Alapa manual: tire care for cargo trucks

In transport operations, following a safety manual for cargo trucks is essential.

Safety in fleet management has different meanings: it can refer to the risk of accidents on the road, to the condition of the vehicle or to situations such as cargo theft.

For that, manuals work as guides to some of the main actions that managers should take and how they should implement them in their operations to get the best results.

In this regard, Alapa, the Latin American Association of Tire and Rim Manufacturers, has several manuals and technical standards regulations covering these items: tires, rims and valves. Here is a closer look:

• What a cargo truck safety manual is;
• What the Alapa manuals are;
• What the Alapa cargo truck safety manual says;
• Tire management: the risks for the fleet.

What is a cargo truck safety manual?

It is a document that can come either from an official body or from a company specialized in freight transport. The purpose of this type of manual is to describe the risks and show ways to prevent the main problems that undermine the safety of a cargo truck.

In transport management and fleet management, you should treat every safety matter as a priority.

What are the Alapa manuals?

Alapa is the Latin American Association of Tire and Rim Manufacturers and was founded in 1952. Since then, it has been the organization that sets the standardization rules and safety recommendations for the production of tires, rims and valves.

The Alapa manuals are varied and address different topics in technical standards and safety in freight transport (in Portuguese). Among those available for free download on the organization's official website, we find:

• Technical standards manual;
• Truck safety manual;
• Car and pickup safety manual;
• Agricultural and off-road safety manual.

What does the Alapa cargo truck safety manual say?

Intended for an audience of dealers, retreaders, tire repairers and managers of freight transport fleets, the Alapa cargo truck safety manual lays down fundamental points on tire care so that these parts are put to better use throughout their entire life cycle.

From storage to the inspection of the assets, all the topics you need to know to carry out tire management in your fleet are included in instructive chapters with well-organized, in-depth content.

That is why it is a very important document for the fleet manager and the tire manager of a transport operation. It is practically a course on everything you need to know to avoid tire damage and ensure that tires have a long service life in the fleet.

On the other hand, for those responsible for maintenance services or tire refurbishing, the manual also clarifies questions about alignment and wheel balancing, mounting valves on tubeless rims, carrying out tire rotation, among others.

Also regarding the risks to a transport operation that tires can bring, there are chapters of the Alapa cargo truck safety manual that explain the main types of damage to tires and inner tubes, as well as to wheels and rims.

Examples of tire recommendations according to the Alapa cargo truck safety manual:

• The cause of a problem must be determined and corrected before replacing any component.
• Damaged wheels, with cuts, holes, cracks or other damage, should not be repaired and reused.
• The pressure used in the tires should be the one recommended by the vehicle or tire manufacturer for the load carried.
• Never use lubricants or solvents when mounting and dismounting tires, at the risk of degrading the rubber.
• Tires should be refurbished or repaired only by companies that follow the technical standards established for these services, knowing the cases in which a tire cannot undergo any type of process to be reused in an operation.

Tire management: risks for the fleet

When tire management processes are not carried out correctly or you end up neglecting some steps, the fleet's tires become a risk to transport operations.

This is because they can reach a poor state of repair and increase the chances of situations that compromise safety on the road, such as skidding, hydroplaning, loss of stability and balance, etc.

It is important to stress that a tire can fall into poor condition even while sitting in inventory, since, if its management is not carried out correctly, wear and damage can also occur, albeit with less impact.

Many processes are part of this management, which, in addition to bringing savings and productivity to the operation, makes the fleet safer.

To learn more about fleet tire management, download our free e-book (in Portuguese).