2023 - Volume #47, Issue #6, Page #35
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TreadSure App Helps Analyze Tire Wear
“Anyone can do that by going to the data book for the tire, but that is increasingly difficult with international suppliers who may not have data books in English,” says Eric MacPherson, Dawson Tire and Wheel. “More than 90 percent of ag tires sold in North America are in our database. You enter your tread depth, and our app will give you the remaining tread life.”
Knowing tread life remaining can be money in the bank when trading off old equipment or buying used. He points out that estimating tread life on an R Series Deere tractor at 95 percent when it’s 65 percent can overvalue it by $35,000. That kind of error is why Dawson Tire and Wheel developed TreadSure.
“Farm Equipment dealers are 60 to 70 percent of our business,” says MacPherson. “When we asked how we could help them, they often said, ‘Help our salespeople evaluate tires on trade-ins.’”
Dawson Tire and Wheel introduced TreadSure in 2021 to give salespeople just that kind of tool. Then they took it a step further.
“We spent all of 2022 building out our Pro version,” says MacPherson. “It puts the tire information in a TreadSure report that can be uploaded with photos online. It also provides an option for adding information to the form, as well as adding up to two recipients for email reports. The app also provides users the option of requesting trade-in values from Dawson Tire and Wheel.
TreadSure is more than just an aide to salespeople. It also gives farmers buying and selling the equipment accurate estimates. Dealers are posting the evaluations with online listings. MacPherson reports that auction companies are now sharing tread life reports with prospective buyers.
“We haven’t marketed the app to producers, but we are starting to get producer feedback anyway,” says MacPherson.
While a standard metal tread gauge is suggested, Dawson Tire and Wheel is helping users who don’t have one. At the user’s request, the company will send out a cardboard tread gauge. Just punch out the ruler and slide it through the holder for a functional gauge.
It’s one more way that Dawson Tire and Wheel is attempting to fulfill its stated mission: “To improve equipment valuations through accessible and transparent information.”
Another way they do that is through videos on the app, as well as how to measure tread depth and how to read an ag tire sidewall. The latter is vital for understanding the proper carrying load, speed, and pressure for a specific tire.
These items and more are also available as blog posts on the TreadSure website’s resources page.
For a better understanding of tire pairings, front and back, ply rating symbols, speed rating symbols, bias to metric conversions, carrying capacity, and more, go to the website and download the Dawson Tire and Wheel tire chart.
Like the TreadSure app and the tire tread depth gauge, the tire chart is free. The Pro version of the app is priced according to the user, whether auction or dealer, and the size of the dealership.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Dawson Tire and Wheel, P.O. Box 128
Gothenburg, Neb. 69138 (ph 888-302-5926; TreadSure@dawsontire.com; www.treadsure.app).
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