Wheel Alignment
Absolute Alignment has officially opened its new head office located in Aldershot, Hampshire. The bespoke headquarters features a training area including a two-post lift, a dedicated build area – to calibrate and test equipment before dispatch and delivery, a main office area and a storage area.
TyreWatch has recently expanded its tyre management platform with AutoAlign, continuously monitoring for wheel misalignment, an issue it estimates affects a third of UK commercial vehicles, and VanSmart, a specific system for light commercial vehicles. With the new systems, TyreWatch has expanded its service offering further around the transport industry as it strives to balance commercial considerations with safety, compliance and ecological green initiatives. It says they enable fleet managers across all commercial sectors to reduce running costs and increase safety while limiting the environmental impact of their operation.
One of the UK’s leading independent vehicle repair groups, Motofix has extended its four-wheel alignment capabilities with a new Hunter wheel aligner, supplied and installed by UK distributor Pro-Align. The Towcester firm recently completed the latest installation at one of Motofix’s repair facilities in Northampton, allowing customers to access premium four-wheel alignment.
SharkEye introduced three new wheel aligners in June – the BigEye, the Husky and the Ibex.
Pitched as “the ultimate in car and LCV laser wheel alignment”, the BigEye takes its cue from the company’s Zubra Truck multi-axle aligner, which is designed to enable precise interaxle alignment. According to SharkEye representatives, the BigEye is the only laser aligner on the global market that offers its “unique and simple way of completely aligning a vehicle’s axles”. The machine can also be used as a standard four-wheel laser aligner and, just like all SharkEye products, is handmade in Sheffield, England.
Vehicle technicians studying at Stratford-upon-Avon College can now learn wheel alignment analysis and adjustments on all types of cars and vans using Hunter wheel alignment equipment. The opportunity follows the recent addition of wheel-balancing and wheel-alignment equipment from supplier Pro-Align.
Commercial vehicle tyre management system supplier TyreWatch will unveil two new products at this year’s ITTHub transport show. The company says the new additions will cut costs, improve safety and lower carbon emissions for operators across all commercial vehicle sectors. AutoAlign is a dynamic vehicle monitoring system designed to combat the widespread problem of wheel misalignment. TyreWatch says around a third of fleets suffer from misalignment unknowingly. The system will be rolled out in the UK in September 2021. Also due to be launched at the ITTHub show is a new version of the widely used TyreWatch VanSmart tyre monitoring system which, says the company, will improve safety and reduce running costs for light commercial vehicle operators.
Using the market proven TyreWatch ‘connected technology’ platform, AutoAlign continuously monitors each vehicle and detects any wheel alignment issue as soon as it occurs and automatically notifies the operator so that immediate corrective action can be taken.
Cris Services Group, the Purfleet-based concrete haulier and commercial repairs specialist, has reduced workshop costs, extended tyre life and cut vehicle downtime since acquiring a Josam wheel alignment system and portable heat inductor from AES UK. With 40 vehicles carrying wet cement for Hanson UK and a mixed fleet of concrete mixer trucks for hire, Cris Services were keen to improve workshop efficiency and to drive down operation costs such as tyre replacement and fuel.
Autodata has launched a version of its e-commerce website in the Romanian language. Autodata is an e-commerce technical solution for body shops around the world. In addition to the platform, it is also available as an API, and provides comprehensive Original Equipment (OE) sourced technical information for the service, maintenance, diagnostics, and repair of 90 per cent of vehicles on the road in Romania.
TyreWatch, the tyre monitoring technology company, is using the latest JOSAM Cam-aligner wheel alignment system to diagnose and correct mis-aligned vehicles which the company says, represent 33 per cent of the UK logistics industry.
Supplied by JOSAM’s UK distributor Automotive Equipment Solutions UK (AES UK) the JOSAM Cam-aligner is a compact, mobile system which uses patented camera technology together with the ‘centreline principle’ to determine the position of axles and individual wheels in relation to the square of the vehicle.
Absolute Alignment is preparing for the continued impacts of the pandemic and Brexit by increasing stock in order to ensure customers have an uninterrupted service despite the uncertainties ahead.
The Farnborough-based outfit has doubled again its amount of storage space for stock, employed further members of staff, and is preparing for Brexit by increasing the number of wheel aligners that will be readily available to customers in early 2021. Despite the pandemic, the demand for its wheel alignment equipment is higher than ever, making 2020 a record year for the company.
Garage equipment brand Cemb has launched the Argos Drivethru, which the company says “detects in a few seconds all the incoming vehicles that show anomalies and need adjustments”. Argos Drivethru features a complete wheel alignment check, including partial Toe and steering wheel angle.
The development of modern car technology has accelerated as fast as ever before and manufacturers producing the systems that allow workshops to service these vehicles effectively have also developed at a fast rate. In some cases, the development has been a technological necessity needed to keep pace with vehicle development, but in other cases, the development is driven by the vision to provide a better, more efficient servicing solution.
It isn’t news to say that the tyre and autocentre sector is becoming an increasingly technological business. However, two recent trends confirm the need for garages to be properly equipped – increasing electric vehicle take-up and, in the short term, booming MOT demand.
This article, including a chart to support the analysis, appears in full in the November edition of Tyres & Accessories magazine. Not yet a subscriber? You can change that here.
Four wheel alignment equipment supplier, Absolute Alignment says its May sales have “matched pre-lockdown figures in March.” The company has adapted its work practices to protect customers and staff and adhere to government pandemic guidelines. Social distancing measures are followed during every installation and each training session for workshop personnel. The business has also turned to online demonstrations.
Cemb has developed remote control app for its latest generation of 3D and CCD wheel alignment systems.
Absolute Alignment
SharkEye
Pro-Align
Autodata
AES
Absolute Alignment
Cemb
Pro Align
S. Hermann & F. Richter; Pixabay
Absolute Alignment