When it comes to managing a commercial vehicle fleet, keeping your vehicles moving is of the utmost importance
Pro-Align: Keeping Fleets Moving
Whether your aim is to reduce vehicle maintenance and downtime, or keep down the overall running costs, making the right choice for your business is vital. With commercial vehicles constantly on the move, heading from one job to the next, drivers often find themselves hitting high kerbs and diving into potholes, meaning wheel alignment is affected regularly.
Accurate alignment can play a significant role in keeping maintenance and running costs down by reducing fuel consumption, tyre wear, vehicle emissions, and even driver fatigue. Yet, many fleet operators are still not mandating regular alignment checks for their vehicles, meaning more vehicle downtime and a potential rise in overheads for their business.
Clive Seabrook, CEO of Pro-Align, the UK’s sole distributor of Hunter wheel servicing equipment, commented; “Tyre and fuel costs remain two of the most significant items on the minds of commercial vehicle operators. Without proper management and attention, it could mean the difference between a healthy profit or a painful loss at the end of an already challenging financial year.
“Of course, keeping commercial vehicles on the road is a key priority for fleet managers, however, long servicing times often result in prolonged vehicle downtime, meaning other areas of the business are affected.”
When a truck’s tyres are correctly aligned, tyre life can be extended by as much as 22 per cent and 10 per cent for drive and steer axle tyres respectively. Furthermore, without the misaligned tyres scrubbing across the road surface, causing additional rolling resistance, some studies have shown that fuel economy can be improved by up to 19 per cent, helping to reduce running costs by tens, or even hundreds, of thousands of pounds a year – a figure which simply cannot be ignored.
Fast and efficient
Recognising this, Hunter’s WAHD alignment system can carry out fast and accurate wheel alignment diagnostics for multi-axle vehicles in just four minutes, the fastest system in the industry. Standard wheel alignment procedures require technicians to carry out 17 different operations, taking around 15 minutes. With the WAHD, the much simpler and slicker process requires only seven steps, which can all be completed in just four minutes. This means that getting the benefit of accurate wheel alignment is now quicker than ever, saving money on fuel and tyre costs, all while reducing vehicle downtime.
