GREENVILLE, S.C. — Liberty University is outfitting its fleet of maintenance vehicles with MICHELIN X TWEEL airless radial tires, becoming the first known “Tweel-only” campus in the United States.
The Christian academic community in Lynchburg, Va., is home to more than 15,000 student residents. To maintain its 7,000-acre campus, the university uses about 75 utility vehicles and golf carts and 25 zero-turn mowers for landscape and grounds maintenance, snow removal, security patrol, garbage and recycling, athletic field maintenance, student and guest transport, as well as other tasks.
“Liberty University keeps very detailed records of its vehicle maintenance and looks at the cost of operation long term,” said Kallie Golicher, Michelin B2B territory business manager. “It was important for the university to find a long-term cost-effective solution for its vehicle tire-maintenance program.” “Michelin provided tread wear reports to us, comparing our first Michelin airless tires to the bias tires we had been using,” said Chris Bettez, Liberty’s transportation shop foreman. “When the university factored in flat repairs and life expectancy of bias-ply pneumatic tires compared with MICHELIN X TWEELS, the Tweels were hands-down the better value. This move will reduce vehicle maintenance requirements and the long-term cost of operation.”