PUTTING A CAP ON FLYING WHEELS
SIMPLE PLASTIC DEVICE PROVIDES EARLY WARNING AT A GLANCE

There are few sights more chilling than a 200 kg truck wheel bounding towards you on a crowded highway. In a split second your life and the lives of those close to you can be smashed irreparably.

Even with tough new road safety legislation on the books, millions of motorist on Ontario roads are now better protected than ever from this prospect, thanks to a little item that would become to the trucking industry what the paper clip is to the business world.

Technically, it's known as a loose wheel nut indicator.

Realistically, it's a lifesaver and should go a long way in helping to repair the tarnished image of the trucking industry.

There have been more than 150 incidents of runaway truck wheels in Ontario since 1995. Five people have been killed by stray wheels in the Greater Toronto Area during that period.
Truck wheel detachment is a worrisome issue for us all, but the Vice President of Public Relations for Wheel-Check thinks the company has “come up with a way to put a stop to it.”
In less than two months, the Oakville based company has sold over 1.2 million of the loose wheel nut indicators – a colourful, flat, washer-like piece that fits over a properly torqued truck wheel-nut.

Elongated at one end, Wheel-Checks are fitted to each wheel nut with all tips aligned in a preset pattern. If a wheel nut loosens and backs off, or a wheel stud snaps, the bright yellow indicator slips out of its aligned position and instantly pinpoints the potential trouble spot.

An added benefit arises from the product's sensitivity to heat, which allows the driver to visually detect a binding brake or seized bearing, alerted by the Wheel-Check distorting.
Domenic Nesci, President of Truck Equipment & Service Co. Ltd. in Scarborough, Ontario, says "I'm convinced Wheel-Check will work and save lives. I have yet to have a negative response."

Nesci already supplies such companies as Mackie Transport, Molson Breweries, Movers International, Petro Canada and Proshred Security and reports that Go Transit and Consumer Gas are taking a close look at the advantages Wheel-Check offers.

It's hard to imagine a trucking or transport operation, fleet or independent, failing to see the upside. According to Nesci, Wheel-Checks retail for a little over a dollar each, in small quantities.

Equipping a typical tandem tractor/trailer rig requires about 100 units. Match that $100 cost against the automatic, no-excuses, absolute-guilt $50,000 penalty that Ontario now assesses against truck operators who lose a wheel and it looks like chump change by comparison.

Even with excellent in-house maintenance programs, focusing on daily wheel checks, the indicators visibly demonstrate a company's commitment to vehicle road worthiness and safety.

Bill McLauchlan is a freelance auto writer based in Greenwood, Ontario
For more information about Wheel-Checks, call 888-829-1556
For further information: Bob Evans, 1 800 530 9945 or 1 613 860 0529.