Michelin Archives - Page 231 of 324 - Tyrepress

Tyre industry pioneers, Michelin has a long history. Having begun in 1889, Michelin is now the second-largest tyre manufacturer in the world after Bridgestone and larger than both Goodyear and Contineantal.

Tag Archive for: Michelin

BFGoodrich Bows Out of WRC with a Splash of Colour

As the curtains are drawn on a multi-tyre WRC series, BFGoodrich has thanked teams loyal to the brand with a unique gift not available in the shops – specially made coloured tyres. These tokens of appreciation were not merely standard black items painted up to look the part, either. Colorants were added to the compound during the production process, and strips of the coloured rubber were laid onto the casing of a rally tyre, with a number of varying combinations of pattern employed – including an asphalt pattern for WRC champion Sébastien Loeb and co-driver Daniel Elena. The sidewalls, although black, were also made using the coloured rubber compound; genuine rally compound would have blended with the other colours within days. The tyres were then vulcanised using the same process as a standard tyre; in total production of the coloured tyres took about 300 hours.

11th December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Marangoni Mythos Wins Australian Tyre Test

The Marangoni Mythos UHP has come top in a tyre test conducted by Australia’s Motor Magazine. The success in the magazine comparison test comes just a year after the Marangoni new tyre brand was launched in the Australian market. Competing tyres tested included: Bridgestone Potenza RE050; Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3; Falken FK 452; Dunlop SP Sport Maxx and Maxxis MA-Z1. Motor’s test driver commented: “These [Mythos tyres] had a tonne of grip. They were sharp, balanced; really nice. In fact, they were so confidence-inspiring that you really didn’t mind having a hot go with them, because you knew they’d hang in there. They were also great on change of direction and super stable under brakes. I like them a lot.”

7th December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Group Bows Out of WRC

The Michelin Group’s long relationship with the FIA World Rally Championship came to an end on the last weekend of November. The Wales Rally GB marked the closing of 34 years of uninterrupted WRC participation for the Michelin and BFGoodrich brands, which in that time scored 256 victories, won 23 Manufacturers’ titles and claimed 20 Drivers’ crowns in association with their respective partners.

The new season will see the introduction of a control tyre, supplied by Pirelli, preventing the French company from participating in the rallying world’s most prestigious event for the time being. The new control tyre contract runs until the end of the 2010 season.

6th December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Kirkby Secures ‘Giant’ OE Deal

Kirkby Tyres & Wheels has secured a large scale OE contract to supply to OTR tyres to a particularly UK-based manufacturer. The deal will see the Liverpool-based wholesaler counter EM tyre shortage issues by supplying between 5000 and 7000 tyres a year, including certain ‘giant’ sizes. Speaking to Tyres & Accessories after giving a company statement on the Michelin/Double Coin dispute, Kirkby managing director, Dave Dorrity, said the agreement would be a “multi-million pound” contract.

3rd December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Analysts: German Winter Tyre Pricing Negative

With German winter tyre sales underperforming this year, Deutsche Bank analysts are reporting that prices are falling for the first time in “many years.” Up till the end of October, the German winter tyre market is reportedly down 6 per cent. Around 75 per cent of the winter tyres would normally have been sold by now. Winter tyres represent approx 17 per cent and 6 per cent respectively of Continental and Michelin’s passenger tyre unit sales. According to the analysts, winter tyres represent a high 20 per cent of European tyre replacements (55 million units, of which 50 per cent are sold in Germany).

3rd December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Morecombe Bay Port Chooses Michelin

The Peel Group company Heysham Port Ltd, operator of a fleet of 28 tugs that together perform in excess of 1,000 trailer movements per day whilst loading and unloading ships stopping in north west England en route to and from Belfast, Dublin, the Isle of Man and Warrenpoint, is making the switch to Michelin tyres. A total of six new Terberg RT222 tugs have joined the fleet fitted with Michelin X-Terminal T tyres specified as original equipment, with a further four on order for delivery in spring 2008. Heysham Port is also fitting X-Terminal T tyres to other tugs as wear dictates, with servicing work carried out by mobile support vehicles from ATS Euromaster and Tyrecraft.

3rd December 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Rossi’s Bridgestone Decision “Difficult to Understand” – Weber

According to an article published in the Italian magazine Motosprint, Michelin’s Jean-Philippe Weber could not readily comprehend the logic behind the decision made by MotoGP rider Valentino Rossi to switch to Bridgestone for 2008. The director of motorcycle racing commented that “this decision of his is difficult to understand, but that’s what he’s decided. It could be a good or a bad choice, we’ll see in a while.”

27th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Costly Carelessness

Efforts to educate on the benefits of correctly inflated tyres seem to be falling upon deaf ears – Michelin has found that almost 80 per cent of cars on British roads are running with incorrect tyre pressure and over half have levels considered dangerous. This mind-boggling news comes courtesy of a nationwide inspection survey conducted by the manufacturer, during which more than 2,300 cars were inspected at 13 venues in the UK. From this sample population, 36 per cent were found to have at least one tyre between 7 and 12 psi below the recommended pressure, and an additional 15 per cent had a tyre at least 14psi or more below the specified level – potentially only 50 per cent of the recommended safe level of inflation. Furthermore, 13 per cent of all vehicles had a tyre containing a puncture.

27th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

German Winter Tyre Sales Down, Reports Association

Germany has long been presented to UK motorists as the ‘poster boy’ for winter tyre sales in Europe, but it appears that this year the market boasting a winter segment accounting for around half the total passenger car tyre sector is shaping up to be somewhat lacklustre. Hans-Jürgen Drechsler, head of Germany’s tyre dealer and retreader association, the Bundesverband Reifenhandel und Vulkaniseur-Handwerk e.V. (BRV), has commented on this year’s lower sales in an interview with the Handelsblatt business newspaper.

27th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin an OE Supplier for Student Ingenuity in Dundee

As part of its practice of contributing to the communities in which it is represented, Michelin has entered into a three-year tyre sponsorship deal with a group from Dundee University who have unveiled plans to build a car inspired by Formula One technology. The Dundee University Race Innovation and Vehicle Engineering (DRIVE) team, comprised of students from the university’s engineering and mechatronics faculties, has entered into the national Formula Student competition to build a performance car. Next July the team, along with other entrants, must present their vehicle at the Silverstone race circuit and put it through a series of performance and reliability tests.

27th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Showcases Winter SUV Tyres at Eurotunnel

A set of Michelin’s Latitude Alpin cold weather tyres was on display at the Eurotunnel Terminal at Folkestone, Kent recently as part of Eurotunnel’s ski tour promotions programme. A set of 255/55 R18 Michelin Latitude Alpin HP Extra Load cold weather tyres was fitted to an Audi Q7 3.6 FSI Quattro SE and displayed inside the terminal for just under a week. The display was completed by top of the range Salomon skis and snowboards mounted on a Thule Ski & Snowboard Xtender carrier.

Michelin’s Latitude Alpin HP cold weather tyres are designed for high performance 4×4 vehicles and are recommended by several of the main vehicle manufacturers.

27th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin to Guarantee Annual Supply of Tyres to Recycler

Michelin has recently agreed to guarantee the supply of at least 6,000 tonnes of end of life and reject truck tyres each year to Newark based recycling company Charles Lawrence International, who will convert the waste tyres into rubber surfacing material for sporting and children’s playground usage. About 200 tonnes of material will be shipped each week from Michelin in Dundee and Ballymena to the Nottinghamshire recycler.

The agreement is all the more significant as presently the UK has no legislation requiring tyre manufacturers to take responsibility for end of life products; Michelin’s actions in this area to date, in this country at least, have been purely voluntary. “Michelin has a global strategy for minimising the effect we have on the environment, and although there is no legal need to do it, we see recycling our end of life tyres as a moral obligation,” said Michelin UK managing director Jim Rickard. “Charles Lawrence is a world leader in the sector and we are very pleased to have secured an agreement to put what is effectively our waste to good use.”

26th November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Alcoa Presents Forged Supersingle Wheel

Alcoa has demonstrated its leadership in the forged aluminium wheel market by producing a new product designed for use on 455/40 R22.5 Goodyear and Dunlop, as well as Michelin 455/45 R22.5 trailer and semi-trailer tyre sizes. The wheel is also compatible with products in this size produced by other manufacturers.

The wheel has a 120 mm offset and load rate of 5150 kg. It weighs 32 kilograms versus 49 kilos for a steel wheel. This means a weight reduction of 17 kilos, or 35 per cent for each wheel. That’s a weight saving of up to 120 kilos per trailer.

23rd November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin and Kirkby Settle Copyright Dispute

Kirkby Tyres & Wheels has agreed to end the distribution of a number of Double Coin brand tyres that Michelin claimed infringed the French manufacturer’s intellectual property rights. According to the agreement, Kirkby will cease distribution of the tyres and also remove all versions of “Michelin-copyrighted content” from its websites within an agreed period of time. In return Michelin is dropping its legal action for “infringement and other issues.”

In May Michelin informed the media that it was filing suits against tyre dealers selling the Double Coin brand because of tread patterns similar to those on Michelin truck tyres. The French tyremaker had previously (in December 2005) alerted more than 5,000 tyre dealers that while the treads may look the same on both tyres, the look-alikes may not deliver the same grip or longevity as an authentic Michelin tyre.

23rd November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors

Michelin Cutting 20 Jobs at Upgrade Plant

(Akron/Tire Review) A mere ten days after the announcement that Michelin North America planned to spend $4.2 million upgrading its Pictou County, Nova Scotia plant, the company is eliminating 20 positions from this Canadian facility. Sheri Somerville, spokeswoman for the tyremaker, said the jobs in the company’s group services section are disappearing as part of an effort to improve plant efficiency.

“The positions are gone but we are working to find new positions for the workers,” she said. “Some of the people are eligible for retirement. We are trying to figure out what will work best for each individual.” Group services are provided to all the plants, not just those in which they are located.

22nd November 2007/by Tyrepress Editors