Del-Nat Tire Corp. has announced that Perfect Equipment Inc. will serve as the exclusive supplier of wheel weights to its network of dealers and distributors.
Jim Mayfield, president of Del-Nat Tire, indicated the agreement was made in part because a growing number of his company’s dealers and distributors are proactively switching from lead weights to ones made of either zinc or steel.
Mayfield said he wanted to ensure that Del-Nat’s dealers would have access to a complete wheel weight program with the ability to offer their customers either zinc or steel alternatives.
“The wheel weight issue is becoming an important matter in the tire industry and we wanted to move forward on securing a choice of non-lead alternatives for our dealers immediately,” Mayfield says. “Perfect Equipment is an excellent fit for Del-Nat. They are the innovation leader, the oldest wheel weight manufacturer in the business and the largest non-lead wheel weight manufacturer in North America, so we are happy to be partnering with them.”
Mike Pursley, Perfect Equipment’s vice president of sales and marketing, says the United States EPA already has made a decision concerning a national ban on lead wheel weights, however, its decision has not yet been made public.
The EPA has been in the rulemaking process on the matter for more than two years and has rescheduled the release of their final determinations several times. The next date for release is scheduled for October 2012.
Pursley added that Europe is ahead of the United States on this issue, having banned the use of lead wheel weights in 2003.
“Europe was the first governmental capacity to ban lead wheel weights and today they utilize zinc as their preferred alternative,” Pursley added. “We expect the EPA to have similar regulations in place in the next three to five years. We provide options so our customers can decide for themselves.”
For more information on wheel weight legislation, click here.
