Michelin Pressure Check Campaign Visits Stoke

Despite particularly heavy downpours, this month Michelin staff have been giving members of the public free tyre pressure checks – all part of the company’s “Fill up with Air” campaign. The tour (which is being run in parallel across Europe) is designed to communicate messages warning of the dangers and expense that come with underinflated tyres. The plan is to reach out to consumers at high footfall sites, such as: Eurotunnel; Tesco and Asda branches; and Total Fitness gyms. In addition the tyre pressure roadshow will visit Michelin’s Ballymena truck tyre production plant in Ballymena Northern Ireland.

The roadshow works like this: After queuing for a short time, Michelin experts check the correct pressures needed, before each tyre’s pressure is compared with the manufacturer’s recommendation. Staff also give tyre a quick a visual condition and tread depth assessment. If the tyres appear to near the legal limit for tread depth this is measured accurately. In the event that a tyre has, for example, 2mm of tread remaining and the driver is advised to keep an eye on this as they are approaching the legal limit. In the event that a tyre is punctured or damaged, this is marked up and the customer advised as to the best course of action.

Visitors to ‘Fill up with Air’ are given their very own glove box guide to tyre care, which includes a tyre checklist and information on tyre pressure and tread depth inspection. In addition Michelin is giving away Michelin branded tread gauges and Act on CO2 liveried tax disc holders.

Following on from its 2007 campaign, the latest “Fill up with Air” roadshow kicked off at the beginning of July. Last year the Eurotunnel leg of a similar Michelin event concluded that 83 per cent of vehicles checked by the technicians had under-inflated tyres and a staggering 63 per cent were dangerously under-inflated. Last year Michelin gave away roughly 2500 free pressure checks. This year, with more dates planned on the calendar, the company is aiming to increase this to around 3000.