Maintenance Expenditure Limits (MEL) Tires.
Abstract
The objective of this study was to derive an approach to determine a valid Maintenance Expenditure Limit (MEL) for tires. Historical data and field tests results were examined. Initial data from a Product Assurance test in Ober Ramstadt Germany was also used. It was found that ultrasonic testing of tire carcasses could provide reliable information about the quality of the carcass and its useful remaining life. The reading from the ultrasonic testing device is adjusted so that a new tire reads 50% of full scale. It is estimated that about 22% of the 1100 x 20 tires coming in to be retread are defective based on an ultrasonic reading of 20% of full scale. If this defective percentage is applied to the top ranking 20 tires (in terms of retread dollars spent) the annual cost savings would be in excess of $1,000,000. A revised MEL for tires should state that tires be retread, given the carcass has at least one remaining life; the remaining life being determined by pass/fail ultrasonic measurement using the 20% full scale as the standard for now. It is recommended that testing continue to determine the exact correlation between ultrasonic reading and remaining tire life. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1977
- Accession Number
- ADA046621
Entities
People
- Jack Kenley