Wheels
Efforts made by the Highways Agency to improve public awareness of tyre safety issues has been acknowledged during the first-ever TyreSafe Awards. The Agency was recipient of the ‘Outstanding Contribution’ award during last week’s awards ceremony, an event set up to celebrate the activities and achievements of a wide range of businesses and organisations in encouraging better tyre care and maintenance.
Litchfield has released its latest ‘cloning’ Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) sensors, designed for GT-R owners needing to run multiple wheel-sets. Aimed at solving a problem for its GT-R driving clients, Litchfield says the sensors will be a useful addition to extra winter or track wheels, as drivers will not have to recode the sensors each time they are change.
Ibstock’s Jeff Fowkes Wheels has been rewarded for “an amazing level of effort to raise awareness about tyre safety issues” with the inaugural TyreSafe Independent Garage Award. TyreSafe chairman Stuart Jackson presented Grace Fowkes from the family run Leicestershire business with the award at a prestigious luncheon.
Titan International has set a 2014 revenue goal of US$2.4 billion to $2.7 billion, the company reported on 25 November. This target assumes that Titan will not make any further acquisitions and is calculated on the premise that pricing and raw material costs will remain flat next year. Titan forecasts maintenance capital expenditure will be $70 million in 2014.
To mark the completion of Swiss company Gebrüder Schaad into the Starco organisation, the new entity Starco GS held a distributor day earlier this month at the company’s facility in Sübingen, Switzerland.
In response to its recent participation in the Agritechnica in Germany a week or so ago, HBI Bandenmarkt Tyres & Wheels has highlighted that both the show in particular and the agricultural industry in general is increasingly taking on a global dimension.
With the nights closing in and winter well on its way, Mercedes-Benz Retailers are helping customers to prepare for the changing road conditions in the months ahead by stocking Cold Weather Tyres.
Mercedes-Benz points out that Cold Weather Tyres are effective as soon as the temperature falls below seven degrees Celsius, not just when there is snow on the ground.
Road lope is a rhythmic, ‘porpoising’ motion that develops at higher speeds or in road gear when a tractor is not pulling any significant load. It often occurs because a tyre or rim is not truly round. And it’s annoying; according to a recent US survey conducted on behalf of Titan Tire Corporation, approximately 47 per cent of growers (regardless of tyre brand they’re running) identify road lope as a problem they’re currently experiencing with their tractors and combines. This physical swaying and bouncing of the machine during road transport can result in extreme rider discomfort and inhibit the grower’s productivity between fields, however there are some simple solutions that growers should be aware of in order to rectify their road lope issues.
A supply deal finalised with Mercedes-Benz in October will see some S-Class models fitted with 19-inch versions of Bridgestone’s Potenza S001 as original equipment. Bridgestone says the Potenza-equipped S-Class will be sold globally.
Motor Wheel Service Distribution (MWSD) and Wheels India have signed a three-year extension to the European supply agreement of xlite forged aluminium wheels, having rolled out the product on the European market since 2011. The xlite brand became global after an exclusive 10-year trademark agreement between MWSD and Wheels India.
Yokohama Rubber’s contract with the Japanese Formula 3 Association has been extended for a further three years, which means All-Japan Formula 3 Championship races will run on Advan control tyres through to 2016. Furthermore, this year Yokohama will return to Formula 3 in Macau for the 31st time – the Japanese tyre maker will once again serve as exclusive tyre supplier to the Macau Grand Prix and provide its Advan tyres for the race.
For three decades, Harvey Brodsky was first employed by and later managing director of the Tire Retread & Repair Information Bureau – until the day that he wasn’t. In 5 October 2010, one month shy of Brodsky’s 30th anniversary with TRIB, he received a phone call from the bureau’s president and members of the board informing him that his services were no longer required, effective immediately. Many in this situation would be tempted to call it quits, however Brodsky showed that a dedicated retreading advocate doesn’t stay down for long. Almost three years after TRIB and its former managing director parted ways, Tyres & Accessories speaks with Harvey Brodsky about the success of his new retreading organisation, the Retread Tire Association.
Don-Bur, the UK’s leading designer and manufacturer of commercial vehicle trailer bodies has taken delivery of more than 450 xlite super single forged aluminium wheels from exclusive distributor Motor Wheel Service Distribution. The wheel, which has a reduced weight and increased load index, has been fitted for several clients on the company’s innovative, aerodynamic Teardrop trailer range during its first six months on the market.
TRW Automotive Holdings was recently awarded the 2013 General Motors Supplier Quality Excellence Award for “achieving consistently high levels of quality performance” during the past year at then of its manufacturing facilities.
In July, Carlisle Companies announced it was seeking “strategic alternatives” for its Carlisle Transportation Products (CTP) business after it recorded a non-cash pre-tax loss of $100 million due to goodwill impairment during the second quarter of 2013. This strategic alternative turned out to be a divestment; this week the company said the tyre and wheel business has been purchased by American Industrial Partners for an enterprise value of US$375 million. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2014.
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