UK manufacturer of balance weights, Trax JH Ltd has won a £1m per year contract to supply adhesive and clip-on products to Jaguar Land Rover. Managing director John Hallé says that the business was won on design and quality competence and is delighted that the work put in over the last few years by Trax staff has finally come to fruition.
Balancing weight specialist Hofmann Power Weight has unleashed its new website. The site, now up and running in both English and German language variants at www.hofmann-powerweight.de, is said to provide everything that the site visitor needs to know on the subject of wheel balancing and the Hofmann brand.
On 16 July, Ford presented Hofmann Power Weight with its Q1 Award in recognition of the quality of the balance weights supplied to Ford and the reliability of Hofmann’s delivery. The Q1 Award is the highest designation Ford gives its suppliers, and is awarded solely to suppliers who satisfy the car manufacturer’s strict requirements in terms of quality, on-time delivery and material management, whilst at the same time achieving a high technical standard.
Tyre repair material and wheel service solution producer Tech Europe is a long-term supporter of the Reifen exhibition, and returns to Essen this year to exhibit the latest products and services in its Tech and Truflex/Pang ranges. As the European arm of Tech International, a supplier of over 5,000 products into 110 countries worldwide, Tech Europe will be presenting its complete range of Tech tyre repair material, Truflex/Pang tyre repair material, tools and accessories, balance weights and valves, and, most significantly this year, introducing its new offering of TPMS solutions.
The makers of the Hofmann Power Weight brand of balancing weights will present various innovations and new products at this year's international tyre fair in Essen between 5 and 8 June (hall 1.0, stand 411). The theme at the Wegmann Automotive stand will be motor sports, a sector that’s all about speed. Wegmann has chosen to go for a motor sport motif as it says its new products, which have been developed on the race track and optimised for the workshop, can be mounted extremely quickly and easily.
Garage equipment specialist The Trade Group, who are a main distributor for leading wheelcare company Hofmann Megaplan, successfully launched their new, high specification Trademaster T2520 Fully Automatic Tyre Changer, at the recent Harrogate MechanEx equipment exhibition. They are confident their range of wheelcare products is now suitable not only for the smallest garage but right up to the largest tyre shop, fast fit or even CV workshop.
When Clampco UK was founded in 2001, the company largely focused upon the supply of exhaust clamps and fittings to the exhaust and tyre fast fit sector. The firm was well received and its customer base grew to some 2,000 garages within a few years, yet during this period signs of decline in the exhaust market as a whole became apparent to Clampco. As Clampco managing director Stuart Hubble shares, it was clear the company’s only option for growth lay in diversifying and enlarging the product range on offer. With this in mind, Clampco focused its energies on investigating what other everyday items could be sold through its existing customer base. Two of the first additions to this wider range were tyre repair consumables and wheel balance weights – this was, notes Hubble, a “natural progression” from tyres and exhausts. Subsequently, Clampco added items covering the full spectrum of workshop requirements, including hygiene and safety products plus workshop cleaning products such mops, buckets and brushes. In addition to this, a full range of fast fit garage related tools such as impact wrenches and torque wrenches were added to the Clampco line-up.
Wegmann Automotive, the worldwide market leader in balance weights will be presenting the innovations relating to the question of “The Importance of Balancing?” at its Brityrex stand (36B). With the firm’s well known Hofmann Power Weight range being used as the optimum example. Information on show is to include: The results of an extensive series of tests on the benefits of balance weights will be presented at the trade show; a video demonstrating the immediate effects of imbalance on a vehicle safety, comfort and wear consequences; a counter display specially developed for workshops to communicate the “Importance of Balancing” question more clearly to drivers.
Clampco UK reports that is aiming to offer a full range of workshop consumables and tools specifically aimed at the tyre/exhaust fast fit industry. The extensive range includes exhaust fittings, tyre repair materials, wheel balance weights, workshop tools, workshop consumables, work and safety wear, safety and hygiene products and more.
Garage equipment specialist, The Trade Group has recently introduced new own-brand products to compliment its range (it specialises in the distribution of Hofmann Megaplan equipment). Company representative, Stefan Bullworthy explained that The Trade Group now believes its range contains products to suit the smallest garage to the largest tyre shop, including the new own brand, Trademaster wheel care equipment:
Starting with the European Grand Prix, Bridgestone has introduced new recyclable tin weights into its Formula One and GP2 Series wheel and tyre balancing process. The use of tin as balance weights, comments Bridgestone, is believed to have a lower environmental impact than the previously utilised lead weights. Over the course of a season the company uses almost a tonne of wheel balance weights.
MIRA, the leading automotive design, development and certification consultancy, has chosen a Hofmann geodyna 6900p wheel balancer for its vehicle dynamics laboratory. The geodyna 6900p wheel balancer features a number of patented innovations, including virtual plane measurement to ensure accurate balance results that are insensitive to ambient conditions such as temperature, humidity, fatigue and overload. In addition, it also includes a so-called “WeightMiser” function which allows removal of sufficient vibration from a tyre and wheel by applying a lower amount of weight than a normal balance function recommends, thereby reducing the amount of costly balance weights required.
Euro Car Parts (ECP) now stocks what is described as “a comprehensive range of tyre repair materials” from Rema Tip Top. According to a statement released by ECP, Rema Tip Top complements the ECP strategy to offer a wider range of consumables and offer an even greater service to its customers. Rema Tip Top UK Ltd has been operating for over 50 years and offers a wide range of automotive consumables and equipment, ranging from valve hardware and balance weights, to chemicals tools and accessories.
Since 2003 B.F. s.r.l. has been one of the leading producers of car balance weights using tin and zinc in compliance with European directive 2000/53/EC. Recently, development of the factory’s clip plant has enabled the production capacity to be greatly increased.
At Autopromotec B.F.’s representative, M. Prestini advised T&A, “The company has always followed a practice of using a plastic coating for weights. This procedure was established initially to cover the balancing weights sold to Nordic countries where resistance to corrosion was paramount. With the introduction of zinc balance weights, as a replacement for lead, the company carried out numerous evaluation tests and using the results from this, coupled with the knowledge and experience gained from our many years in the wheel weights industry. It was obvious that zinc weights also needed to be coated.
“One of the strongest reasons for using a plastic coating on zinc weights is in order to avoid the possibility of a rogue electrical charge when an uncoated weight contacts the alloy wheel, the weight is likely, in a very short space of time, become completely oxidized. B.F. fully respects the standards for wheel weights required by car manufacturers, to meet a minimum of 500 hours saline fog test resistance.”
Garage equipment specialist The Trade Group has introduced a new selection of wheel care equipment to its Trademaster range, including a new fully automatic tyre changer and a wheel balancer, designed in conjunction with Hofmann Megaplan. The company is a major distributor for Hofmann Megaplan and Beissbarth wheel care products in the UK, and is introducing new products to complement its range. Its Trademaster selection now contains products to suit many sizes of garage and tyre shop.
Representative of The Trade Group Steve Bullworthy explained the roles of the new additions: “The new Trademaster T2510 fully automatic tyre changer is designed to offer performance combined with versatility. An air operated tilt back column speeds set-up time whilst the turntable offers 24” clamping to accommodate the biggest wheels. If you need to deal with stiff, low profile or run-flat tyres there is a powerful, pneumatically operated robotic arm, T2510/1, which can be supplied initially or retro-fitted.
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.
