Wheel Balancing Equipment/Weights
After a winter of discontent in 2017/18, potholes still blight the UK’s roads and causing numerous problems for wheels and tyres alike. Not only can they cause damage to the internal structure of the tyre – wheel rims can also suffer damage too, resulting in imbalance and vibration issues for the driver.
UK-based Trax JH Ltd, Europe’s second largest wheel weight manufacturer, has won the contract to supply all General Motors (Vauxhall/Opel) Europe plants with steel adhesive balance weights. The new steel adhesive weights will be supplied to car manufacturing plants in Germany, Spain, UK and Poland. Adhesive balance weights now comprise some 80 per cent of the value of all weights purchased by General Motors Europe.
According to the Department for Transport, road deaths and serious injuries were four per cent higher in the year ending June 2014 than in the prior 12 months, with a total of 24,580 casualties reported in the period. Reflecting on the contribution unsafe vehicles made to these sobering figures, Tyre Bay Direct has urged motorists to realise the importance of wheel balancers and the role they play in keeping British roads safe.
Wegmann Automotive has introduced adhesive rolls into its Hoffmann Power Weight portfolio. These multifunctional rolls for use on alloy wheels are available in three different types, with each variant available in both silver and black. Both zinc rolls, types 356 and 357, feature an optimised shape that is said to make the product easy to form and separate. All types are equipped with Hofmann Power Weight’s Speedline tape, which enables detachment of weights affixed to a rim without leaving traces, and the manufacturer says the original equipment quality premium powder coating on all rolls protects against corrosion.
UK Hunter wheel alignment and balancing equipment supplier Pro-Align has expanded its operation in the Republic of Ireland. Pro-Align says it will support the growth of the American brand in the country with a newly created team of dedicated service and sales personnel operating under the name Pro-Align Ireland. Experienced Pro-Align UK sales executive Miles Ross will lead the team in Ireland, offering a high level of expertise to businesses considering Hunter upgrades to their wheel servicing operations.
Messe Essen announced the Reifen 2014 award winners on the evening before the show opened, with Yokohama taking the coveted Innovation Award in the Technology and Products category. The Japanese manufacturer presented its process for the visual representation of the aerodynamic and acoustic rolling behaviour of tyres to the jury, using the Japanese space authority, JAXA’s supercomputer from space research to show that the noise level of a rolling car tyre also depends on flow structures in front of the tyre, which are subjected to a compression effect.
Minnesota governor Mark Dayton has signed the state’s lead and mercury wheel weights bill into law on 16 May, Tire Review reports. The legislation was presented in March of this year to both the state’s Senate and House. The new law includes a ban on the installation, sale and distribution of lead and mercury based […]
Snap-on has opened a new training school at its King’s Lynn headquarters for its Snap-on, Hofmann, Sun and John Bean brands. The new facility includes a dedicated classroom and a fully functioning workshop, giving attendees full access and the chance to get ‘hands on’ with the manufacturer’s latest diagnostic technology and garage equipment. Covering around 250 square metres, the workshop features a MOT Automated Test Lane (ATL) bay, high definition 3D wheel alignment, a number of tyre changers and wheel balancers, as well as air conditioning service units, and the full portfolio of Snap-on diagnostic tools.
Pro-Align has launched a new online Support Zone for technicians and workshop owners. The distributor of Hunter wheel alignment systems, balancers and changers says the site will give easier and greater access to support materials, including answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about Pro-Align. The Support Zone is available at www.pro-align.co.uk. “In […]
Hofmann Power Weight has released a new black coloured knock-on weight 161. The company says the weight is a tried and tested top-seller, but the new addition of black powder coating means the zinc weight appears almost invisible when fitted. It adds that the weight’s “premium coating” gives the weight “optimum corrosion resistance”.
Corghi’s Artiglio Master Code, released half a century after the company first introduced the automatic changer, remains the Italian manufacturer’s flagship light tyre changer. The Master Code utilises ‘leva la leva’, or leverless technology – which Corghi also pioneered a dozen years ago – and features automatic wheel dimension acquisition, enabling automatic tool positioning, and the Smart Corghi System demounting procedure; with these functions, opines the Nexion s.p.a company, the Master Code “rewrites the rule book for tyre changers.”
A key piece of equipment demonstrated at Pro-Align’s recent ‘Service Vision’ events held across the country was the newly-introduced Hunter Road Force ‘Touch’ balancer. This new unit includes unique features that allow it to measure road force variation and load force measurement, and Pro-Align believes it is set to transform wheel balancing. This potential was well demonstrated in September; despite being launched only a matter of weeks ago, the new system has already claimed its first international accolade – it was awarded the prestigious Innovation award at the Automechanika show in Germany.
The team at Rema Tip Top Automotive say they’re just a little bit excited by the new Probalance NG (Next Generation), which the company launched in the UK at October’s Brityrex 2012 show. Pre-orders for the unit are described as “astounding”, and the team of engineers at Rema Tip Top believe this to be the most technologically advanced machine of its type.
During the recent Automechanika show, Bosch’s Automotive Aftermarket division displayed its latest tyre workshop products, including two new balancers, the WBE 4200 and 4400. With these new additions, the Bosch tyre services range has expanded to include equipment for balancing car, motorcycle, and van wheels.
Following the launch of Hofmann Power Weight’s type 380 adhesive weight fitted with the new Speedliner strip in June, the company has taken the decision that all HPW adhesive weights will now carry this patented adhesive strip.
