Wheels
As the tyre brand of choice for numerous race teams and track enthusiasts around the world, Avon tyres has taken its expertise and understanding of race tyres and applied the same principles and technology to its ultra high performance road tyre range. Catering for luxury saloons through to high-performance sports cars, Avon’s ZZ5 and ZZ3 tyres are intended to provide the highest levels of grip and handling on the road and track.
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Following research by Motor Wheel Service last month that showed commercial wheels sustaining undetected damage when fitted to non-standard hubs, the Department for Transport has stated that it will undertake independent testing to verify the company’s findings. The initial investigation, carried out on an LBF machine by one of the world’s leading CV wheel experts, Dr Sundararajan of Wheels India, found that non-circumferential hubs, which give only partial contact between axle and wheel, are causing untested load stresses which cause cracks and half life expectancy. MWS, the worldwide distributor of Wheels India’s xlite truck wheels, has campaigned extensively over the past few years for increased safety checks, maintaining that there is also a problem with used take-off wheels entering the market without mandatory safety checks.
Nordisk Dæk Import A/S (NDI) has appointed New Zealand’s TRS Tyre and Wheel Ltd as its AP+ Dual Wheels distributor in the region. The decision took effect in May 2012. According to NDI, the company’s AP+ Dual Wheels are a “resounding success” in many other countries worldwide as well as well as the home Danish market.
SEMA Show organisers have announced that around 150 wheel manufacturers have already signed on to exhibit at the upcoming 2012 SEMA Show/Global Tire Expo, Tire Review reports. “We’re pleased to see so many wheel companies joining us at the 2012 SEMA Show,” said Peter MacGillivray, SEMA vice president of events and communications. "Wheels are such an integral product in our industry, and the fact that so many exhibitors have confirmed their participation this early in the year is exciting.” The show will be held between 30 October and 2 November at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Bavarian off-road specialist delta4x4 technicians were “taken aback” recently when asked to fit a large set of wheels to a Yeti. No they hadn’t discovered an immobile abominable snowman. Instead young woman customer was requesting the biggest possible wheels for her Skoda Yeti. However, while there were no actual mythical creatures involved, there does seem to have been a hint of the green-eyed monster. Apparently her motivation was to outdo her husband who drives an Audi Q7 with 20 inch wheels.
Alcoa Wheel Products will be present at the Tip-Ex show 25 – 27 May. The company will be exhibiting examples from its range of wheels aimed at heavy and medium duty trucks, trailers and buses.
Leading independent supplier of specialist wheels, tyres, axles and components for the OEM industrial and agricutural market, Totrax Ltd supplies the UK market with exclusive products from Emrald Greckster and Italmatic Comfort. The distributor recently announced a new website, having relaunched at www.totrax.com recently. Company representative Simon Tidmarsh told Tyres & Accessories: “We moved away from .co.uk to .com as a result of our increasing international sales for our off-road axle, springs and suspension customers.”
Cooper Tire & Rubber Company Europe Ltd will exhibit its latest and “most innovative” 4×4, ultra high performance passenger car and motorcycle ranges at Reifen 2012. The company (Hall 3, Stand 241) will bring new products from both its Cooper and Avon brands to the annual international tyre fair in order to showcase the strides being made in tyre development and technology, including design work conducted at its European Technical Centre in Melksham, UK. The Cooper display will feature the newest Discoverer S/TMAXX and the Discoverer A/T3 4×4 tyres, while Avon will be represented by its ZZ5 UHP passenger car tyre, launched last year to complement the ZZ3, as well as its brand-new 3D Ultra range of motorcycle tyres.
Commercial vehicle venture Speedline Truck, created by global wheel manufacturer Ronal, has appointed SP Holding as the UK aftermarket agent for its new range of forged truck wheels. Marketed through an independent sales and distribution centre based in Italy, the new range represents the Ronal group’s response to what it perceives as a growing demand for forged aluminium truck wheels.
As a well established, regular exhibitor at the Reifen exhibition, Singapore based Stamford Tyres will once again be using Europe’s most important tyre show to maximum effect. This year it has secured a larger, 100 square metre stand for itself (hall 2, stand 530), and will introduce a new tyre and a new alloy wheel range.
Europe-wide online tyre retailer Delticom AG says it will once again maintain a presence at the Reifen show in Essen, Germany. At this year’s exhibition, the company will present its full portfolio of services at its stand (hall 3, stand 303), including its core passenger car tyre business, its wholesale two-wheel tyre segment and the company’s fleet vehicle, truck, industrial and special tyre segments.
Wheel brand Fondmetal has launched its new lightweight and heat-treated wheel the 9RR, available from Performance Wheels. The Italian firm has been active in the OEM and motorsport wheel market for four decades, and the 9RR draws heavily from Fondmetal’s race heritage.
Great Wall Motor Company reports that it has become the first Chinese marque to get its cars on sale in UK. The first from the firm to land on these shores is the Steed pick-up on sale now, priced from £13,998 (CVOTR) and it comes with 16-inch alloy wheels as standard. Earlier this year another Chinese OEM, Geely, announced its plans to market vehicles in the UK.
Commercial vehicle wheels operating on non-standard spider and star shaped hubs are sustaining damage that could half their lifespan, according to research by Wythenshawe-based distributor, Motor Wheel Service. The company instigated research into the damage non-circumferential hubs can cause to wheels untested on anything other than circumferential products. John Ellis, managing director of MWS, said: “We do not know how many vehicles are operating on UK roads with spider and star shaped hubs. It is now up to VOSA and the main CV bodies, who I suspect are completely unaware of this problem, to ascertain the scale of the issue and exactly how it should be handled.” Ellis and MWS have long campaigned for the introduction of more stringent safety checks on CV wheels, citing the influx of take-off or second-hand wheels into the UK market; now the use of non-standard hubs has provided them with a second angle to present to the Department for Transport.
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