Inside the Tire Industry: Lessons from a 35+ Year Veteran
In this episode of Around the Bead, Steve Fossum, a tire industry veteran, shares his 35+ years of experience in agricultural, truck, and industrial tires. He discusses how tire technology and customer expectations have evolved, the challenges in forklift and specialty tires, and the growing role of AI and tire monitoring in equipment. Steve emphasizes the importance of product knowledge, passion, and solution-driven service in delivering value to customers and fleets.
🔧 Topics Covered:
Steve’s entry into the tire industry and first sales experience
Industrial tires, forklift solid tires, and A agricultural tires
Changes in tire technology: IF and VF tires, tread compounds, heat dissipation
Customer trends and education in tire selection
Autonomous and AI-driven agricultural equipment
Tire pressure monitoring systems and operational safety
Challenges in matching tires to applications
Favorite discontinued tires and classic tire models
The value of tire dealers as solution-driven advisors
Show Notes:
Episode: Inside the Tire Industry: Lessons from a 35+ Year Veteran
Host: Joseph, Big John, Steve Fossum,
Runtime: 30 minutes
Summary: The mics are back up on Around the Bead! Industry veteran Steve Fossum joins us to share his journey from his first day in the tire business back in 1988 to today’s world of AI-ready fleets and automated tire technology. Steve breaks down the evolution of tire technology, how IF/VF tires transformed agriculture, where forklift tires still need innovation, and how customer expectations have changed over the decades. He also reveals why passion and product knowledge remain the keys to success in the modern tire industry. Practical insights for dealers, fleets, farmers, and equipment operators -what’s changed, what hasn’t, and what’s next for the tire world.
What You'll Learn:
How tire technology has evolved over the last 30+ years and what improvements matter most for different applications
Key considerations for industrial, truck, and agricultural tires
Why customer education is crucial and common misconceptions about tire warranties
The future of tires in autonomous machinery and the importance of monitoring systems
Insights into delivering high-value, solution-oriented service to customers and fleets
Links:
Visit our website for full transcripts and resources
Subscribe to the podcast
Sign up for the newsletter
Transcript:
00:00:04
[music] Around the bead podcast, tire talk for trucking, [music] mining, agriculture, and more. Your [music] home for fleet solutions. Aiming to inform, pioneer, and entertain [music] the tire world in connected industries. Sponsored by East Bay Tire, keeping essential industries [music] moving forward. Mics are back up and so is Around the Bead podcast. I am Joe, your host, joined by my co-host Big John. And today we have Steve Fossum, veteran of the industry, giving us his perspective on tires, services, what's changed the last
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couple decades. Gentlemen, welcome. Are you ready to kick the tires? >> To kick it. Let's go. >> So, uh, Fossum, uh, tell us day one in the industry. When was it? What' you do? >> Uh, day one in the industry, uh, would have to be October 1st, um, believe it was 1988. I had just started with a, uh, new company. Um, they were a retail farm supply company and I sold everything from hand tools, power tools, pressure washers, um, firearms, uh, ammunition, irrigation supplies, and tires was a
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brand new field for me that I had never sold before. Uh, so that was a little challenging for me at first. Uh, but overall, I think it turned into a pretty good deal. >> I immediately feel like we've already gotten way too specialized. We should be selling guns, guns, safes, snack bars. I mean, why don't we diversify? >> Uh, you name it, I've probably sold it at one time or another. And working for the retail farm supply company, I used to hate it when the Teriy farm show
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would come around because all the farmers, it was a great show, but all my farmers who attended that would always see new things and my phone would light up for the next week. and it gave me so much work and business out of that. >> It it it was a handful. So >> So, uh, what was the first tire you sold? >> Um, I'd have to say, um, it was some medium truck tires. Um, going to a rancher down in Southern California. I remember he had called me and just asked for a 11R225. And, um, at that time I knew nothing
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about tires. I called the local wholesale uh location, told him I was looking for some Levr225s. And I can still remember that day, Bill. I could hear him uh you know, take a deep breath and he'd go, [snorts] "Steve, you need to ask him, is this steer or drive or trailer?" If it's a steer, what's the application? Is it over the road, off-road? and he went on and on and I learned an awful lot from Bill on that very first call, what to ask for. >> So, also noteworthy, I feel like we have
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less patience today and less knowledge than we did back then cuz that is a relatively nice way to respond to somebody who is asking for a product and is not familiar with what they what they need or what their customer needs. >> Sure. Even before I had started at Eastbay here, I remember the day that Tom Van Ormer uh called up to where I was currently working at the time and we chatted on the phone because I had known him at my pri prior place of employment and Tom said, "I'm looking for an
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11L-15." And I go, "Are you looking for an i1 or an F3?" And he said, "Man, I wish I could get our salesman to say that." >> Yeah. [laughter] So for me, um I guess I had a good training from Bill and Stan, uh the two guys at the wholesale operation and um things just took off from there. >> And and today you operate throughout Northern California and you're servicing commercial fleets, equipment dealers with all types of tires. Is that right? >> Yes. um everything from mag tires to
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industrial tires, passenger light truck, medium truck, specialty tires, all types of stuff now. And I've always known you as a customer first approach. I mean, what I've what I've seen you physically do to get a job done, to get a tire to a customer can't be stated on this podcast. I mean, it's just amazing. But from a specialty standpoint, do you have a passion behind any particular segment of tires or uh industry? >> Um, I have a passion pretty much for all tires. Um, I I I take a particular
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interest in industrial the forklift tires. Um, I did very little of that at my um uh last place of employment when I started at East Bay. It was the very first week. We weren't selling solids at the time, bands, cushions. Um Tom Van Ormer had actually taken a phone call for a solid. He put the customer on hold and turned to me and said, "You want to handle it, Steve?" And I was like, "Sure." And that was the takeoff of our solid forklift business. >> What do you What's your What's the uh
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the reason behind your passion for it? I mean, why forklift tires over anything else? Um because my background, if you don't know, is accounting and numbers have always been very easy to me. So when I first got into tires versus irrigation and um and even other things that I love doing, shooting, ammunition, all that kind of stuff, um it was it was just a number to me. And as I learned what those numbers meant, you know, then it uh grew from there. So >> that makes sense. So, [clears throat]
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uh, from that moment, that phone call to today, this is a good kind of segue. Uh, what have you seen change in tires? >> Uh, there's been all kinds of changes. Uh, aside from industrial, a is also a line that I've always loved to sell. Um, just probably because I worked um, you know, in some uh, ranches and farms and had to deal with the larger a tires. I've always enjoyed uh a tires and the changes that you see from 20 years ago to now is um if and VF technology uh higher load capacities, lower air
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pressures, you know, and there's all kinds of things that that benefits to the farmer. The lower air pressure, the larger footprint, the less soil compaction, better traction in the field, less slippage, better fuel economy, you know, all those kind of things. Could you point to one thing where your your operator, your user, uh your fleet owner is seeing better performance than they were 30 years ago? >> Um I say that with a little bit of asterisk. Sometimes I think people look at it as black and round, right? And uh
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what's really changed is still was black and round 30 years ago. Well, the technology, especially in the IF and VF technology, if you look at some of the old old Goodyear a tires, they were like iron. They would run forever. Um, as they've come out with newer, lighter sidewalls, better heat dissipation. Um, and then the different technologies for IF and VF for lower um, you know, air pressures. Um, now you're getting into more longer tread life. um some of the Michelins you deal with nowadays. It's incredible as
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uh to watch them wear. So >> So in in one say one sense you're saying there were a lot of tires 30 years ago that wore quite well. But you're saying even even today that those are being outlasted. >> Yes. Even by the newer tread compounds and stuff that they are using. Um the whole the industry as a whole is has had a lot of changes. I mean, if you talk about some of the original um you know, what I call the beast tires out there was the old Trellorg uh T459. >> I don't know if you're familiar with
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that, but when those came out, >> yes, when they first came out 30 35 to 40 years ago, >> uh they basically had an unlimited tread life warranty on them. >> Those and those were in like municipal applications like the mowers. Yeah. a lot of roadside mowers. That was a big part where they would sell them. And to try and push them, it was very hard because they were new at the time. People didn't know how they wore and they were very expensive tires. Other companies, Nokia and Alliance, have come
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out with their version of them. And the Alliance is the one that we sell, the 550 multi-use. It's not quite the same as the old Trellorg, but it's offered in a a range of sizes where the Trellborg is not. They have really cut that one down. I don't know if they even make the T459 that much anymore. And the the 550 and the 551 are both radials, right? >> Yes. Uhhuh. Yeah. >> 459's been officially discontinued. >> Has it now? >> I thought there were still a few sizes.
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I remember sitting in meetings in Sacramento asking if there was any way Trellorg would come out with more sizes. So >> I think I think I think I remember >> that phone call with Trellorg. >> Yeah, I think I remember hearing that. So, it it we have a segment on the show called Blast from the Past, favorite beads, a tire that uh you love or love that's no longer produced. Is the T459 it? >> Uh the T459 and the Aland would probably be it. If you're talking about medium
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truck, it was the old G159 and G167. One of the greatest duos ever. >> You two both share that. >> That was mine, too. >> Yeah, that was a great tire, a great combination. and didn't didn't depend on whether you're driving local or long distance. That tire just performed that was a great duo for a long long time. So >> So you're you're we bounced around a little bit for our audience who might some might be in a some might be in trucking material handling. Which
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segment of tires do you think has advanced the most? Is it truck tires? Is it forklift tires? Is it a tires? Lighting tires? I would have to say it would be more your um medium truck and a those have been the biggest developments. I think there's still room for improvement in the industrial side, but but yeah, with some of the new medium truck coming out and um yeah, watching the wear on those. Yeah, that's >> that surprises me. On the truck end, it makes a lot of sense. It's a huge
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market. 28 million replacement truck tires sold in the US every year. Um but uh on the a side that surprises me and also on the solid uh material handling end you would think there would be a lot of performance gains there. There's not a lot less SKUs, a lot less sizes. Um it's relatively consolidated big business. >> Yep. But I think there's still definitely room for improvement on that. So >> where does it need to improve? Um they've come out I mean some manufacturers have already come out with
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other compounds um that are better uh for heat dissipation more natural rubber um things like that but there the sizes that they offer are limited. It's not covering the whole range of sizes of the common forklift sizes that are out there. There needs to be more tires come out. there needs to be more of the um gray non-marking or white non-marking uh options available. So, >> what about the yellow or the green non-marking? >> Yeah. Well, that's really a a personal preference, I guess, if they want a
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particular color, but um white has been what it the majority of them in the past and the majority now is the gray nonmarking. Everyone's going to that. So, >> I do wish they would standardize it. >> I wish they would. I don't I don't think it gains anybody anything having a green or yellow non-marking. >> I would totally agree with you. >> Yeah. So, uh not much changes in in your viewpoint on the forklift tires. What about people? What about uh teams, customers? What have you seen change
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since 1988? Um, [cough and clears throat] for customers, I think it's maybe being a little more knowledgeable in what they're looking for or able to um, at least relate to you what they want. Um, sometimes you don't want a passenger light truck tire that's got an 80 or 100,000 mi warranty. That's been the problem with some of the manufacturers who have come out with these types of tires. they uh yeah could certainly probably run out to a 100,000 miles if you're putting the mileage on each year
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to need that. Um when I have a customer who tells me they want an 80,000 mi tire, my first question is how many miles do you drive a year? And they're typically 12, 15, maybe 20, and I said, "Well, in four or five years time, that tire is going to be dry rotted. The sidewalls are all going to be cracked and it's going to have 50% tread on it, and you're going to be throwing it away." Do >> you think that's because customers look at a mileage warranty as a a gauge for
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the quality of the tire? >> Uh, that could very well be. Yes. Um, and they think if it's got an 80,000 mi warranty, they're not going to have to change tires again for 6, eight years, maybe 10 years, and they don't realize the tires in the heat, especially out here on the West Coast. And if you get down towards Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, those tires are not going to last in the heat. So >> h applicationwise I'm sure you got some uh some memories there of some harsh applications. What comes to mind
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problems that you had to solve? >> Um can't think of anything particular right off hand aside from agg. Um, you get a lot of these newer tractors all coming with these narrow rowcrop tires where the IF andVF technology again are allowing them to uh uh perform the work that's required whether it's the discing or planting or um or whatever. So, they can carry the load, but a lot of farmers don't like those narrow little tires and so they're looking for more of a flotation. And so, um, I love working
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with them on those kind of applications where you've got to change rims possibly. You have, um, >> frontwheel assist tractors that you have to be concerned with the, um, gear ratio, front and rear, and keeping within tolerance, uh, your lead lag. Um, it's always a fun and a challenge to work with those, and I enjoy that. I really do. What's your perspective on VF versus LSWS versus tracks? I think they all have their application. Um, in terms of soil compaction, um, I don't
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know if the, uh, track is actually the best out there, the LSWS, um, with the, uh, super flotation tires that they're coming out with. Um, there's some huge advances there. >> Yeah. In terms of the IF and VF, um, most manufacturers now are pretty much going with the VF. The IF is already starting to phase out and the VF, the very high flexion tires. >> Those are the ones that most people are focusing on now. So, >> yeah, I I agree. I think they all all have their place. And we've had the uh
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Scott Sloan from Titan who heads up the LSWs on the show. Um we've got uh VF folks coming on to make their argument. Um but it goes to your point is there's been a lot of advances in a tires over the last 20 30 years. >> Yes, definitely a lot of advances. So there was uh one point just probably no more than four or five years ago when uh Alliance probably had more SKUs in the IF and VF than all the major brands combined at the time. >> Yeah. So they've certainly been a leader
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in that field and ev everyone's slowly catching up now at the at this point. So >> yeah, it's been a slow process of people getting on board on it, >> especially here on the West Coast. >> Yep. So you mentioned forklift tires not advancing as much. Uh what would you like to see from You'd like to see expansion of tire sizing. You'd like to see more non-marking, but performance-wise, what do what do customers need out there out of that tire? uh longer wear. Um a lot of uh uh
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companies now are not working just one shift per day, eight hours. Many times there's two and three shifts. So that forklift could be used for basically 24 hours a day. Yeah. >> Uh so they need a better um uh tire that will dissipate the heat better and not suffer from thermal failures. thermal failures is a lot of the times you'll see when the tires becoming unbonded from the band and it's just because the heat is building up in there, the rubber on the inside is liquefying and as it
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liquefies, it's got to come out somewhere and it comes out through the sidewall. So, >> you think adjustments uh warranty claims are highest in that segment compared to others? >> For me, yes, they are >> more than truck. >> Yeah, I would have to say so. I've got tires right now to look at down in San Francisco for Alaska Airlines. >> Yeah. >> So, >> and that's them running at the airport 24/7. >> Yes. >> High speed. >> High speed. And I don't know if it's the
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uh forklift manufacturer's fault or the salesman. Maybe they're selling larger forklifts to these customers and what they need. They're not carrying the loads on the front forks to counterbalance the weight on the rear. And so a lot of the weights being carried all the time by the steer tires in the rear and that's where I see the most of the failures. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. That's a tricky one. I mean the the equipment dealer is a huge huge component nowadays and I feel like
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there's a big gap in that uh process or really opportunity to put a tire on that fits the application that the equipment is being sold into. But instead that equipment just goes straight from the dealership into into the application and we don't find out till later that there's tire issue. >> Correct. >> Steve, I sit here and I'd listen to you break down different segments and and it's a testament to the knowledge and the passion that you put forth in every segment. Do you feel there's a
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difference in the value that gives the customer today versus say 15 years ago? Think customers value it differently? Yeah, I think u more of our customers are educated now and um are familiar with some of the problems uh that they've either seen in the past through their dad or granddad or whatever. And I think they're becoming more knowledgeable and are learning what to ask for. Um and and even to the equipment dealer when they're looking at a tractor, they're asking if those are
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the right tires for their application. >> Yeah. And equipment certainly has changed as well. There's there's [clears throat] that it's more expensive. I think you got customers looking at it going, "Hey, how do I operate this better uh based off its cost? It's no longer something that's uh lower price and last longer. You have to take better care of it." Yep. And a lot of the new things now on some of these newer tractors are the um um you know, GPS navigation. Uh pretty
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soon there's not even going to be an operator in a lot of these attractors, especially some that do the weed, you know, applications for um all controlled by AI, I guess it is. >> Now, now we're getting into an interesting topic. Okay, so if there's no operators, what does tire wear look like? And and how do you uh I I guess there's going to be sensors on board too that will notify low air pressure just like there is in your passenger and light trucks right now. They're going to have
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to uh we talk about it almost every show. I sw I swear everybody's like, "Where's the tire pressure solution? Where's the tire pressure solution?" Whoever comes up with it first is going to make a ton of money. That's for sure. Yeah. >> Um but it that's kind of a question is can you run driverless uh without tire pressure systems? I don't think you can without I think you have to have that in there and I think the technology is already out there. It's just has to be introduced uh
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more into the a line. I think it's coming and it's going to be here any day actually. >> Any day. >> Any day. I think it's going to be here a lot faster than we realize. I mean, even with the GPS navigations already, they pretty much have an operator in the cab. So, when they get to the end of the row, uh, they can turn it around and line it up and then they just hit the button for GPS and take their hands off the steering wheel and there they go. >> Yeah. So, I still think you have people
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sitting in there for a while because interconnecting those systems are so hard. I mean, we have Conti pressure systems now that you can run with Bluetooth, but I still see these AI uh uh I mean, I guess it could go twofold is that they got to interconnect the systems or they got to make the tires flatproof. But right now, those AI sprayers like a Gus or um uh uh they used to be uh named after a donkey, the little uh carts that go out in the proise fields. >> Um >> burrow or something.
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>> Burrow. Thank you. I think they might have changed names or but >> uh they have uh pneumatic tires on there. If that thing goes flat, it's still going to keep running. >> Are we pretty close to getting to the point where air pressure monitor systems are mandatory on all equipment on all tires? >> I think we are. Um I think the manufacturers are pushing for it. Um I think the customers definitely as we move in towards the AI are going to need it. I think it'll be required in there.
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>> I think they absolutely need it. You know what surprises me the most and you you know, you tell me how your customers feel about it. It's not always an easy sell to add a a pressure monitor system to a customer's fleet. >> Yeah. Because there's an expense, you know, budgets run pretty tight as it is. And so that's just another expense to throw on top that they're looking at. >> It has to come from an OE level. Yeah, >> I mean there's not the costbenefit
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analysis is is too is too big of a hurdle to say put in these CTIS systems that they have for tractors. Um or you buy the system and you have to be tied to that tire brand. It doesn't it doesn't make any sense to them. It's got to be at an OE level and then they've got to uh lease lease the equipment or spread out their payments uh to incur that additional expense. But you look at what OE makes on some of this stuff. um they're going to make 3 4 500% markup on a on a air pressure
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system. So what we look at is reasonable if we were we were selling it out there directly to an end user. It's going to be hugely expensive on the OE side. Doesn't matter what piece of equipment it is. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Very true. >> Have you done a service call uh not you you personally but uh on an AI uh uh operatorless piece of equipment yet? Not that I'm aware of. Not yet anyway. I'm sure it'll be coming though. So >> yeah, >> it's funny how things have changed
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though. I mean, [clears throat] e even 45, 50 years ago, I was sitting in tractors up in Oregon and I mean, even the swaththers that we had, I mean, we were moving 2, three, four miles an hour. Now you got swathers running 10, 12, 14, 15 even. >> Yeah. Yeah, it's amazing the change from sickles to rotary heads, new applications, laser leveled fields. It's uh it's fun and interesting both to watch the uh progress. >> Now, you used to used to work on a farm up north as a kid or what?
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>> Sure. >> Tell us about it. >> Well, it goes uh way back into about 197475. Um my mom was a single mom at the time. It was too much for her during the summer when the kids were out of school. So, she would ship us up to my uncle's ranch in uh Oregon. >> Yeah. >> The first ranch, a cattle ranch. Um I'm trying to remember exactly how many acres of hay we had, probably around 1,200 acres. It was a 40,000 acre ranch. Uh 20,000 owned and 20,000 leased from the BLM. Um it was an interesting life
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up there. And then we moved over to a smaller ranch um about a 6,000 acre ranch. And that's where I got into um first driving our old uh 1958 Chevy Apache pickup. >> Yeah. >> Moved from that to our brand new 1971 Ford F250 and then uh from there got to sit on the back of a rake to be drugged all over 300 plus acres of fields up in Oregon. uh graduated from that up to the balor from the bor to the swathther from the swathther to the herobed so I've driven them all >> that explains a little bit more of the
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passion behind a I always wanted to know >> oh okay and then from there to the cat dragging a big disc behind you discing fields >> how old were you when you were doing that >> I started when I was about 13 >> yeah and did that all the way up through uh 1920 and then moved back to California. So, >> so uh coming back to tires in in 1988, uh what would you tell your your former self? What would you tell a young man at 1988 in 1988 starting the tire business? >> Um
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>> some positive advice, Steve. [laughter] >> Pay pay attention. Uh learn your product. >> Yeah. I think if you learn your product and know about it, then I think you're more passionate and I think your passion comes through to the people that you deal with. Um, I've talked with some farmers out in the Dixon Davis area, Sacramento and stuff like that and, uh, just after the first time or two talking to them, uh, they can see your passion and they've turned to their foreman in
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the shops and said, "This is our tire guy. Call him." So, I'm like, >> "Thank you." So that advice you'd say hold hold hold hold hold hold hold hold hold hold hold hold hold hold hold hold hold hold hold hold hold holds true today >> absolutely yeah because if if you know what you're selling and uh you are passionate about it I think it will come through and it will benefit you tremendously and that passion will move on to other aspects of your life too
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>> yeah that's that's that's insightful >> absolutely >> well anything you'd like to see change in the tire industry over the next uh 10 years or so. >> Um nothing that I want to see aside from, you know, what we've already talked about on the industrial side. Um more applications, um um different tires for different specifics. But I'm excited to see where the changes are going to come, whether it's OE driven or um you know, or if it's something that's needed
00:28:12
out on the farms and the ranches or the highways of America. Yeah. Okay. Last one I got for you is what do you think our value is as a tire dealer, as a a tire advisor to customers, to fleets, to farms, to operations that use tires. What's our value? I think everything that uh we represent and bring to the table with the specialist in each field whether it's otr whether it's a mechanical services whether it's uh industrial the specialists that we have now if we don't have an answer then we have someone
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inhouse that typically can provide the answer to us and if we can't do it inhouse then we can reach out to the manufacturers but 99% of the time I think we can handle everything in house right now. >> Solution driven. >> Solution driven. >> Yeah. >> I like it. >> I love it. >> Yeah. >> All right, Steve. Any last words for our crew out there? >> No, just excited to be here and see how things progress and looking forward to the future. >> I love it. Thank you, Steve. Appreciate
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it. >> Thank you. >> [music] >> Around the bead podcast, tire talk for trucking, mining, agriculture, and more. Your [music] home for fleet solutions. Aiming to inform, pioneer, [music] and entertain the tire world in connected industries. Sponsored by East Bay Tire, keeping essential industries [music] moving forward.
