Wheels
Toyo Tire USA has introduced the Toyo Proxes 1, a new max performance UHP tyre, reports Tire Review. Toyo said the new tyre is its “most technologically advanced" and was heralded as the company’s new flagship line.
Kwik-Fit has promised to direct an additional million pounds into staff training and double its mystery shopper programme after the BBC One show ‘Watchdog’ aired both its own experience with the fast fit chain and those of several unsatisfied customers. The September 16 edition of Watchdog outlined cases in which Kwik-Fit quoted for repair work that wasn’t required and performed vehicle inspections that didn’t deliver all that was promised.
Michelin has become the 50th ‘business champion’ to join government-backed Driving for Better Business campaign. In doing so, the company has committed to help promote at-work driving safety initiatives to other public and private sector fleets. The tyre maker’s involvement with the campaign comes after reducing its road crash rate by more than 50 per cent in the last five years and adopting a target of zero incidents. Michelin says improving safety has helped reduce accident damage costs by 46%. It has also seen significant savings on indirect costs, such as vehicle hire and driver time.
Ayce Systems has confirmed that the company will have two stand spaces at next month’s Brityrex International Exhibition in Manchester. The Yorkshire-based firm reports that it will be displaying a comprehensive range of wheel refurbishment products including the Wheelrite Pro and the flexible Wheelrite Combi machines on a 33 square metre stand, as well as having their LWB Mercedes Sprinter demonstration van on another stand alongside.
Products on-show are set to include the Wheelrite Pro, which reportedly incorporates “everything needed to repair and re polish kerbed scratched and corroded alloy wheels”, whilst the dual purpose Wheelrite Combi brings together, for the first time tyre fitting and alloy wheel refurbishment. Other products on show will be an Hydraulic Wheel Straightening machine, the Wheelrite Pro Spray Booth and a Dust Extractor unit.
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A new addition to the range of conventional sensors offered by Pro-Align is intended to offer garages even quicker wheel alignment measurements. As Pro-Align explains, unlike many conventional sensors, its new DSP700 series sensors allow users to carry out ‘rolling compensation,’ making the measurement process much quicker and easier than the traditional jacking compensation method. The wheel alignment specialist estimates that measurement times can be reduced by as much as 60 per cent.
October’s Brityrex International ‘10 show in Manchester is a sell-out, with all exhibitor stands taken, according to organisers ECI International. The news follows a run of late confirmations including: SD International, Gripen Wheels, Marix UK; Ayce Systems and aircon supplier Autoclimate. Market analysts Encircle Marketing, tyre education operation TEFORS, Banner Batteries, Strongman Tools and Straightset are also said to be on board.
September’s issue of Fast Ford magazine carries reports on two performance tests – how different tyre pressure settings affect a car’s handling characteristics and the performance benefits that can be gained from fitting lightweight alloy wheels – both of which were conducted using the Maxxis MA-Z1 tyre. “Fast Ford is the UK’s top Ford tuning magazine and is highly influential in reaching an important performance enthusiast audience, so we are delighted with the magazine’s very positive feedback on the MA-Z1 from these two important tests,” says Maxxis International UK’s managing director Derek McMartin.
From 2012 European legislation dictates that all new cars will be fitted with tyre pressure monitoring systems (TPMS). With many modern vehicles already being fitted with them and the pressure watching technology due to become mandatory Tyres & Accessories has researched and compiled the latest information on the subject in order to answer the question: how will TPMS change the tyre retail business?
To start off with, there certainly appears to be a need for it. The 2008 Annual Tyre Pressure Review undertaken by Kwik-Fit found just over 46 per cent of cars tested had at least one tyre underinflated. Scaled up to represent the current level of UK registrations, this means that a staggering 12.46 million cars could be running on the roads like this, using £1.5 billion pounds of extra fuel and creating literally thousands of extra tons of carbon emissions. That 30 per cent extra tyre wear also means that an unnecessary 108,000 tyres each year have to be manufactured and disposed of too.
The rising cost of steel will result in extra demand for forged aluminium wheels according to Motor Wheel Service (MWS) managing director, John Ellis. Over the last 12 months the price of steel billet has risen from $395 to $475 per tonne, rising as high as $600 per tonne in April 2010, and both the OEM industry and tyre manufacturers have been warned to expect price rises of up to 20 per cent for steel wheels come 1 September 2010. The company believes that when the increase takes effect, the difference between the cost of a steel and a forged aluminium wheel will be at an all time low, making the lighter and traditionally more expensive products a far more attractive proposition for commercial vehicle operators.
Accuride Corporation has negotiated a new collective bargaining agreement with the unions representing 215 workers at the company’s aluminium wheel manufacturing facility in the US state of Pennsylvania. The existing agreement representatives with the International Union, United Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America was set to expire at midnight September 3, 2010. The new agreement for the Erie plant is effective September 4, 2010, through September 3, 2014.
The UK garage and workshop equipment market is a highly competitive one, and Gaither Tools is developing a name for itself through the range it offers. Recently the company launched another product in the UK – the O Liner. This Gaither patented tool has been specifically designed to make it even easier to line up wheel studs with rim holes, thereby minimising installation time. When combined with Gaither’s existing Wheel Dolly, this new product makes positioning a wheel back onto a hub an even safer and straightforward procedure. Gaither reports that O Liner effectively reduces the risk of injury when dealing with heavy tyres and rims.
Following the second Maxxis Rewards quarterly prize draw of 2010, 13 tyre retailers have each won either M&S or High Street vouchers to the value of £250. All Tyres Fitted, Craven Arms Tyre Services, Easy Car Care, Farmer Autocare, George Fegan Tyres, JR Motors Ltd, NL Autos, Northwich Tyre and Autocare, Quick Fix, Roper’s Farnborough Ltd, Sutton Service Centre Ltd, W W Wheels & Tyres and G Williamson (Garages) Ltd were all winners in the quarterly prize draw. Entries into the draw were based on their purchases of Maxxis car, van and 4×4 tyres and the winners were presented with their prizes by their local Grouptyre member.
Alcoa is increasing its investment in a partnership it operates with Saudi Arabian mining company Ma’aden. The cooperation is focussed on the development of “the largest, most efficient vertically integrated aluminium complex in the world,” according to the two companies.
Buying tyres was originally an exclusively face-to-face experience. But it didn’t take long for the role of the telephone to become an integral part of consumer tyre buying research. The latest technological step forward saw the Internet become a sales channel in and of itself, not to mention a vital tool for wholesalers with the right business-to-business e-commerce systems. Now with some sources putting online tyre market share just shy of double figures, could the fast-growing mobile Internet market driven by the latest generations such as the Apple iPhone represent another new sales and marketing territory for tyre companies?
With mobile phone technology accelerating at a rate of knots, and following the recent high profile launch of Apple’s iPhone 4, Tyres & Accessories took the opportunity to survey the two leading online application markets for a glimpse into the future of online tyre selling. Apple’s App Store and its only real competitor, Google’s Android Marketplace boasts tens of thousands a quarter of a million applications between them. These small pieces of software offer users handy utilities, games and – crucially for this market – shortcuts to news, information and shopping services. Well-known online auction site, a system that has been used to market significant numbers of tyres and wheels for years now, has been offering both iPhone and Android versions of shopping platform for sometime now, allowing uses to bid on the move, however so far there have not been too many moves in this market from tyre companies. That said, some of the biggest players in the tyre industry have got in on the act with their own mobile phone applications and here is a brief look at some of the best available today.
Giti Tire USA certainly made a lasting impression with its very first product demonstration event in North America – blistering track speeds on a blistering hot day in Arizona, reports Tire Review. The company unveiled its new Champiro HPY ultra-high performance line at Firebird International Raceway, where air temperatures hovered around 106˚F and track asphalt temps were measured at 160˚F-plus. And based on the response of dealers and media attending the event and putting the new radial through its paces, the Champiro HPY lived up to its billing. Even after three lengthy road course driving sessions, the HPYs on a collection of BMW and Mercedes models showed no ill effects and none of edge feathering one would expect under such extreme conditions.
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