Wheel Alignment
The electronic edition of Tyres & Accessories December 2009 is now available to online subscribers. The magazine contains features on Garage Consumables, Wheel Alignment and Balancing and Tread Rubber and Compounds, in addition to a review of the year in tyres and some thoughts on what 2010 will bring.
Having been voted the winner of this year’s TAFF Innovation Award by the National Tyre Distributors Association judging panel despite tough competition from many other innovative products, the team behind the Hunter SmartWeight Balancing system was keen to reveal the benefits of using the product. Hunter says that it took “a completely fresh look at balancing methodology and came up with an entirely new system that works with greater efficiency and split tolerances, the features that helped it to the innovation award and which it says benefit operators over comparative products. Supplier of wheel alignment and balancing equipment, Pro-Align listed the features that helped SmartWeight on its way to the TAFF Awards:
Euro Car Parts (ECP) says that it will strive to meet motorists demands with its high quality Teco brand tyre changers. It states that with the ever increasing demand for improved workshop safety and the ability to handle bigger and more varied tyre/wheel packages, the demands on tyre changing equipment to meet a number of criteria has never been higher. Euro Garage Solutions (EGS), the Garage Equipment Specialist Division, of Euro Car Parts Ltd is confident that its Teco brand of tyre changers is more than capable of meeting the workshops current and future demands. In consumables, the distributor has announced that it will supply Bosch’s recently launched new range of garage equipment ‘Around the Wheel’ products. The company, which calls itself “the UK’s leading aftermarket parts supplier”, also stocks a comprehensive range of tyre repair materials from Rema Tip Top, launched a new extended range of SNR wheel bearing kits adding nearly 1,000 existing references in September and becomes “the first in the UK to sell the Koyo Hub Bearings in a branded Koyo box”, with its Japanese OEM timing belt tensioner/idler and Wheel Bearing Range extension.
Many farmers do not realise the potential impact of correctly – or indeed incorrectly – aligned wheels, so Goodyear’s Farm team has made it their business to inform and educate the market through a day of workshop activities for the members of the Goodyear Farm Tyre Specialist Network.
Through its recent acquisitions of Beissbarth and SICAM, Bosch has enhanced its product range and now reports it can offer workshops a complete range of tyre service and wheel alignment equipment. Its latest release is a new garage equipment line-up that it says focuses upon "around the wheel" products.
In order to witness the benefits of wheel alignment in action, Goodyear recently invited Tyres & Accessories to see a demonstration of tractor wheel alignment technology at Harper Adams University College in Shropshire. Over the years Goodyear Dunlop has developed a long-term partnership with Harper Adams and is therefore able to use this leading agricultural educational establishment’s specialist facilities (which include an off-road test track and specialised covered and open test ploughing fields) from time to time with which the company.
During the demonstration Jason Hoare, part of the technical support/sales team within Goodyear UK’s agricultural tyre department, stressed that being just 14 millimetres out of alignment (a measurement that is dwarfed by the size of your average tractor – and that has been known to be found on brand new vehicles) can reduce tyre life by 33 per cent and absorb nearly six horse power when travelling at 50 km/h.
The importance of correct wheel alignment is already widely conveyed in the truck and passenger car segments. In these parts of the market customers have been hearing about how correct alignment improves road comfort, fuel consumption and prevents premature wear for years. But what about the off-road and agricultural segments? Is it worth aligning vehicles that are literally designed to face the axle jolting lumps and bumps other drivers try to avoid? Goodyear and Haweka certainly think so.
In June Goodyear and Haweka teamed up to promote an agricultural wheel alignment programme that will see the two-companies promote the benefits of wheel alignment to customers, dealers and vehicle sales offices. Goodyear is communicating the tyre alignment message because, according to the company, tough economic times mean improving fuel consumption and preventing the costs that come with premature tyre wear are more important than ever. A similar partnership between the German branches of the two companies has been in operation for some time.
FASEP has been one of Autopromotec’s most loyal supporters, having participated in the show every time since its first back in 1981. At what the company considers to be the largest garage equipment exhibition, FASEP went to the show with a number of new products designed to help customers increase and develop their business, despite current general economy conditions, by investing in technological improvements and showing that this can be achieved with reasonably priced quality products. During the show, the company also celebrated its 40th anniversary with a gala dinner, at which distributors from all over the world – from Japan to Australia, from Egypt to Sweden, says FASEP – gathered and enjoyed the party in a very friendly atmosphere.
TyreSafe has added truck tyre safety information to its website and is promoting a truck tyre safety handout through its online presence. Defective tyres represent a growing number of MoT failures in the HGV sector, with statistics recorded by VOSA showing that an MoT failure rate of 36.5 percent was recorded in 2007/8, with ‘condition of tyres’ ranking as the second most common failure defect.
Berlin-based research company Leo-Impact Consulting has released a comprehensive (334-page) market study, entitled “European Garage Equipment 2008.”
The report examines the market for the following 12 product categories: Aircon Service, Battery testers and chargers, Body repair, Brake testers and testlines, Diagnostics, Dynamometers, Exhaust gas extraction, Gas analysers, Lifting equipment, Light adjusting equipment, Wheel and tyre and Wheel alignment. These markets are examined in seven different regions, which are Germany, France, Italy, UK, Spain, Scandinavia and Benelux.
Firestone has responded to the communications and complexity challenges of the agricultural tyre market by setting up a new website embedded in the Farmers’ Weekly magazine website. In its first full month the link was seen over 180,000 times, according to the company. Barry Coleman, Firestone’s UK agricultural product manager stated: “I’m delighted with the interest the new website has generated. It’s very interesting to see what farmers are actually looking for. The most visited area of the site is Tips and Downloads, where farmers can find advice about things like hydro inflation, tyre pressures and wheel alignment.” The site can be viewed at the following address: http://fwi.firstlightera.com/EN/Microsites/1/Firestone/
A driver for the Denmark based fish supplier Nielsens Fiskeeksport has racked up an astonishing 801,090 kilometres on the set of Bridgestone M729 tyres fitted to his Volvo FH12. Driver Poul Jensen achieved this whilst driving between the company’s northern Jutland headquarters and various European destinations, primarily Poland and Germany. The kilometres obtained from the M729 is, comments Bridgestone, an “impressive performance from one set of drive tyres”.
Former Ebley Tyre and ProTyre colleagues John Price and Chris Mullins have resumed a working relationship spanning almost 25 years by joining forces to open a new tyre retail centre in the heart of Gloucester’s busy commercial centre. The new venture, Chris Mullins Tyres, is a £250,000 investment in a 5000 sq ft centre specialising in car, motorcycle, 4×4 and van tyres on the city’s Bristol Road, a few hundred yards from the ProTyre centre which Mullins managed for 10 years.
The pair first met while working for the west country independent group Ebley Tyres in 1985 and their career paths ran in parallel when both moved on to ProTyre in the late 1990s. Price owned and managed centres in Gloucester, Bristol and Alcester before selling his interests in the company in early 2006, while Mullins looked after the flagship centre in Gloucester until late last year.
The patented Easy 3D wheel aligner from Beissbarth is the first of its kind and, says the company, offers workshops a completely new 3D wheel alignment method, comprising highly accurate cameras and an integrated reference system to ensure reliable results. Classic features of the Easy 3D include easy use, reliable technology that is robust and easily mobile – suitable for use with any lifting platform or wheel alignment pit.
Using the Easy 3D, one workshop technician needs roughly seven minutes to carry out precise wheel alignment on a car. This represents a time saving of 50 per cent compared with conventional devices. Accuracy is ensured by the use of two high-precision cameras per wheel. The sensors can be positioned wherever convenient in the workshop without time-consuming calibration. The Easy 3D wheel aligner is suitable for aligning all types of cars, through to light transporters and commercial vehicles. The standard indicators enable vehicles with a wheelbase of up to 340 centimetres to be aligned. With the larger rear indicators available as optional equipment, vehicles with a wheelbase of up to 430 centimetres can be aligned.
While tyres are one of the most important components of a vehicle, they’re also one of the most overlooked. In the US, according to a study conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, more than one in four passenger vehicles and light trucks are driving with at least one significantly under-inflated tyre. As National Tire Safety Week is just around the corner in the US – this year it is being held between June 7 and 13 – Firestone Complete Auto Care recommends motorists follow the following maintenance tips to keep tyres in tip-top shape:
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