Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire, a world leader in tire manufacturing, earlier instructed retail stores to stop selling them - safety advocate urges the industry to tighten their standards. Amid growing safety concerns, the company has decided to stop selling used tires at company-owned stores.Bridgestone told its 2,200 retail stores to stop selling used tires. Meanwhile, the Rubber Manufacturers Association for the first time sent a service bulletin warning that "used passenger and light truck tires that have an uncertain or unknown history pose a potential risk."Sean Kane, the president of Safety Research and Strategies, a consumer group, has urged tiremakers to adopt strict standards before selling used tires. "Tire manufacturers have a lot at stake if something goes wrong with a used tire at the end of the day," Kane said. "If their name is on the side of the tire, they have to clean up the mess. I think there is a sea change and selling used tires is yesterday's thing."In December, Kane submitted details about 108 accidents linked to tread separation of tires more than six years old to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Those accidents resulted in 85 deaths. Nationwide statistics are not available.Bridgestone said last Friday that its chief operating officer, Bill Perdew, had told its outlets to stop selling used tires immediately. Perdew told the stores to stop selling used tires in a previously unreported March 29 letter."It was really a small percentage of our business," said Dan MacDonald, a Bridgestone spokesman. "Our strength is to sell new tires, and from a profit standpoint it is a much better market." But MacDonald noted that many independent dealers sell used Bridgestone tires and said that the company was not urging others not to sell used tires. "It may make sense for some tire shops," MacDonald said.MacDonald stressed that when Bridgestone sells used tires, they do a very thorough inspection. "We wouldn't sell anything that wasn't safe," he said. "But taking the time to inspect used tires: Is that a good use of our time?" He added that the prohibition on used tires does not apply to switching summer and winter tires or for tires with less than 500 miles "that are essentially out of the box.”On May 29, the Rubber Manufacturers Association issued a bulletin on used tires. It offered a number of criteria that indicate used tires are unsafe for resale, including the evidence of tread separation, use in "run-flat" mode or a defaced tire identification number. “Any previously recalled tire should not be used, nor tires filled with temporary sealants. Used tires may have been exposed to improper service, maintenance or storage conditions and may have been damaged, which could eventually lead to tire failure," the bulletin said.Other situations that make used tires unsafe include punctures, penetrations, inner liner or bead damage, wear, cuts, cracks, scrapes, bulges, ozone cracking or weather checking, impact damage, punctures, splits, snags, and a history of continuous inflation pressure loss.Wal-Mart, one of the nation's biggest tire sellers, does not sell used tires at its stores, while some other major outlets do. Jim Davis, a Goodyear Tire & Rubber spokesman, said that the company sells a small number of used tires at its 750 company-owned stores. "The bulk of our business is new tires," Davis said, saying used tires are inspected before being sold.Used tires have been the subject of intensifying concern by automakers and safety advocates. In addition, automakers have backed guidelines that tires should only be in service for six years. To promote safety and convenience, it is best to use proven auto parts like the Exedy.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber (GT), a renowned tire manufacturing giant, signed an agreement to sell its engineered-products business for $1.475 billion to EPD, Inc. which is an entity sponsored by the private equity firm Carlyle Partners IV, L.P. The move is the latest effort of the Akron tire maker to recover from its heavy pecuniary losses after struggling to improve production. The investors acquired the Goodyear shares on March 26.The tire and rubber company's engineered-products business consists of 32 facilities and 6,500 people who make products such as conveyor belts, hoses, and air springs for customers in the automotive, industrial, military, consumer and other related sectors. The company’s tires are known for their compatibility with EBC brake pads and other car parts. Goodyear expects to record increase in sales and profits of this business to Carlyle, but the amount has not yet been divulged. The transaction remains subject to post-closing conditions and adjustments. Additionally, it is also subject to EPD's completion of a labor agreement with the United Steelworkers union."This transaction reinforces our focus on our core consumer and commercial tire businesses and on improving our balance sheet," said the company’s CEO, Robert J. Keegan, in a press release dated March 23. Keegan is expecting to use the money for things like debt reduction and growing the tire business. Goodyear will announce the specific details later. Goodyear had to pay roughly $451 million in debt interest expense during 2006. The amount is a little more than a third of its operating income. Analysts in the industry said that consummating a sale transaction to chip away debt make sense. "If the company used all the proceeds [from its agreement with Carlyle] for debt reduction, we think the transaction would be accretive to EPS," Standard & Poor's equity analyst Efraim Levy said in a research note. Levy added that the deal could grow Goodyear's earnings per share by sparing the company from interest expense. Citing this as well as expected savings from recent changes in the company's pension plan, S&P upgraded Goodyear's stock to hold from sell. Levy is not the only one on that stand. On March 26, investors bid up the stock 5.3 percent to $31.88 in midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Goodyear, which has became famous worldwide because of its blimp, has taken other steps to recover from its difficulties. In late December, the company managed to end a strike that had started Oct. 5, for example. Goodyear hammered out a three-year pact with the United Steelworkers, in which Goodyear will take steps like closing its Tyler, Texas, plant while moving responsibility for its union retirees' health care to a $1 billion trust. The transaction is expected to save the company $70 million this year, $240 million in 2008 and $300 million in 2009. But the company lost $358 million during the three months ended Dec. 31, including items like the recently ended strike, compared to a net loss of $51 million during the same period of 2005. In the interim, Goodyear continues to battle with challenges like improving its global production. CEO Keegan, who took over from Samir Gibara in early 2003, has been steering the company through a slump in the domestic auto industry. Only time can tell how long the road remains bumpy for the distressed company.