NEWPORT, Ky. (April 23, 2013) — AcuTread Alliance Group has achieved SmartWay verification for its STT mold-cure retread for trailer applications — the first mold-cure retreads to achieve SmartWay status under the Environmental Protection Agency's program to recognize fuel-saving technologies.
AcuTread Alliance, which licenses the AcuTread retreading process, said verification for AcuTread wide-base drive and trailer and conventional dual-application drive tire retreads is pending.
"The precision manufacturing process and operational advantages of mold cure retreading are now available in a SmartWay verified retread," said Bob Majewski, president of the AcuTread Alliance Group,
The AcuTread process— developed during the 1990s by Mr. Majewski and Tom Sumerel of Sumerel Tire Service Inc. at the company's plant in Newport—uses strip winding of specially formulated tread rubber for a splice-free retread.
Messrs. Majewski and Sumerel created AcuTread Alliance Group in 2000 to hold and license the AcuTread trademark.
There are six companies in the U.S. reteading truck tires using the AcuTread process: Central Tire Corp. in Verona, Va.; ; Fleet Tire & Retreading Inc. in Pottsville, Ark.; McGee Tire & Auto of Lakeland, Fla.; Sumerel Tire in Newport, Ky.; Wayco Retread Inc. in Santa Maria, Calif.; and Wonderland Tire Co. Inc. in Wayland, Mich.