California Tyre Age Bill Pulled: RMA
According to the RMA, California legislators have tabled AB 496, a bill that would have forced tyre retailers to provide consumers with the date of manufacture for each tyre sold. The bill, RMA said, was pulled from consideration by the California Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee at the request of the measures sponsors. No reason for the action was given. RMA said it had been scheduled to testify in opposition to the measure, and was “confident that had the bill received consideration, it would have failed to pass the committee.” While the bill is not dead, the measure could still be brought up for consideration since a vote has not been taken. However, the RMA said, the measure must still be heard by the same committee. Supporters of the measure include Sean Kane’s plaintiffs’ attorney aide Strategic Safety and Research and by the Consumer Attorneys of California. The bill had been passed by the California House Business and Professions Committee in April, and by the full House in late May. (Tire Review/Akron)
Continue ReadingArkansas Association Head, Bulldog Drummond, Dies
Long-time state association executive director and retired Bridgestone Americas sales executive Nelson Drummond passed away on 6 July. He was 69. The gregarious and gracious Drummond, known as Bulldog to friends and associates alike, had been executive director of the Arkansas Independent Tire Dealers Association, a post he held since late 1996. Drummond retired from Bridgestone in 1995 after a 34-year career with the tyre-maker, where he served as manager of dealer sales in the northeast. He is survived by his wife, Marguerite; sons Dan and Eric; daughter Michelle Mayo; and five grandchildren. Services were held on 12 July in Horseshoe Bend, Arkansas. (Tire Review/Akron)
Continue ReadingTyreSafe Reminds Caravanners to Carry Out Tyre Checks
With more than 2 million extra caravan holidays predicted in the UK this year, TyreSafe is reminding caravanners to make sure all of their tyres are safe for travel before taking to the road. Caravans left standing throughout the year can develop flatspots or suffer from exposure to UV rays which may lead to handling issues or premature failure. Additionally, tyre pressures should be checked not only on the caravan, but also on the towing vehicle and adjusted accordingly to take account of the extra load. VisitBritain is predicting a 20 per cent rise in British holidays this summer. Earlier this year The Caravan Club reported advance bookings up by 40 per cent on 2008, and the National Caravan Council predicts that nearly 14 million holidays will be taken in 2009 in touring caravans, motor caravans and caravan holiday homes.
Continue ReadingIndian Tyre Industry Expected to Have CAGR of 6.81% in 2010
A new report published by Aarstore Enterprise predicts the Indian tyre industry will report a compound annual growth rate of 6.81 per cent in full year 2010 figures. The industry registered a five-year CAGR of 8.02 per cent between full year 2003 and 2008, according to the research. The largest category of truck and bus tyres (T&B) recorded a five-year CAGR of 5.90 per cent while light commercial vehicle (LCV), motorcycle and car tyre categories grew at 13.34 per cent, 12.27 per cent and 13.98 per cent, respectively in the period.
Continue ReadingApollo Oragadam Greenfield Facility in Operation by November
Indian media sources reports production at Apollo Tyres Oragadam Greenfield facility near Chennai will enter production by November 2009. The plant, which will produce both passenger car and commercial vehicle radials, will have an 8,000 tyres per day capacity.
Continue ReadingCLEPA Elects New President
A unanimous vote at the annual general meeting of the European Association of Automotive Suppliers (CLEPA) has seen Peter Tyroller elected its new president. He will commence his two-year term with the representative organisation on January 1, 2010, succeeding Giuliano Zucco. Tyroller has been a member of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH since 2006, where his responsibilities include original equipment sales, corporate marketing, and the automotive aftermarket.
Continue ReadingMichelin Receives DEKRA Tyre Test Results
Readers of Tyrepress.com will be aware that Tyres & Accessories was in Narbonne, France in April 2009 to visit the roads on which the DEKRA Test Centre was putting several premium brands through their paces. Engaged by Michelin with part of the manufacturer’s 600 million euro annual research and development budget, the independent test centre compared the Energy Saver (195/65R15 H), the Primacy Alpin PA3 (205/55R16 H) and the Primacy HP (225/55R16 W) with other premium brand tyres purchased at the same time on the replacement market in two key areas; longevity and fuel consumption. The Test Centre presented T&A with the “circuits” it had drawn up from the varied road-types present between Narbonne and Toulouse, on which a convoy of four Volkswagen Golf 1.9l TDIs (195 and 205) and four Audi A4 Avant 2.0l TDIs (225) would travel during testing. A third set of comparative tests on these tyres was carried out by TÜV SÜD on its asphalt testing track at ATP Papenburg in Germany, this time concerned with wet braking. Full details of the test results, including all the tested tyres and the methodologies used by both the DEKRA Test Centre and TÜV SÜD, will be published in the August edition of Tyres & Accessories. Click More for the headlines in each category.
Continue ReadingDunlop Lands Moto2 Tyre Deal
Dunlop has secured the contract to supply tyres to the new Moto2 class, which gets underway in 2010. The company will supply 3.75 x 17-inch front and 6.00 x 17-inch rear tyres to the series that replaces the 250cc World Championships. Speaking about the three-year deal, Dunlop Motorcycle sales and marketing director Europe, Middle East and Africa, Sharon Antonaros, said “Were excited about building on the expertise gained over fifty years of continuous participation in Grand Prix racing to continue our development of racing tyres and then taking the technology to our road tyres.”
Continue ReadingCalhermit to Promote Consumables at CITExpo
Calhermit Enterprise Co., Ltd. was established in 1983, and will – from booth 5503 at CITExpo promote the tyre-related consumables it supplies in markets such as Taiwan, Europe and America market. It will be exhibiting a range of its products, including tube patches, radial tyre patches, bias-ply tyre patches, retreaded tyre patches, universal insert string, vulcanizing fibre-seal string, tyre shop equipment, tyre repair tools and kit, vulcanizing cement and wheel wrenches.
Continue ReadingLithium-ion Battery Development Wins Award for Conti
Continental claims the lithium-ion batteries it has developed offer significantly greater storage capacity compared with the nickel-metal hydride battery technology still currently used in hybrid vehicles. The batterys energy density is said to be around 30 per cent and its power to size ratio some 50 percent greater, while still retaining its compact dimensions. Development work on this unit, which saw its series production debut in the latest Mercedes-Benz S 400 BlueHYBRID, took place at Continental’s Nuremberg, Germany facility, and the site now has a production capacity of 15,000 units per annum. Recently Conti’s Powertrain Division and its Hybrid & Electric Vehicles business unit were acknowledged for the battery’s development and series introduction with an award from a logistics and transports association located in the factory’s local region.
Continue ReadingDailyDepot to Promote New Designs; e-Commerce
Booth 2105 in Hall 2 will belong to DailyDepot Inc., a wheel production division under China Southern Motor Group. Products cover alloy wheel for passenger cars, steel wheel for passenger cars and steel wheel for commercial vehicles. The company has an annual production capacity of 5 million piece alloy wheels and 9 million piece steel wheels. It has in-house test labs and tooling work-shop, with teams to provide service from scratch, R&D to production to logistical services. Moreover, the company says it can support EDI and JIT system too. Its experience includes the joint-development of new product and supply chain management, with customers including China Chery, China BYD, Audi, Ford, India Tata, and many other prestige after-market brands in United States and EU. DailyDepot will be welcoming interested observers to its booth, promising presentations on new designs in a fully-curtained area. It will also promote its new e-Commerce enabled website during the show, with registered customers in with a chance of winning a set of alloy wheels.
Continue ReadingM.I.G. Talk of New Retreading Factory
M.I.G. is a major rubber industry company with headquarters located in Anagni some 50 kilometres south of Rome. During its 50 years in existence the company has gained extensive knowledge and experience in the tyre retreading field. Consequently, it says that it has been able to establish an outstanding reputation for product quality and service excellence. M.I.G. manufactures and exports curing tubes, bladders and envelopes throughout the world. The company has recently completed the building of a new state-of-the-art factory covering an area of 30,000 square metres. From here M.I.G. says that it will be able to meet the demands of all retreaders, be it for hot cure process with tube or bladder presses or, for precure plants with double envelope, envelope/tube or a rimless envelope system.
Continue ReadingHiQ Franchisee Raises £2000 for Breast Cancer Care
A HiQ franchisee raised more than £2000 for Breast Cancer Care at the Goodwood Festival of Speed recently. Richard Whittemore, who runs 10 HiQ centres in the south of England under his Elite Garages Group company, helped to generate £2,075 at the event, while checking hundreds of motorists’ tyres in an attempt to eliminate illegal tyre usage. Richard took a team of fast fitters around the festival to check hundreds of tread depths and in return, visitors donated money to Breast Cancer Care – HiQ’s chosen charity for 2009. The initiative took place at Goodwood after a recent survey claimed that more than 3 million UK motorists are currently driving on illegal tyres.
Continue ReadingAutopromotec: Monarch “Fully Confident” in Monaflex Vulcanising System
Monarch Vulcanising Systems was founded in 1961. Initially its main business was the installation of heavy mechanical equipment for the cement and steel industry, which included the installation of rubber linings in raw mills. From the experienced gained with industrial rubber, the company was drawn into the supply and installation of industrial rubber flooring. This led on naturally to the use of rubber for other applications.
Continue ReadingRevolution Gets Winrace Wheel Made To Order
Revolution Motorstore recently went the extra mile in terms of customer service when a discerning Subaru 22B owner gave them the chance to show off. According to the company, “the highly desirable homologation special demands a different offset from all other classic Subaru models, and for those with a real eye for detail, also used a different shade of gold on its wheels to any other Subaru model.” With the client looking to upgrade to an 18-inch rim that properly filled the arches, without having to resort to spacers, Revolution called on the company’s special relationship with the Braid factory in Spain and ordered a set of unique wheels, complete with the perfect bowl and offset for the car.
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