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Tire Tracking and Fleet Reporting: The Numbers That Matter

Talk to Purcell About Fleet ReportingFleet Services

The short answer

Tire tracking and fleet reporting come down to a handful of figures: cost per mile for road fleets, cost per hour for equipment, removal reasons, and casing return rate. A fleet that records those four, unit by unit and position by position, can see where its tire money goes and decide what to change. Everything else in a tire report supports one of them.

Why most fleets cannot answer the basic question

Ask a fleet manager what a tire costs them and the usual answer is the invoice price. That figure is real, but it says almost nothing about value. A tire that costs more and runs twice as long is cheaper. A tire that costs less and gets scrapped at half its life because it was run low is expensive, and the invoice never shows it.

The gap is records. Without a note of when a tire went on, where, and why it came off, the only number available is what was paid. Tracking turns a pile of receipts into a measure of what each tire delivered.

The four numbers

  • Cost per mile, for road fleets

    Purchase price, plus any repair and retread costs over its life, divided by the miles it ran. It is the figure that lets you compare two tire choices fairly, because it accounts for how long each lasted rather than what each cost on the day.

    To calculate it you need the odometer reading at fitting and at removal. That single habit, writing down mileage when a tire goes on and comes off, is the foundation of everything else.

  • Cost per hour, for equipment

    Machines on a site measure life in hours, not miles. The calculation is the same with hour meter readings in place of odometer readings. It is the number a mining fleet program is judged on, and it is equally useful for a farm or a construction fleet running loaders and tractors.

  • Removal reasons

    Every tire that comes off should have a reason recorded. A short fixed list works better than free text:

    • Worn out, at the planned pull point
    • Puncture or cut
    • Impact damage
    • Run low or flat
    • Irregular wear
    • Pulled for retread

    The pattern across a few months tells you more than any single tire. A fleet losing tires mostly to irregular wear has an alignment or pressure problem. One losing them to cuts has a route or site problem. One losing them to running low has an inspection problem.

  • Casing return rate

    Of the casings sent for retreading, how many came back retreaded. A low rate means casings are being damaged before they come off, usually by running underinflated or too long. It is one of the clearest signs of whether day to day tire care is working. The article on extending casing life covers what moves this number.

What to record at every tire event

Keep it short enough that people actually fill it in:

  • Unit number and position
  • Date
  • Odometer or hour meter reading
  • Tire size, brand and whether it is new or retread
  • Tread depth at removal
  • Reason for removal

A paper sheet in a binder is a valid system if it is filled in consistently. Software makes the reporting easier, but the discipline of recording is what matters, and no software fixes a blank field.

Reading the report

Monthly is a reasonable rhythm for most fleets. Look for three things:

Outliers by unit. One truck going through tires far faster than the others usually has a mechanical cause: alignment, a worn suspension component, or a driver habit.

Outliers by position. If steer tires on several units are wearing on one shoulder, the issue is likely fleetwide, such as a pressure practice or a spec choice.

Trends over time. Whether cost per mile is moving after a change you made. That is how you find out whether a new tire, a new inspection routine or retreading is paying off.

Common mistakes that spoil the data

A few habits quietly make tire records useless, and they are worth guarding against from the start.

Recording the purchase, not the fitting. A tire bought in March and fitted in June shows the wrong start date. Record the day it goes on the vehicle.

Losing the tire when it moves. A tire rotated from one position to another, or moved to a different unit, should carry its history with it. If the record restarts, its true life is never known.

Blank removal reasons. "Replaced" is not a reason. A removal with no cause recorded is a lost data point, and enough of them hide the pattern you were looking for.

Mixing new and retread figures. A retread and a new tire have different costs and different expected lives. Report them separately, or the averages blur both.

Measuring tread by eye. A tread depth gauge costs little and removes the guesswork. Depth at removal is how you know whether a tire came off at the planned point or early.

What good tracking makes possible

Once the records are steady for a few months, decisions that used to be arguments become arithmetic. Whether a premium tire earns its price on your routes. Whether retreads perform on your trailer positions. Which units need mechanical attention. Whether a new inspection routine actually reduced roadside calls.

None of that requires a large fleet. A small operation with good records often knows more about its tire costs than a large one without them.

Where Purcell fits

A fleet account with Purcell puts tire work under agreed specifications with records in one place, which is the raw material for these reports. When setting one up, say what reporting you need. It is the part most often left out of the first conversation and most often missed later.

The companion article on building a fleet tire program covers the rest of the setup.

Questions

Tire tracking questions

What is the single most useful thing to start recording?

Mileage or hours at fitting and at removal. Without it, no cost per mile or cost per hour figure is possible, and every other number loses its meaning.

Is cost per mile better than price per tire?

Yes, for comparing tires. Price per tire ignores how long the tire lasted, and cost per mile builds that in.

How many removal reasons should we track?

A short fixed list of five or six. Free text gets inconsistent quickly, and a fixed list makes patterns easy to count.

Do we need software for this?

No. Software helps with reporting, but a consistently filled paper record works. The habit of recording is the hard part.

How often should we review the numbers?

Monthly suits most fleets. Look for units and positions that stand out, and for whether changes you made are moving cost per mile.

Keep reading

For fleets and truck operators

Put numbers behind your tire spend

Talk to a Purcell location about a fleet account with the records you need.

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