2008.07.07 Crusader Holidays – the leading independent coach touring company in the South East – is progressively switching its 26-strong fleet to Continental tyres as a result of achieving longer life when compared with another leading make.

Their decision was influenced by the outcome of a comparative trial over two years involving five Setra 416 three-axle touring coaches delivered in 2006. These are luxury long-distance touring coaches, which with a full passenger load and their luggage can weigh up to 20 tonnes.

Three of the new coaches came with Continental’s HSR1 steer tyre on all three axles and two were fitted with a competitor make. The Continentals are still on the vehicles at 173,000 kilometres, whereas the other make have been replaced.

The only change during this time has been to switch the front tyres to the rear self-steering axle and replace with new on the front. More life is expected from these original tyres before they come off for re-grooving, after which they will have a further life, which is expected to take their total lifetime mileage to something approaching the 250,000 kilometre mark.

Crusader Holidays’ engineering manager, Mark Brooks, says that he’s impressed with the performance of the Continentals. “The HSR1 has proved to be a very good tyre for our type of work. It delivers good mileages, wears flat and evenly, and the tread pattern makes it resistant to stones and other foreign objects getting lodged in the tread. We recut them for use on drive or rear-steer axles, which gives us a second life of many more miles before we trade in the casings.

“As well as getting a higher mileage from the Continentals, we’re also paying up to 30% less than for an equivalent premium quality tyre made by one of their competitors. With a fleet the size of ours, this represents a considerable saving on our annual tyre bill.”

Crusader Holidays buy their tyres through Conti-Network partner Anglian Tyre Group, who have depots in Needham Market and Colchester, both convenient for their Clacton-on-Sea headquarters.

The company follows a strict tyre management regime which starts with their drivers. They are required to check tyres daily for any visual indications of under-inflation or damage. Every coach is also subject to a five-weekly safety inspection in the company’s well-equipped workshop during which tyre condition and pressures are checked and tyres moved between axles or replaced as necessary.

Front steer axle tyres are moved first to the rear self-steer axle and new are fitted on the front. When tread is down to around 3 to 4 mm the tyre is removed and re-grooved by following the original tread pattern. This results in a further 3 mm of tread and a tyre that will deliver up to 30% more life, will perform better in the wet, and will achieve a cost per kilometre saving of up to10%.

As well as the HSR1 tyre, Mark Brooks is also now looking at Continental’s winter tyre range. This is because the company runs a touring programme throughout the winter that takes in Austria and Switzerland and is increasingly running its coaches further eastwards into Poland and Croatia.