Rimstock winter wheels initiative “a success”

Rimstock introduced a range of Team Dynamics winter alloy wheels for the first time this season. The company has been impressed with the results, labelling the new initiative “a success” despite a mostly quite mild 2012-13 winter season. The company said it is “looking to expand the programme further for 2013”, with “two large OE marques” interested in adopting a winter programme. The programme works similarly to the trend of storing summer tyres in “tyre hotels” over winter widely used in Europe, but with take-up in the UK only occurring over the last few winters. Rimstock believes it is becoming attractive with the trying grip conditions and poor road maintenance of Britain’s winter roads, to protect original equipment wheels when temperatures drop.

Rimstock’s Team Dynamics range of alloy wheels introduced a range of alloy wheel and tyre packages specifically developed for the British winter. While the benefits of winter rubber are at least acknowledged by those who work in the trade, motorists are less familiar with the benefits of using a winter alloy wheel. Firstly Rimstock explains that the cost of replacement OE wheels makes it desirable to protect them against kerb damage and attack from the corrosive mix of salt and grit on British winter roads. It says Team Dynamics’ alloy wheels are clear coat lacquered to deliver the best possible paint protection in these conditions, while their much reduced cost versus the cost of replacing an OE wheel makes a good economic argument for buying two sets of wheels.  

Seeking to add value to this proposition, Rimstock introduced another first for the UK market: a wheel specific “hotel and spa”. When buying new winter wheels in this package, Rimstock offered to fully refurbish to OE standards drivers’ “summer” wheels. This refurbishment takes place at its alloy wheel manufacturing plant in the West Midlands using CNC machining centres and its pre-treatment and paint facility. The wheels are then held in Rimstock’s warehousing facility and are fully tracked and traced via barcode ready to be exchanged once winter is over. The winter wheels are then subject – if necessary – to the same treatment or cleaned, checked and stored until winter comes round again. 

Darryl McNey, Rimstock sales director commented: “This is a first for the UK market and a trend we expect to see grow in the future, hence developing a robust range of offerings that our customers can use during the winter months.”

Rimstock has introduced several new wheels to its 2013 portfolio, including wheels such as Balmoral targeted at prestige vehicles with as the names suggest a hint of Britishness about them, deep concave stagger fit on the Silverstone for performance car owners and the new Eagle for the Smart car. It has also invested in its forged wheel production programme, developing what it calls “one of the largest forging plants in Europe at a cost of over £3 million”.