Two of the Midwest's largest independent commercial tire dealerships, Belle Tire Distributors and Tredroc Tire Services, have formed a commercial tire joint venture in western and northern Michigan.
Belle Tire is headquarterd in Allen Park, Mich., while Tredroc is based in Antioch, Ill.
The joint venture, Belleroc Tire Services, encompasses three commercial tire locations, plus a retread plant, says Tom Bowman, vice president of Belle Tire's Commercial Division. "We sat down and thought both companies could bring a lot to the plate... by working together."
Bowman says Belle Tire will lend its medium truck tire expertise to Tredroc, while "we're hoping, in return, that they can help us with the OTR tire business." (Belle currently "dabbles" in OTR, he says.)
Tredroc has two locations -- one in Kalamazoo, Mich., and another in Traverse City, Mich. -- that will now operate under the Belleroc banner. "We combined our Grand Rapids location with (Tredroc's) Wyoming, Mich., location" to establish a third Belleroc store. (The joint venture's retread shop also is located in Wyoming.)
Both Tredroc and Belle are among the country's largest retreaders. Tredroc has seven plants that together produce 1,200 medium truck and 50 light truck tires per day, making it the 12th biggest retreader in the U.S., according to Modern Tire Dealer research.
Belle Tire is the 20th largest retreader in the U.S., producing 650 medium truck and 60 light truck tires a day out of two plants. Both companies are Bandag retreaders.
