Formula One Autocentres offers 4-wheel alignment with Hunter
Formula One Autocentres has announced that it is offering four wheel alignment service, using leading alignment machinery brand Hunter’s products, supplied by their UK distributor Pro-Align, at 13 of its branches, based mainly in the Midlands and the South of England. F1 Autocentres says it uses “world-leading Hunter garage alignment equipment” because they offer “accurate four wheel diagnosis and re-alignment, including personalised print out showing before and after measurements.”
Continue ReadingRing Introduces Tyre Pressure Gauge Range
Vehicle accessory company Ring Automotive has released a new range of tyre pressure gauges intended to help motorists reduce fuel costs and tyre wear. A total of four gauges are available in the Ring Tyre Gauge line-up and each of these complements the Ring compressor range launched in 2009.
Continue ReadingMichelin Guide Great Britain & Ireland 2011 Celebrates 100th Anniversary
The 2011 Michelin Guide Great Britain & Ireland (available in bookshops from Wednesday 19 January, priced at £15.99) represents the 100th anniversary of the guide that has become synonymous with culinary delights. To celebrate this milestone, each guide comes with a booklet recounting the guide’s history. The first Michelin guide to the British Isles was published in 1911, with the aim of helping intrepid motorists on their travels. It was dark blue and largely instructional in nature, with information on road quality and how to change a tyre, as well as details on hotels and repair shops for the inevitable breakdowns. Five editions were initially published, with a break for the First World War, followed by from 1922 to 1930. The current Great Britain & Ireland guide was launched in 1974 and has been published every year since.
Continue ReadingArmour Automotive Introduces Remote Engine Starter
During the winter months many British motorists will engage in the practice of turning on their vehicles’ engines well before departure time in order to remove the morning frost without manual scraping. The obvious resulting problem is that leaving a running car unattended invites the attentions of the criminal classes; Sainsbury’s Bank has recently published figures suggesting 66,000 vehicles are stolen in this situation. Vehicle accessories company Armour Automotive believes it has found a solution, announcing the launch of its new range of engine remote starter systems, available through the company’s Clifford brand.
Continue ReadingTitan Ups Tyre Prices, “Repositions” Products
Blaming the continuing upwards momentum of natural rubber and other raw materials costs, in addition to increased transportation costs, Titan Tire has announced that its tyres and Titan manufactured, Goodyear branded farm tyres will increase by “up to 8 per cent”, though some products will supersede this rate of growth “due to repositioning of the product”.
Continue ReadingBear’s Tyre Tracker Aims to Reduce Australian Fleet Downtime, Maintenance Costs
Australian tyre life-cycle management specialist, Brad Bearman of Bear’s Tyres has suggested that his Bear’s Tyre Tracker product could help fleets in the country reduce fuel wastage. “It is an unfortunate fact that the neglect of tyre maintenance is directly attributable to unnecessary fuel wastage, particularly for long haul carriers that spend most of their time of the road," said Bearman.
Continue ReadingToyo Tires Holds Tyre Clinic at Goodwood Breakfast Club
Toyo Tires has breakfasted with Goodwood at this months’ Breakfast Club, Deutsch Marques. Toyo says the event attracted a “spectacular gathering of the most prestigious German cars”. It was held on Sunday, 7 November and as always, was free to attend.
Continue ReadingBest Choice Introduces New “Mazzini” Own Brand
At this year’s CITExpo, Best Choice International Trade didn’t just present a large portion of its existing range – visitors were also shown a new brand. By the end of the year this new line-up, produced under the “Mazzini Tyres” name, should be available in 13 sizes between 15 and 18-inches. As export manager Stephen Wu explained, the Mazzini brand will be separately positioned in the market to the company’s existing “Sunew” own brand. “We wanted a new brand for new customers,” elucidated Wu, stressing that the necessity to supply various distribution channels with a variety of brands. In light of this the company is looking around the world, particularly in Western Europe, North America, Australia and Japan, for new distributors.
Continue ReadingFirm “More than Doubles” Rough Terrain Tyre Life with Michelin XZSL
Northern Ireland-based Fisher Engineering has reported that replacing the original equipment tyres on its Manitou rough terrain forklift truck with Michelin’s foam-filled XF and XZSL has increased tyre life. Operating out of its 21,000 sqm facility in Ballinamallard, near Enniskillen in County Fermanagh, the rough terrain forklift is used to transport structural steel around the stockyard prior to shipment to major new building projects.
Continue ReadingMore than Blue Sky Thinking – Hankook Displays Concept Van Tyre
If Hankook Tire has its way, van drivers will not be excluded from a future that includes more environmentally friendly tyres. The Korean manufacturer has shown off its vision for a more fuel-efficient and lower rolling resistance van tyre at the IAA Commercial Vehicle show in Hannover, Germany. Hankook calls this prototype tyre Concept Blue and says it anticipates future trends starting at the tyre dimension 195/45 R 20. The tyre’s diameter of 700 mm is relatively large by comparison to its width, proportions that Hankook says yield a characteristically narrow yet high-profile silhouette that “fits perfectly with the overall image of electric and hybrid vehicles.” From a technical standpoint, the combination of a low air drag coefficient and low rolling resistance means that less energy is used. Hankook also points to the sidewall and shoulder area’s aerodynamic properties as two other design highlights.
Continue ReadingGeneral Tire Drives Grabber AT Into European Market
General Tire has announced the European market launch of its latest 4x4 tyre, the Grabber AT. According to the manufacturer, the new tyre has been specifically designed to be rugged and offer high grip and good handling in both on- and off-road applications – all whilst ensuring comfortable driving characteristics. “The aim was to further improve the already very good off-road driving characteristics of the AT2 model, which is highly popular among 4x4 fans, and at the same time meet increased expectations in on-road use" said Pascal Resetta, General Tire’s product manager for 4x4 tyres. In terms of handling on dry roads, the new tyre is said to perform around three per cent better than its predecessor, whilst driving characteristics in the wet have been improved by up to ten per cent.
Continue ReadingHauling Out of the Recessionary Market
As in almost all industries, the calamity of the credit crunch has had a huge impact on the truck tyre market, reducing demand for products, and forcing manufacturers and traders to regroup. As a result of the economic crisis commercial vehicle businesses were forced to become savvier, demanding more from their tyres. Others simply went under. So with the remaining customers demanding improved performance, mileage and fuel consumption from their tyres while simultaneously being under economic pressure themselves, what affect has this scenario had on the size and development of the market? And what does this mean for truck tyre pricing both in the UK and across Europe?
Continue ReadingBridgestone: UK Truck Tyre Market is 6-8% up on Last Year
Bridgestone UK reports that the new tyre market is starting to show signs of recovery, with the company’s data indicating that the market is running 6 - 8 per cent up on the same time last year. At the height of the recession, it was noted that fleets were parking up some units and using the dormant vehicles’ tyres to keep running costs lower in a process commonly known as cannibalisation. These stocks are now said to be coming to an end and fleets are placing new orders. There also appears to be a genuine increase in tyre demands from fleets. This is mainly due to increases in haulage and delivery volumes. However, although this activity is seen as positive it is still well below the level prior to the recession.
Continue ReadingAnalysis: Saying All Budget Tyres are Lethal is an Unfair Generalisation
What Car?’s tyre test team make a good point highlighting the differences between some premium and budget products in their recent tyre test. But it appears they went a step too far when they entitled the feature “why budget tyres could kill” lumping the three cheaper products (Arrowspeed, Ovation and Sunew) together in the their final conclusion. It might sound a touch pedantic, but the addition of the word “some” in the headline may have been fairer as this would have avoided generalising about the overall quality of tyres. It didn’t take long after Tyres & Accessories reported on the tests on our daily e-Newsletter for the manufacturers involved to take up their right to reply. The Korean manufacturer behind Kwik-Fit’s popular Arrowspeed tyre brand arguably has the best case for disputing being tarred with the saw low-budget brush as the Ovation and the Sunew tyres.
Continue ReadingResearchers Hack a Hole In Tyre Tag Security
Scientists from Rutgers University and University of South Carolina are warning that the wireless communications technology found in tyre pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) is susceptible to interception and high-tech forgery known as “spoofing.” The scientists concede that the potential for misuse “may be minimal,” but the potential vulnerability is said to demonstrate a “troubling lack of rigor with secure software development for new automobiles.”
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