Purcell Tire & Service in Loveland, CO

Northern Colorado gets real winters, and that changes two things.

All-season tires handle mild winters and struggle in severe ones, because the rubber compound hardens as temperatures drop. Where ice and packed snow are normal rather than occasional, a winter set performs in a way all-seasons cannot. Ask the store what people in this area actually run, which is a more useful answer than a general rule.

For a fleet, the winter question is alignment and inflation rather than tread pattern. Cold air drops pressure, an under-inflated tire runs hot and wears badly, and a unit out of alignment on a wet or icy road is working against itself. Scheduled maintenance before the weather turns is cheaper than the alternative.

Casings collected at Loveland go to the Purcell retread plant in Denver and come back ready to run. Nothing is retreaded on site. See retreading.

For a business based between Denver and the state line, the useful thing about this store is that it covers the whole fleet rather than part of it. The tractor units, the trailers, the loaders on a site, the service pickups and the vehicles the crew drives are all handled at one address under one account.

Fleet services is what holds that together: agreed specifications so the same tire goes on every time, scheduled work rather than reactive work, and records that show where the money is going. There is no minimum number of vehicles, and the point it starts paying is usually when nobody can say from memory what is fitted to each unit.