination of this durable compound and the design of the BDV pattern has resulted in a robust product that we're confident will hit the mark with operators," Mr Nielsen added.
 
The BDV pattern design features an optimised rib to prevent irregular wear and increase the overall life of the tread. The strengthened shoulder ensures it can endure the punishment of corners and kerbs while the unique sipe design helps deliver good traction in all conditions.
 
Bridgestone Australia's General Manager – Commercial, Claudio Sodano shares Mr Nielsen's confidence in the BDV as a fleet solution.
 
"We're excited by the launch of the BDV product because we know it addresses the needs of the metro bus and refuse sectors," he said.

"The BRM has proven to be popular with our customers, but we're sure that once fleets experience the benefits of the new BDV retread, there will be no looking back. This product will cement Bandag's position as being the reliable, economical and logical replacement for fleets of all sizes."
 
The BDV tread is made at Bandag's Wacol, Queensland plant. Production of a Bandag retread uses significantly less water and energy to produce compared to an equivalent new tyre, as well as 68 per cent less oil.
 
The Bridgestone owned Bandag operation retreads more than 400,000 truck, bus and trailer tyres each year through its company owned factories across Australia and New Zealand. Bandag products are also available from with a further 30 licenced locations within Bridgestone's extensive commercial vehicle network.