LAS VEGAS – Every tire leaks air. But when drivers are counting on really big tires to get really big loads across long distances, that leak can be anywhere from a major inconvenience to a catastrophe.
Monster Seal of Los Gatos, Calif., has a 40-plus-year history of sealing tires on everything from off-road racer vehicles, to heavy duty trucks and even Bobcat skid-steer loaders. Monster Seal’s Bill Martin said the company even has its own high-speed, off-road race car, and that vehicle is pulled on a trailer by a Class A Providence motorhome.
It was by using that motorhome that the company realized there was a whole untapped market of large, high-pressure tires out there waiting to be protected.
The tire sealant is available to dealers in 5-gallon buckets and 55-gallon drums. There is a hand pump that can be used to inject the product into the tires, but Monster Seal also provides a powerful pneumatic injection pump and air inflation system that can inject the sealant into trailer and motorhome tires with more than 100 PSI of air in two minutes.
“Once it goes into the tire, it sits in the bottom, but as the tire rotates the first time, it coats the inside of the tire,” Martin said during a recent interview at the RV Dealers Association Convention/Expo. “It has an adhesion agent built into it, so once it coats the tire, it holds in place. So, it doesn’t migrate to the bottom of the tire when the RV is parked in one place for months at a time. Also, the sealant never dries up – in the container or the tire.”
Bobcat, a leading manufacturer of skid-steer loaders, has put its brand name on a version of the Monster Seal product for more than 30 years.
Martin said the city of Los Gatos, Calif., approached Monster Seal after having a rash of flat tires on its street sweepers. The city was getting an average of one flat per week. The city signed a deal with Monster Seal, and after 20 years there have been only two flats in their street sweeper tires, according to Martin.
Martin said for RV dealers, Monster Seal can be sold through the F&I department on new and used RVs. The product also can be sold to existing customers through the service department.
Monster Seal offers a 3-year, 5-year and 7-year limited warranty with its products backed by Fortegra, an insurance carrier. The warranty includes tire and wheel repair or replacement as well as road service and includes tires on tow vehicles, even if the tires do not include the sealant.
Dealers are provided with collateral material as well as the tools to use the product, Martin said.
Three costs of component are the sealant cost, the warranty cost and labor cost, offering dealers solid profit margins, he said.
For more information, visit www.monstersealrv.com.