29.11.2010

Established in 1919, JJ Kavanagh & Sons runs a fleet of 105 coaches on express routes and commuter services, extended tours and private hires throughout Ireland, the UK and Europe. All its coaches are luxury Setra S415 HDs and GTHD two-axle and tri-axle S416 GTHD executive models and the average age across the fleet is less than two years. 

“Tyres are a critically important item for us both from a passenger safety point of view and in terms of our operational efficiency,” says Service Manager, Bryn Nation. “On our intensive inter-city express services we can’t afford to have delays caused by tyre failures and so choosing the right tyres from the outset is vital and monitoring them closely is a key part of our maintenance inspection regime. 

“Our tyre of choice is the Continental HSR 2,” he says. “This has a stronger sidewall, which makes it less prone to damage from kerbing and a tread pattern that makes it both good in the wet and more resistant to trapping foreign objects. 

“Being a regional traffic tyre it provides a nice balance between the needs of our long distance operations and shorter distance regional commuter services and other areas of our business. Our drivers also tell us that the HSR 2 is a quieter and smoother tyre than the make we previously fitted.

“We only fit new and we use the HSR 2 all-round. All tyre inspections are carefully recorded on a spreadsheet so we know when tyres are approaching the point of replacement and the precise mileage that they achieve. We’ve had over 200,000 kilometres out of some of our HSR 2s, but the average is 179,000 kilometres.” 

Every four weeks each coach in the long distance fleet is subjected to a 34-point safety inspection. For the tyres, this involves taking three tread depth measurements across the tread and recording same. This also highlights any uneven wear enabling corrective action to be taken. When tread depths get below 3mm the tyre is changed. Tyre pressures are also checked with 120 psi being the standard for steer tyres and 110 psi for the rear drive and trailing axle tyres.

To assist in fast tyre changes the company maintains a substantial stock of tyres on rims at its Urlingford headquarters in County Kilkenny and other depots around the country. JJ Kavanagh & Sons works closely with Advance Pitstop to monitor the coach operator’s tyre stock levels to ensure sufficient supply is readily available. 

Mr Nation added, “In the unlikely event of a roadside breakdown, our close partnership with Advance Pitstop means that response times to repairs are excellent and downtime is kept to a minimum. Wherever we operate we know we are always covered ensuring we continue to deliver the best and most efficient service to our customers”. 

“I’m very pleased with the service we get from Advance Pitstop and from Continental,” says Nation. “Everybody is very professional, knowledgeable, friendly and helpful. The product is durable, reliable and competitively priced and this undoubtedly contributes to our excellent safety record as well as giving us good predictability on our tyre costs. Our move to Continental has proved to be a good business decision.”