50-truck fleet: over R$1.6 million a year on tires

If someone asks how much your fleet spends on tires each year, can you answer precisely? Not just an estimate, but the actual number, considering replacements, retreading, premature disposals, inventories and services?

Most fleet managers know that tires are a major operating cost, but few know exactly how much (and even fewer know what share of that cost is avoidable).

Especially for large fleets, annual tire spending easily exceeds millions of reais in Brazil. Depending on the operation type and level of control, this number can vary up or down by hundreds of thousands of reais.

And one truth you need to know: the difference between a fleet that spends what is necessary and one that spends more than it should is not the tire price, but how these assets are managed.

See below:

• The share of tires in a fleet's operating cost
• How much a truck tire costs and how many tires a 50-vehicle fleet has
• Simulation: annual spending for a fleet of 50, 100 and 200 vehicles
• What makes tire costs higher than they should be
• What changes when a fleet starts measuring CPK

The share of tires in a fleet's operating cost

For vehicles less than 5 years old and averaging 10,000 km per month, tire costs can represent around 8% of total costs (fixed and variable combined). As vehicles age and mileage increases, this percentage rises because demand for replacement, repairs and retreading intensifies.

Even in the more conservative range (10%), the absolute amount is significant. In a fleet of 50 heavy vehicles with total operating costs of R$15 million per year, tires account for R$1.5 million. In a fleet of 100, twice that. And so on.

Depending on the operating profile, predominant road type and vehicle age, costs can reach 20%. Generally, they rank behind only fuel costs and mechanical maintenance.

The problem is that, because it is a distributed cost (purchases throughout the year, retreading at different times, individual disposals), it rarely appears consolidated. Managers see each purchase in isolation, but not the cumulative total.

And without that total, there is no reference for knowing whether you are spending what you should or more than you should.

How much a truck tire costs and how many tires a 50-vehicle fleet has

To understand the scale of this spending, start with the basics: how much each tire costs and how many tires your fleet has running.

In Brazil, the average price of a truck tire starts at approximately R$2,200, varying by make, application (drive, steer, free-rolling) and supplier. Premium tires can exceed R$3,000 each.

The number of tires per vehicle varies by configuration (using Brazilian vehicle classes):

• Simple tractor unit: 6 tires
• Truck (Brazilian toco/trucado truck classes): 10 tires
• Tractor/semi-trailer combination: up to 22 tires

For a fleet of 50 heavy vehicles, the number of active tires can range from 500 (if Brazilian truck-class vehicles predominate) to 1,100 (if tractor/semi-trailer combinations predominate). This excludes spares and reserve inventory.

In addition, the average useful life of a truck tire without structured management is around 80,000 km. With proper management (following tire pressure calibration routines, inspections, etc.), this useful life can extend to 100,000 to 120,000 km, an improvement of up to 20% or more.

This mileage difference translates directly into replacement frequency. The sooner a tire needs replacing, the more times a year the fleet buys tires and the greater the accumulated spending.

Simulation: annual spending for a fleet of 50, 100 and 200 vehicles

If the baseline scenario is a fleet of 50 trucks in the Brazilian truck class, we consider:

• 10 tires per vehicle = 500 active tires
• Average mileage: 10,000 km/month = 120,000 km/year per vehicle
• Average useful life without structured management: 80,000 km
• Replacement frequency: 1.5 per tire per year (120,000 ÷ 80,000)
• Average cost per tire: R$2,200

Gross annual spending: 500 tires × 1.5 replacements × R$2,200 = R$1,650,000

Note that this number does not include retreading, reserve inventory or indirect downtime costs for replacement. Actual spending therefore tends to be higher.

Now, the same calculation with structured management:

If proper management extends useful life by 20% (from 80,000 to 96,000 km), replacement frequency falls to 1.25 per tire per year.

Annual spending is thus: 500 × 1.25 × R$2,200 = R$1,375,000

Savings are approximately R$275,000 per year from useful life extension alone, excluding improvements in retreadability and reduced premature disposal.

If we scale the simulation:

The numbers are proportional, but the impact is not: the larger the fleet, the harder it is to maintain management without a system, and the greater the probability that actual cost will exceed the simulation.

This simulation uses more conservative assumptions. In fleets with tractor/semi-trailer combinations (22 tires per combination) or more intensive driving operations, you will probably arrive at larger numbers.

What makes tire costs higher than they should be

If tire spending exceeds expectations, there is rarely just one cause. What usually happens is an accumulation of process failures that individually seem minor but together generate this financial loss.

The most common factors:

• Irregular or absent tire pressure calibration: a tire running below recommended pressure wears faster, consumes more fuel and has a higher risk of failure. It is the factor with the greatest impact on useful life and the simplest to control.
• Lack of scheduled rotation: without rotation, drive tires wear much faster than free-rolling axle tires. The result is premature replacement of some while others still have a long useful life.
• Premature disposal without clear criteria: without an assessment standard, tires that could be retreaded are discarded and casings that should not be retreaded end up being sent for it, generating costs with no return.
• Lack of individual traceability: when a tire is not controlled by fire number (the serial number branded on the tire), there is no history. Every purchasing and maintenance decision is based on perception rather than data.
• Control by batch rather than individual tire: the fleet knows how many tires it bought, but not each one's situation. This masks losses, improper replacements and differences between physical inventory and records.

What changes when a fleet starts measuring CPK

Tire CPK (Cost per Kilometer) is the indicator that turns spending on these assets from an absolute number (how much I spent) into a comparable number (how much I spent per kilometer traveled).

Without CPK, you may know you spent R$1.6 million on tires in the year. With CPK, you learn you are spending R$0.28 per kilometer and can compare that amount between vehicles, makes, suppliers and even periods.

You can identify that make A has a CPK of R$0.25 and make B, R$0.32, and that the difference, multiplied by 500 tires and 120,000 km/year, represents hundreds of thousands of reais.

And that is the point: without measurement, you cannot manage well. CPK is the indicator that reveals whether your fleet is spending what it should on tires or leaving money on the road.

Want to see how much you could be saving on tires in your operation? Use the Prolog Calculator for free and find out now.