Tyre monitoring delivers performance benefits for coach operator06 January 2014

Wilshire coach operator Barnes Coaches is reporting improved tyre wear, safety and fuel economy, after trialling a tyre and pressure monitoring system from Continental.

The Swindon-based operator fitted Continental's CityPlus HA3 tyres to a Bova Futura touring coach last year. The firm says it will now specify this model, rather than the Conti regional truck tyre, after monitoring revealed more even wearing and increased resistance to damage from kerbing.

Road holding and handling characteristics, especially in the wet, were also improved, it reports.

Barnes has also fitted the ContiPressureCheck monitoring system to another of its premium touring coaches. The result, says workshop manager Trevor Summers, is that drivers are more readily reporting incidences of falling pressure to the workshop, enabling early action.

He also reveals that Barnes Coaches is trialling a set of Continental's HSW2 coach winter tyres for school ski trips.

The tread of the HSW2 is claimed to gradually evolves into a conventional grooved pattern, enabling the tyre to remain on the coach through spring and summer. This reduces the cost of storing tyres for seasonal use and gives the company the flexibility to travel anywhere in Europe at any time of the year, without the need to change tyres.

Barnes Coaches' 35-strong fleet includes Bovas, Van Hool bodied Volvos and DAFs, and Jonckheere tourers.

ContiPressureCheck measures the pressure and temperature of each tyre every few seconds and delivers the results to a driver information display. The measuring device has integrated sensors, a data processor and communication system in a rubber container, glued to the inner surface of the tyre tread.

Author
Laura Cork

Related Companies
Continental Tyre Group Ltd

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