Bridgestone announces a tire plant closure in Tennessee with 700 layoffs and other reductions

[jmowreader]

6. Someone on Quora asked about this so I looked into it

Bridgestone had previously closed their China truck tire factory and have made huge cuts at their Iowa-based agricultural-tire factory. They seem to be getting out of the heavy-duty tire market completely.

I suspect there are three reasons for this.

Reason 1: Bridgestone has been the most expensive tire at truck stops for a long time. When I drove in 2009 they were more expensive than Michelins by about $100. The only people who were buying a lot of Bridgestones were PACCAR, Volvo Trucks North America and Daimler Trucks North America. Your truck was going out the factory door with Bridgestones on it, but you probably weren’t putting new ones back on it when it came time to change a tire.

Reason 2: The Freightliner recall. Freightliner had to recall every 2020-22 Cascadia - their on-highway truck - because the aero package on the truck was causing the steer tires to blow out. It wasn’t allowing sufficient cooling air to reach the front tires. The recall service was putting Michelins on the steer axle, and currently Michelins are the standard tire on a Freightliner.

Reason 3: Double Coin. This Chinese tire builder is eating the legacy tire builders’ lunch because of their Thailand-based factory: they automated everything except the building of tires so they can run that place with only 500 employees. As a result you can buy a virgin Double Coin for the price of a recap, and everyone who has these tires likes them.