For more than 75 years, Shrader Tire & Oil has been a trusted Michelin retread plant location serving commercial fleets across Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana. This month, that commitment earned a formal recognition — Michelin honored Shrader Tire & Oil for 20 years as a Michelin Retread Technologies Partner.
It’s not an award handed out broadly. It reflects two decades of sustained performance, quality standards, and a working relationship that both companies have invested in.
What This Means for Your Fleet
Being a certified Michelin retread plant location means one thing for your fleet: access to retreads built to Michelin’s standards — not a generic alternative.
Shrader Tire & Oil operates two Michelin retread plant locations — Pemberville, Ohio and Melvindale, Michigan — serving commercial fleets across Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and beyond. That translates directly to lower per-mile tire costs without sacrificing safety or tread life. Fourteen locations. Mobile service. A team that’s been at this since 1948. One call, it’s done.
In Jim’s Words
“My father started this company with a handshake and a promise to take care of people. I’d like to think this award is proof we’ve kept that promise.”
What Makes a Michelin Retread Worth Running
Not all retreads are created equal — and that’s the point.
Michelin Retread Technologies uses a standardized 9-step process across every franchise plant, including both of ours. Every tire goes through initial inspection, computer-automated buffing, casing integrity analysis, X-ray, repair, tread building, double-enveloping, curing, and a final inspection before it leaves the plant. No shortcuts. No guesswork.
The result: Michelin retreads last 90% as long as a new tire at 50% the cost.* For a fleet running dozens of tires, that math adds up fast.
Fuel economy holds up too. Michelin retreads are engineered to deliver similar fuel efficiency to new tires — a factor that matters when diesel costs are eating into your margins.
There’s also an environmental case. Retreading a single casing reduces resources required by 66%, with significant reductions in oil, water, energy, and emissions compared to manufacturing a new tire. If your fleet has sustainability reporting requirements, a retread program is a straightforward win.
*Based on field data compiled by Michelin representatives and internal testing.
Shrader Tire and Oil is celebrating 30 years of manufacturing retreads this year. The Toledo, Ohio-based company celebrated 75 years of being in business in 2023 and reached the new milestone in 2024.
“Getting into the retread manufacturing business has been a key to our growth”, said Shrader Tire and Oil President and CEO Joe Shrader. “Having our own retread facilities has allowed us to better serve and deliver high-quality tires to our customers.”
Shrader Tire and Oil purchased a 12,000-square-foot building just outside of the Village of Blissfield in 1993 and opened its first retread plant the following year with a staff of four – a manager and three employees.
The retread production plant soon outgrew its space and Shrader Tire and Oil added 16,000-square-feet to the plant, producing Oliver-brand retreads.
Oliver, which is owned by Michelin today, was America’s first retread rubber brand.
Truck tire retreads deliver huge savings to fleet managers and owner/operators and have a massive impact on the environment. It is estimated that nearly 300 million tires from cars and trucks are thrown away by Americans each year, but the use of retreads saves hundreds of millions of gallons of oil, and millions of tires continue a useful life rather than being consigned to a tire pile or landfill.
Simply put, retreading is recycling and conserving oil. The synthetic rubber components in a new medium truck tire require about 22 gallons of oil, but it takes only seven gallons to retread that same tire.
In 2005, Shrader Tire and Oil converted its retread operations to Michelin in Melvindale, Mich. A second Michelin manufacturing plant was purchased in 2017 in Pemberville, Ohio.
Today, Shrader Tire and Oil continues to utilize Michelin Retread Technology at those two locations, producing hundreds of thousands of retreads.
“We are proud to have been in business for 76 years and we are committed to manufacturing only the best retreads for our customers.”
Shrader Tire & Oil is the premier tire and lubricant distributor in the Midwest. With locations in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana, Shrader Tire and Oil has 14 truck tire and fleet service centers, two state-of-the-art Michelin retread plants, 4 bulk lubricant operations and a 24-hour emergency road service network.
Michelin achieved a notable accomplishment in the 2024 U.S. Original Equipment Tire Customer Satisfaction Study by winning its 100th, 101st, and 102nd J.D. Power Awards.
Michelin achieved top scores for Luxury, Passenger Car, and Performance Sport Vehicles in Original Equipment Tire Customer Satisfaction for 2024. This accomplishment showcases Michelin’s dedication to providing top-notch tire quality and performance, as shown by responses from drivers throughout the United States.
Shrader Tire and Oil is proud to have been associated with Michelin for more than 60 years.
Alexis Garcin, President and CEO of Michelin, commended the tire company’s achievements, crediting the hard work of their employees in developing, constructing, and supplying tires.
The research, which gathered responses from more than 31,000 vehicle owners, evaluated contentment across four main categories: tire longevity, tire ride quality, tire aesthetics, and tire grip/handling. Michelin’s ongoing triumph showcases its lasting dedication to customer contentment and tire quality.
Today, with 14 truck tire and fleet service centers, two state-of-the-art Michelin retread plants, and four bulk lubricant operations larger than ever, Shrader Tire & Oil is the premier tire and lubricant distributor in the Midwest.
By aligning ourselves with Chevron & Michelin, Shrader brings value to our customers for less. In addition to providing the highest quality products in the industry, Shrader offers the best service in the region. Our knowledge and expertise go well beyond our product lines. We strive to create loyal partnerships with our customers while providing measurable solutions for lowering operating costs through our high-performance products and extreme customer service.
For more than 75 years, Shrader Tire and Oil has been Keeping the Transportation Industry Rolling and Safe!
Congratulations are in order for our very own MRT II plant – located in Pemberville, Ohio – after Michelin gave high marks to the retread facility in its annual audit.
“My team deserves all the credit,” said MRT II Manager John Taylor. “They are a great team that cares about what goes to our customers. They’re a fun group to mentor and coach.”
Michelin annually does an audit of retread facilities. The scores given to MRT II for the recent audit include:
• 100 percent for Safety
• 99 percent for Process Quality Audit – The auditor goes post-to-post and interacts with the operators to ensure they can perform the functions by applying work methods and specifications correctly.
• 99 percent for Finished Product Quality Audit. The auditor chooses 20 random tires from the warehouse ready to go to the customer and brings them back into the plant, putting them through a rigorous inspection to ensure proper work methods were followed.
“A lot of hard work goes into ensuring we are producing at the highest quality retread level possible in the industry,” said Bob Watters, STO’s general manager of manufacturing. “Thank you to the MRT II team for exercising our STO vision to keep the transportation industry rolling and safe!”
An audit at MRT I will come later this spring.
TOLEDO, Ohio (April 22, 2023) – Today is Earth Day in the United States, but in the truck tire retread industry, we believe in celebrating the environment every day.
Recycling end-of-life tires is a major challenge for the tire industry and its customers. Around one billion tires reach the end of their useful lives each year. Recycling is part of a process that includes collecting end-of-life tires, sorting them, and giving them a new purpose. Around 65 percent of them are collected for some form of reuse, roughly 70 percent are recycled to recover their materials, and the remaining 30 percent are generally used for energy recovery.
Truck tire retreads deliver huge savings to fleet managers and owner/operators and have a massive impact on the environment.
With two retread facilities in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan, Shrader Tire and Oil is part of the recycling process.
It is estimated that nearly 300 million tires from cars and trucks are thrown away by Americans each year, but the use of retreads saves hundreds of millions of gallons of oil, and millions of tires continue a useful life rather than being consigned to a tire pile or landfill.
Simply put, retreading tires conserves oil. The synthetic rubber components in a new medium truck tire require about 22 gallons of oil, but it takes only seven gallons to retread that same tire.
Retreading truck tires in the U.S. reduces carbon emissions by 396,000 tons, or 70 percent annually. Finally, nearly 40 pounds of raw material including rubber, steel and carbon black is saved for every retreaded tire manufactured.
Shrader Tire & Oil is the premier tire and lubricant distributor in the Midwest. With locations in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana, Shrader has 15 truck tire and fleet service centers, two state-of-the-art Michelin retread plants, a bulk lubricant operation and a 24-hour emergency road service network.
As a certified Michelin Retreader, Shrader Tire & Oil recently earned the highest audit scores in the industry.
With our nine-step manufacturing process, we ensure efficient and quality results. Our retreads are held to the highest standard and are inspected thoroughly – both digitally and by hand. To support our claims, all of our retreads are backed by a warranty.
Shrader Tire and Oil was a big winner at a recent Michelin awards banquet, winning multiple awards after the annual audit.
“STO made an extremely big splash,” said General Manager of Manufacturing and MDC Distribution Bob Watters. “By earning such high scores, both of the Shrader Tire and Oil plants exhibited our commitment to continuous improvement.”
MRT I, located in Melvindale, Mich., received a 100 percent Audit Safety Score. MRT II, located in Pemberville, Ohio, received a quality audit score of 98 percent.
Here’s a breakdown of the awards:
MELVINDALE BEST OF BEST ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS:
100% Audit Safety Score
Process Quality Audit Score – 98%
Finished Product Quality Score – 98%
Process Quality Audit/Finished Product Quality Audit 2021/2022 – 98%
PEMBERVILLE BEST OF BEST ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS:
Process Quality Audit Score – 98%
Finished Product Quality Score – 98%
Process Quality Audit/Finished Product • Quality Audit 2021/2022 – 98%
Process Quality Audit/Finished Product 2022 – 98%
Contact Shrader Tire & Oil today at 800-859-6589 and ask about our retreads. You will be glad you did!
