MUSCATINE, Iowa—Bandag Inc. and Ray Carr Tires Inc., one of North America's largest truck tire retreaders, will end their 26-year franchise relationship March 26. Ray Carr Tires has established supply agreements with two other suppliers of precure treads and said it wouldn't experience any delays in production and delivery, but declined to comment further.
``At this point, we're working out the details on that and more information will be forthcoming,'' said Tim Nicely, Ray Carr Tires' vice president of human resources.
Tire Business has learned that Ray Carr Tires' new suppliers are Marangoni Tread North America Inc. and Associated Rubber Co.
Marangoni is ``proud to be with Ray Carr,'' and will supply the firm with a premium line of its Marangoni Ringtread System, Marangoni President Jack Woodland said. The Walnut Creek, Calif.-based firm will begin supplying retreading materials to Ray Carr Tires, the first U.S. retreader to use its Ringtread System, March 26, he said.
Associated Rubber President Glenn Stephens declined to comment on whether or not his company will supply Ray Carr Tires, but acknowledged that information will be forthcoming.
Executives of Bandag and Ray Carr Tires agreed the move was necessitated by their diverging business philosophies, according to a prepared statement.
``Decisions like this are never easy,'' said Bandag CEO Martin Carver. ``In this case, differing business philosophies entered into the equation. The fact of the matter is, it's time for us to go our separate ways.''
The firms declined to elaborate on those differing philosophies other than to say that Bandag's intent is to support full-service dealerships, while Ray Carr Tires has a large wholesale customer base.
The Harrisonburg, Va.-based company ranked 18th among North America's largest truck tire retreaders in 1997, consuming about 3.64 million pounds of tread rubber.