Mytyres.co.uk – the UK online shop of Europe’s leading online tyre retailer Delticom – is offering motorists a simple tyre safety check list to ensure their tyres are fit for purpose and help to keep them safe on the road. Interestingly the five-point safety check begins with a recommendation to change tyres when tread depths reach around 3mm.
Bridgestone and Kwik-Fit Fleet have responded positively to the Government’s decision not to increase fuel duty. Commenting yesterday on the reversal of the planned hike announced in the Budget, Bridgestone UK communications manager Andrew Dingley said “today’s announcement that the planned increase in fuel duty has been dropped is welcome news for motorists at a time of austerity. The 1p a litre, plus inflation, fuel duty escalator, which was due to take effect on April 1st, would have added as much as 5p a litre at the pumps. Intervening now to block a further fuel price increase is a sensible move and will go some way to easing the strain on motorists and businesses that rely on transportation.
According to Bridgestone, the responsible recycling of end of life tyres plays a fundamental role in the company’s commitment to the environment. The tyre maker has released a statement outlining its activities in this area, and in addition to its retreading operations, Bridgestone engages in recycling operations in which tyres not fit for further service are reclaimed for various purposes; Bridgestone lists use in children’s playgrounds, sports surfaces, running tracks, equestrian areas, flooring and the use of building composites as examples. Whole tyres are re-used in civil engineering for road embankments, coastal protection and sound barriers. Worn tyres are also collected and utilised as fuel for cement plant furnaces and in energy recovery at thermal power stations and incineration units.
Yokohama Tire is giving truck fleet owners in the USA a chance to try out its 101ZLT steer tyre in open comparison with other tyres on the open roads in what the company is calling the 101ZLT SmartSolutionT Challenge. The contest will begin at the Mid-America Trucking Show (MATS) in Louisville, Kentucky between 31 March and 2 April.
Bridgestone reports that Casey Stoner continued his strong pre-season form to take a clear victory today in Qatar for the Repsol Honda Team, using the harder option front and rear Bridgestone slicks – a choice common to all riders in the tough Qatari conditions – to finish over three seconds ahead of the field and set the fastest lap of the race. His teammate Dani Pedrosa fought Stoner hard for the first half of the 22 lap race, leading for much of it, while Yamaha Factory rider and 2010 World Champion Jorge Lorenzo rode a determined race from third on the grid, leading on the first lap to pass Pedrosa for second as the pair traded positions in the closing laps.
UK distributor of the xlite wheel brand Motor Wheel Service has reported a milestone with its customers Montracon and Wilcox, both commercial vehicle body designers. MWS has received an order for the companies’ hundredth set of xlite forged aluminium truck wheels for use on their tipper and walking floor trailers. The two companies work together on the production of the trailers, with Montracon providing chassis and Wilcox supplying aluminium tipper body requirements.
The third running of the Michelin Green X Challenge gets underway in North America on March 19, and the tyre maker says the season opener at the Sebring circuit in Florida will offer “a glimpse into the future of technology and innovation that become more relevant every day.” The US based Green X Challenge recognises the Prototype and GT category cars that prove “cleanest, fastest, most efficient” in the “race within the race” at every American Le Mans Series event. Similar competitions are now also part of every Asian and European Le Mans Series event, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the new Intercontinental Le Mans Cup.
The third phase of Michelin’s current UK advertising campaign got underway on March 14, and this time round the focus is on longevity. Retaining the campaign’s strap line of “the right tyre changes everything,” the latest ads feature Bibendum – otherwise known as the Michelin Man – defeating a ‘wearing’ road by providing motorists with longer-lasting tyres. Once again, the campaign will include a mix of television commercials, print media ads, outdoor posters and online banners.
Statistically speaking, you’re more likely than not to be driving on under-inflated tyres. When Bridgestone headed out last year and checked the tyre condition of 38,000 cars in nine European countries, it found 71 per cent of participating motorists to be driving on tyres inflated to a lower than recommended pressure. The majority of these under-inflated tyres were admittedly less than 0.5 bar under pressure, yet 7.5 per cent of motorists’ tyres were more than 0.5 bar under pressure and half a percent of motorists were driving on tyres at least 0.75 bar under pressure.
In light of the most recent VOSA effectiveness report, TyreSafe has issued a warning to van and LGV drivers on the cost and safety issues linked to overloading their vehicles. The organisation states that unless operators compensate for carrying heavy loads by increasing tyre pressures to the recommended levels, their tyres will wear out quicker, fuel consumption will increase and safety may be compromised.
Several of Finnish tyre manufacturer Nokian’s tyres have been awarded recommendations by German tyre testers including the ADAC and Stiftung Warentest. The Nokian V received a “good” rating from the German Automobile Association, ADAC on the back of strong balance, with “good in all safety relevant disciplines, top mark in the wet”. Nokian says the V was also “recommended” after 2011 tests by the European Automobile Association ACE/GTÜ, Öko-Trend.
Isobutene is a key raw material needed in the manufacture of butyl rubber, and traditionally this substance has been produced from fossil fuel sources. Yet Lanxess, the world’s largest purchaser of isobutene, believes that – in the words of its Board of Management chairman Axel Heitmann – it is “only prudent” to seek alternative supply options from renewable sources. For this reason the German specialty chemicals manufacturer recently increased its minority shareholding in US based renewable chemicals company Gevo Inc. Following a US$10 million private placement investment made in May 2010, Lanxess has now invested $17 million in Gevo’s initial public offering, giving it a 9.1 per cent shareholding.
While the car market stayed low in February, registrations of new trucks and vans were up by more than a quarter on February 2010, at 27.4 per cent. Trucks saw a rise of 50.9 per cent to 2,068, making the figures in the first two months 36,070 units registered, or a rise of 11.1 per cent. Vans were up 23.8 per cent to 11,113 in February, keeping growth consistent from January, meaning 230,658 units have been registered in 2011 to date, up 22.7 per cent.
While new car registrations dipped in February 2011 compared with February 2010, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said the returns represented less of a drop than had been expected, given that the previous year had been boosted by the government’s Scrappage Incentive Scheme. The first two months of 2011 have seen 192,235 units registered, down 10.2 per cent. While the decline in registrations was the eighth straight month in negative figures, the 7.7 per cent drop represented the smallest drop in this time period. This was thanks mainly to fleet demand, which grew 8.6 per cent. The executive, luxury saloon, sports car and MPV segments continued to show “double-digit growth”; diesel cars took more than 50 per cent of the market.
Yokohama Rubber says its preparations for the 2010 European tyre label are to be strengthened through the April release of its BluEarth-1 range, which it says has achieved an ‘A’ grade rating – the highest possible – for fuel economy under the upcoming label’s expected classification system. The BluEarth-1 is the first of a series of BluEarth products that will be launched in Europe; the product family was first publicly previewed at January’s Tokyo Auto Show, where the top of the line BlueEarth-1 was displayed alongside the premium BluEarth RV-01 minivan tyre and the standard BluEarth AE-01.
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