Hydro Cleansing, an environmental services operator based in South London, has chosen Continental Construction tyres with ContiPressureCheck™ on its two, fleet-leading, high-pressure jetting and waste removal vehicles.
The two mighty R-Series 620 and 730 bhp Scania rigids, appropriately named Megatron and Terminator, are equipped with the most powerful jetting systems in Europe, capable of dealing with everything from the ‘fatbergs’ threatening London sewers to concrete-cutting and demolition work. Recent projects include removing unwanted materials from the world’s deepest man-made hole, a 110m lift of waste, grit and sludge.
Costing almost £1.75m, the two giant trucks are leaders in their field, constantly in demand by local authorities and contractors across the capital. It makes down-time a particularly costly and service-threatening issue for the operator. The tyres on Megatron, with its 22,500-litre waste tank and heavy-duty jetting equipment, are often carrying maximum weight, frequently over rough ground.
After a string of tyre failures using a competitor brand associated with stone trapping and ensuing wear and punctures, the operator talked direct to Continental and local specialist supplier, Universal Tyres, who recommended the Continental Construction tyre range; HSC1 on steer axles and HDC1 on drive axles.
Continental’s Construction range is a popular choice among fleets across the construction and bulk haulage sectors with tough on/off road movements. Of particular relevance to Hydro Cleansing, the patented tread pattern and contour provides stable casing values through reduced stone retention and improved impact resistance – ideal for the type of work undertaken by Megatron and Terminator.
In addition, the 32/32” tread pattern and compound are integrated specifically to deliver enhanced original mileage and traction under the toughest conditions, while their contour ensures higher load reserves and less deformation.
Hydro Cleansing fits its entire 40-strong fleet’s tyres using its own workshops. Workshop Manager, Michael Kelley, said, “When you run a dedicated workshop to try and keep downtime to an absolute minimum and guarantee vehicle safety and performance, you notice very quickly when tyre failures generate unacceptable levels of failure. We had run a single brand policy for some time, but the issues of stone-trapping and the resulting punctures were just unacceptable. Continental looked at the problem with us and, on their advice, we were happy to trial the HDC1 and HSC1 construction tyres, because they gave us real confidence that their tread patterns would help overcome the problems.
“You know you are always likely to get punctures, that’s part of the job in some of the areas we have to access, but the HDC/HSC combination has changed the picture for us. We have run them for 12 months now and punctures and other problems like premature wear have been significantly reduced. We don’t get anywhere near as many problems as we used to.”
Hydro Cleansing is now looking at extending the use of Continental products across more of its hard-working truck and van fleet.
The operator used the introduction of Continental Construction tyres to add further quality and cost-saving measures to its business, installing a ContiPressureCheck™ (CPC), tyre pressure monitoring system in each truck. The CPC sensors give drivers of both Megatron and Terminator a constant in-cab display, alerting them to pressure and temperature issues and providing an opportunity to take positive action before any serious failures occur. The same information can also be streamed back to the operator’s offices for continuous monitoring and management.
Managing Director of Hydro Cleansing, Steve Hoad, is dedicated to maintaining vehicle safety standards. He comments, “Our two flagship vehicles have a complete set of brand new tyres put on each year. Megatron only covered about 7,500kms in 12 months before we changed last time, but it had been weighing in at up to 55 tonnes on sites where conditions can be very challenging, to say the least, so we change the tyres more frequently.
“Using Continental’s tyre pressure system, certainly helps us to minimise and, as far as possible, eliminate potential tyre blow-outs, which cuts costly downtime, but also, and far more important, cuts risks to our drivers and other road users.
“In addition, continually monitoring pressures with ContiPressureCheck helps us manage tyres to maximise fuel efficiency and, as a result, lower our carbon footprint.
At its simplest level, we picked up a slow puncture on one vehicle in the very first week of the system’s installation. In the past that would almost certainly have been a lost tyre, but with the immediate knowledge of the problem, we saved the tyre – and all the cost and possible unexpected downtime.”
