Repair is half the work
Retreading gets the attention, and repair is the part fleets underuse.
A casing with an injury can often be repaired and returned to service without a retread at all. Whether a particular injury qualifies depends on its size, where it sits and whether it has reached the casing body, which is a judgment made with the tire in hand rather than over the phone.
The practical consequence: do not write off a damaged tire in the yard. Send it for inspection and let the answer come back. A tire scrapped on sight is a decision made without the information.
What this plant handles
Eight casing categories: commercial truck, agricultural, OTR, industrial, light truck, passenger, trailer, and UTV and ATV. Tracks are not retreaded at any Purcell plant, so a worn set is replaced.
Hours, and why they are unusual
Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM, and Saturday, 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
No other Purcell plant opens on a Saturday, and only the store in Pahrump, Nevada matches it anywhere in the company. The plant also runs later into the evening than the other six.
Who sends casings here
The three Purcell stores in Washington: Lacey, Monroe and Renton. For a fleet on that corridor it is a short haul rather than a cross-country one, which is most of what decides whether retreading is worth doing on a given tire.
It is also the Purcell plant nearest Alaska, where no location offers retreading. If you run equipment there and want casings in the program, the Alaska store you deal with can explain how that works for your account.
What ends a casing
Three things, and all are avoidable: running a tire flat, which usually finishes it in a short distance; damage left unrepaired, which works through the casing over time; and chronic under-inflation, which builds heat and breaks it down internally where no inspection from the outside will find it.
For a fleet, the number worth knowing is the proportion of your casings currently passing inspection. A low rate is about how the tires are being run rather than about the tires.
Plant details
Portland, OR, 19004 NE San Rafael St, (877) 697-8973, managed by Chris Ross.
See Purcell retreading for how the program works and which of the 54 locations collect casings.