Mining tyre repair has been evolving for decades. Cable replacement technology has been available for many years and works well on smaller OTR tyres, but in its search for a way to repair ultra-class tyres, Kal Tire found it had to
develop the solution on its own. Kal Tire’s Mining Tire Group first began to provide section repair to mining customers 45 years ago, and the company has continued to evolve and innovate when it comes to repairs since then.
By the year 2000, Kal Tire felt there must be a better way to repair ultra-class tyres. Existing nylon or Kevlar patches risked bulging. The size of the injuries that could be repaired was limited. It was often expensive, and the repairs didn’t always last long. “It took a lot of time, testing, and the pioneer mentality that’s become part of the culture at Kal Tire. The company went to the drawing board, investing enormous funds and resources in developing an innovative solution to maximise ultra-class tyre life for customers. The result was a bigger, stronger cable replacement patch that is installed with new technology in order to replace the steel belts inside the tyre and restore the tyre to its original strength and integrity, with no sidewall bulging. It worked. And it worked well.” The new approach is called Kal Tire Ultra Repair Technology, and was showcased at AIMEX this week.
“Now we’re repairing ultra-class OTR tyres and the successes are overwhelming,” says Dan Allan, Senior Vice President, Kal Tire’s Mining Tire Group. “More than 90% of our units are 63 in rim size dump truck tyres.”
Developed by Kal Tire mining tyre repair experts in Canada, the ultra repair patches are handmade and exclusive to
Kal Tire. The process has been tested in the most challenging environments and conditions, “exceeding customers’
expectations on minesites around the world—from oil sands to coal and metal mines.”
At an open pit mine in British Columbia with a fleet being serviced by a different contractor, a Kal Tire senior repair manager noticed a scrap pile of tyres with injuries on the crown, sidewall and tread. “The mine manager said, ‘Those
tyres are done for.’ I said, ‘We’ll see,’” says Ken Samborsky, OTR plant operation coordinator, Kal Tire Canada. “So, we took them in and we were able to repair nine of the 10. That’s nine tyres we were able to take from the scrap pile and get them back into production.”
“Often I inspect tyres that are out of limits with traditional repair methods. Our ultra repair technology allows us to give that extra service, providing true value for the customer,” says Johnny Fairhurst, Tyre Repair Manager, Kal Tire’s Mining Tire Group in Middelburg, South Africa. The savings and benefits of cable replacement are significant and measurable, adding thousands of hours to the life of tyres with this value-added service. While Kal Tire says it continues its exceptional traditional section repair services at dozens of sites around the world, it now also offers
its exclusive Ultra Repair Technology for ultra-class tyres to customers in Canada as well as Central and South America, Europe, Africa, and soon in Australia.