Wheels
Speke OTR and commercial tyre and wheel wholesaler Kirkby Tyres says it has recently undertaken a major programme of investment, upgrading its existing facilities with a new shot blaster capable of processing wheels up to 54” and above. A customised temperature and pressure controlled spraybooth has also been installed along with new fitting facilities.
Rimstock introduced a range of Team Dynamics winter alloy wheels for the first time this season. The company has been impressed with the results, labelling the new initiative “a success” despite a mostly quite mild 2012-13 winter season. The company said it is “looking to expand the programme further for 2013”, with “two large OE marques” interested in adopting a winter programme. The programme works similarly to the trend of storing summer tyres in “tyre hotels” over winter widely used in Europe, but with take-up in the UK only occurring over the last few winters. Rimstock believes it is becoming attractive with the trying grip conditions and poor road maintenance of Britain’s winter roads, to protect original equipment wheels when temperatures drop.
Motor Wheel Service Distribution managing director John Ellis has sustained a lengthy campaign for increased safety checks on commercial vehicle wheels over the past few years – a campaign that has seen him address the British and more recently European parliaments. The results of his most recent explanation to the European Parliament of the insufficiency or non-existence of regulations and guidelines governing inspection procedures within the commercial vehicle wheel supply chain and vehicle servicing sector remain to be seen; his MWS report will continue to be discussed at EU level as its Roadworthiness Package is drafted. (See Tyrepress.com/issues of Tyres & Accessories for regular updates regarding Ellis's proposals.)
As of 2015, Super Industries International will expand its portfolio of Chihuahua-made wheels. The North American aluminium wheel manufacturer announced on 16 April that its new manufacturing facility in Mexico will be erected in the city of Chihuahua. Superior Industries says it and the state of Chihuahua have “agreed in principle to a series of incentives that reflect a continued partnership between Superior and the state.” Superior already operates three manufacturing facilities in the city.
The UK distributor of TSW, Beyern and Mandrus replacement alloy wheels, Yokohama HPT has confirmed the addition of several new wheels to its UK line-up that use the “rotary forging” process to create strong, dynamic and lighter wheels. During manufacturing the outer rim is forged while the wheel centre and rim mould are spun at high speed. TSW’s Panorama and Tanaka, the Beyern Spartan, the Mandrus Rotec and the Victor Equipment Innsbruck are all products of this technique in the current Yokohama HPT range.
Market conditions in Europe for the aftermarket sale of car, 4×4 and light commercial vehicle wheels have continued to provide an inhospitable environment to those active in the area. The ability to sell luxury, desire-driven items in a down economy has been a question to which UK distributor Wheelwright has continued to seek an answer since 2008. The company has taken many positive steps, having revamped its website and e-commerce services to address growing internet buying habits; introduced the private Calibre and Calibre Couture brands; and increased marketing to a more diverse range of applications, such as winter and van wheels. Wheelwright managing director, Kevin Greer told Tyres & Accessories that the company has found positives in certain niches having “acknowledged the reduced demand” of the UK car wheel market.
Russia’s third-largest tractor manufacturer, the ZAO AgroTechMash (ATM) group, has selected Starco as original equipment supplier for its Terrion brand. This agreement is described by Starco as a further step in the company’s agricultural strategy and will be implemented by its Riga-based Eastern group; under the new agreement, Starco will supply the ATM group steel wheels from Titan, row crop wheels from Starco Schaad and tyres from BKT.
A Market Harborough-based agricultural contractor has become the first in the country to fit four Michelin AxioBib IF 900/60 R42 tyres to a single machine – its Claas Xerion 5000. Family-run business J Beaty and Sons operates a fleet of six tractors, two self-propelled sprayers and one telescopic loader. Having already fitted Michelin’s AxioBib 800s to two John Deere tractors, owner Richard Beaty opted for all four wheels of his Claas Xerion to be fitted with Michelin’s newest and largest farm tyre as original equipment.
British design firm Carbon One is poised to introduce a new range of wheels manufactured with carbon to achieve reduced weight targets. The firm estimates that using “next-generation lightweight materials, such as carbon fibre composites, could reduce passenger car weight by 50 per cent and improve fuel efficiency by about 35 per cent without compromising performance or safety” – and wheels are the latest component to which it is seeking to apply this thinking.
Alcoa Wheel Products has announced that it will display its forged aluminium products at oil distribution industry exhibition FPS Expo from 17-18 April at Yorkshire’s Harrogate International Centre. The market leader manufactures in Székesfehérvár, Hungary with a service and distribution centre in Paal, Belgium.
The SMMT has launched a nationwide campaign to help motorists reduce MOT failures, backed by 5,545 manufacturer main dealers across the UK.
Research from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) indicates that around 1.5 million MOT failures each year could be avoided if motorists notify the dealer of simple problems with the vehicle before the annual roadworthiness test is carried out. In the biggest campaign of its type, 5,545 manufacturer main dealers across the UK will be giving guidance to motorists on the simple pre-MOT visual checks they can carry out on their own car.
Starting from 2016, antilock braking systems (ABS) will be introduced as standard equipment for an increasing number of motorcycles in the EU. At the beginning of March, the European Union passed legislation to this effect, with the objective of further reducing traffic accident figures. In 2011 alone, around 5,000 motorcyclists were killed on Europe's roads. "A standard-fit ABS can prevent more than one-quarter of all motorcycle accidents with personal injuries," is how Gerhard Steiger, president of the Bosch Chassis Systems Control division, sums up the findings of a Bosch accident study.
Audi Sport made Michelin Green X Challenge history at this year’s Twelve Hours of Sebring race in the US, becoming the first hybrid powered vehicle to claim victory in the country’s premier environmental motorsports competition. The Audi R18 e-tron Quattro driven by Marcel Fassler, Benoit Treluyer and Oliver Jarvis – a prototype that previously won both last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans and FIA World Endurance Championship – added a third feather to its cap on 16 March.
In addition to reporting its 2012 results, US-based aluminium wheel manufacturer Superior Industries International, Inc. has announced plans to build a new manufacturing facility in Mexico to expand capacity and meet anticipated growth in product demand.
Anyone aware of the continued economic fug across the continent might have expected the news that UK and Europe-wide 4×4/SUV tyre markets were depressed in 2012; what you may not have so readily expected was that the macro-trend of increasing sales of V, W, X and Y speed rated SUV tyres would have continued to grow. Yet the latest data from UK market researcher GfK, read in the context of Europool and ETRMA figures, shows that this is exactly what happened during the last year, with more powerful road oriented models continuing to prove popular.
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