
After a series of tyre blowouts, G&B Finch turned to Wheely-Safe technology to monitor its tyres. Five of its Iveco tractor units and bulk tipper trailers have been fitted with a wheel loss detection system which uses brake and hub temperature monitoring and an intelligent tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS).
Lee Finch, manager at G&B Finch, said: “Our artic tippers do plenty of miles out on the road, and over the years we have had quite a few incidents with the super single trailer tyres – even the good quality premium tyres that we use. Having a system fitted that constantly monitors the health of the tyres and alerts to any issue at a very early stage is a real game changer for us. The technology has already saved us several times, notifying the driver to a slight drop in pressure and allowing us to get the tyre changed or repaired before it gets too serious.”
The system works by replacing standard valve caps with Wheely-Safe’s external TPMS sensors and fitting wheel loss sensors and brackets to each wheel. These can detect if a wheel nut starts to loosen or if there’s abnormal temperature changes happening at the brakes or hub. The sensors connect to a solar-powered in-cab receiver that can issue alerts whilst on the move.
For swift vehicle checks, G&B Finch is using Wheely-Safe’s pressure checkers to get accurate readings without needing to manually connect a pressure gauge to the valve.
Finch added: “The whole system is so easy to use. When you’ve got 14 tyres per motor to check every morning, for a guy to go around every tyre with an air gauge – you are talking about a serious amount of time. Almost an hour a day of dead money, and you don’t need to be a genius to work out how much it would cost over the course of a year. Now the team can touch the reader on the TPMS sensor and get the pressure readouts. They’re all very impressed with the system and are grateful to have something in place that prevents problems before anything serious arises.”
The family-run, Essex-based firm specialises in earth moving, aggregates, ready-mix concrete and recycling.