Let’s be honest — most building centre fleets treat tires as a necessary evil. You wait until they’re worn, chunked, or blow out on a delivery, then scramble to replace them. It’s one of those “out of sight, out of mind” costs that slowly eats away at your profit.
But tires aren’t just rubber — they’re a direct line to your bottom line. Whether you’re running two trucks or twenty, the way you manage your tires can mean the difference between steady margins and a year-end surprise that wipes out your equipment savings.
Let’s break down what real tire management looks like for Home Hardware, Castle, and Timber Mart fleets — and why it matters more than you think.
Here’s the trap most yards fall into:
You’re busy. Drivers are running back-to-back loads. You don’t have time to measure tread depth or worry about tire pressure every week. But what’s really happening is that every underinflated tire, every mismatched tread, and every skipped rotation quietly increases your operating costs.
Underinflation alone can eat 3–5% of your fuel efficiency. On a truck burning $30,000 worth of diesel a year, that’s $900–$1,500 gone — per truck. Multiply that across your fleet, and it’s enough to cover a new set of winter tires and a few oil changes.
If your yard trucks are doing frequent short runs with heavy loads (think drywall or pressure-treated lumber), those sidewalls are taking a beating. Without a regular inspection routine, you’ll see irregular wear and shorter tire life. And that’s before we even talk about blowouts on a busy highway — where the real costs start adding up.
The biggest step forward isn’t a fancy new brand of tire — it’s tracking what you already have.
Every tire should have a record:
When it was installed
On which axle and truck
Odometer reading at install
Service dates and issues
You track your drywall SKUs down to the pallet. Do the same with tires. Even a simple spreadsheet can spot patterns — like which driver is wearing through steer tires every 30,000 km when everyone else is getting 60,000.
Some builders use low-cost digital tire management apps, but a binder and a Sharpie can work just as well if you’re consistent. The point is to see the trend before it becomes a problem.
Here’s a rule of thumb: your fleet doesn’t need the most expensive tire — it needs the right tire in the right position.
If you’re running a mix of highway and yard work, your drive tires will take the brunt of the torque and turning wear. Mismatched or uneven tread depths between duals cause internal stress that cooks the casing — which means that “retreadable” tire is now landfill material.
Rotate your drive tires every 15,000 to 20,000 km and check for feathering or cupping. And when you replace one tire in a dual set, make sure the other has similar tread depth.
It’s like pairing your boots — you wouldn’t wear one new work boot and one that’s half-worn and expect to walk straight.
If you’re operating in Ontario, the Prairies, or the Maritimes, your fleet’s winter conditions are brutal — not just on traction, but on rubber itself. Cold temps harden the compound, causing small cracks that grow with each flex.
If you’re running regional delivery with mixed highway and city routes, consider regional all-weather tires with reinforced sidewalls. They handle freeze-thaw cycles better and don’t chunk as easily on gravel yards.
And don’t skip your seasonal swap — running winter tires too long into summer just melts away tread life. You might think you’re saving the hassle, but you’re throwing away performance and fuel efficiency.
Ask ten drivers when they last checked tire pressure — five will guess, three will say “the shop does it,” and two will admit they never do.
Here’s the reality: underinflation shortens tire life by up to 25%. That’s like paying $400 for a tire and only getting $300 worth of use out of it.
Set a “no excuse” policy:
Check pressures weekly (yes, weekly).
Log the results.
Train drivers to do a quick visual and gauge check before the first load each day.
If you don’t have in-house maintenance, partner with your local tire shop for monthly inspections. Most will do fleet checks if you commit to sourcing replacements through them — and that relationship pays off when you need a same-day service call during spring rush.
Retreading gets a bad rap, but modern retreads are not what they used to be. For fleets with regional routes, a properly maintained casing can be retreaded once or twice safely.
A new 11R22.5 tire might run you $600–$800. A retread on your existing casing? Around $300–$400.
If your tire tracking is solid, you’ll know which casings are worth retreading and which should be scrapped. The key is catching sidewall damage early — once a casing’s been run too long with low pressure or irregular wear, it’s done.
Let’s put numbers on it. Say you run a fleet of five trucks, each using eight drive tires and two steer tires.
That’s 50 tires in rotation. If you can extend average life from 80,000 km to 100,000 km through proper pressure, rotation, and tracking — that’s a 25% increase in tire lifespan.
At an average tire cost of $600, that’s a savings of roughly $7,500 across your fleet every cycle. Add in reduced fuel burn and fewer roadside calls, and you’re easily over $10,000 in annual savings.
Tires aren’t something you “deal with when they go.” They’re a managed asset, just like your trucks or your forklifts. The fleets that take tire management seriously don’t do it because they love spreadsheets — they do it because it keeps their margins clean and predictable.
If you’re tired of tire surprises, start small. Track, rotate, and check pressure consistently for 60 days. You’ll see the difference on your balance sheet before you see it on the road.
And if you’re not sure whether to retread, replace, or spec a better tire for your route mix, let’s talk — I can walk you through what’s working for other Canadian yards just like yours.