Wheels
The market can change so quickly: Passenger car alloy wheel manufacturers, both large and small, recently and sometimes reluctantly reduced their production capacity while others became casualties of the consolidation that takes place within the sector whenever overcapacity is present in the market. Now the picture is very different. Alloy wheel firms are desperate to find factories whose utilisation capacities are less than a hundred per cent.
Michigan’s Federal-Mogul, a global supplier of powertrain, chassis and safety technologies, has introduced a new range of brake discs designed specifically for use on vehicles with alloy wheels. The Ferodo brakes product range now includes the new Ferodo Coat Plus premium coated brake discs and is available immediately through distributors. “The benefits of Ferodo Coat Plus discs extend beyond an attractive appearance; each disc is engineered to provide superior braking performance, without noise or vibration,” said Mario Garelli, Federal-Mogul braking products manager, EMEA.
This year saw a milestone in American history that is “known to few but benefits everyone”, according to American forged aluminium wheel producer Alcoa. “On February 23, 1886, Charles Martin Hall passed an electric current through a molten cryolite-alumina solution to form the first small, shining globules of aluminium, known today as ‘our crown jewels.’
Motor Wheel Service will be displaying its xlite and xbrite ranges of forged aluminium commercial vehicle wheels at Truckfest Peterborough, while also promoting its steel wheel safety campaign. Located on stand A18, the company will be highlighting the fuel and payload advantages of forged aluminium wheels – but also discussing the need for operators to look seriously at the issue of wheel safety and product procurement.
At the start of March, Starco increased its involvement with Schaad products throughout much of the Nordic region. The group’s home market distribution company, Starco A/S, took over the range’s distribution in Denmark and Starco has also taken on a sales and support role for Schaad throughout the Scandinavian market, aside from certain products in Sweden that will continue to be handled by Gripen Wheels.
ATS Euromaster is aiming to help fleet managers gain greater control over tyre management with new software developed in-house, combined with its proven electronic tyre inspection tool, to analyse the condition of tyres in such detail that managers can use the resulting report to reduce operating costs and improve tyre life, safety and uptime. The company calls its new analysis tool FleetMax, and it is offering an initial fleet-wide analysis free, and without obligation, to prospective new customers with more than 50 vehicles.
The UK distributor for TSW replacement alloy wheels Yokohama HPT has announced that it has added four new styles to its 2011 UK range of wheels. Two of these wheels use TSW’s “Rotary Forging” manufacturing process to create wheels of higher strength than previous models but with lower weight. The technique involves introducing the molten metal to the mould under pressure, as the mould rotates at high speed. Because of the flow of metal, says Yokohama, the resulting wheel has higher inherent strength than a cast wheel while it can also be made with lower weight, assisting vehicles’ acceleration. Also, it helps to reduce the unsprung weight of the car, which in turn leads to more responsive suspension and hence, improved handling characteristics.
Wolfrace has announced the release of Nitework alloy wheels for small and compact vehicles, a range the company says is to be the first of several new styles to be launched in the Wolfrace Eurosport portfolio. The company celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2011, and says that the Nitework is to continue in the footsteps of previous Wolfrace products, which have aimed to provide highly desirable designs, such as the original Slot Mag, the Voodoo and the Matrix.
The issue of safety checks on commercial vehicle wheels achieved government attention at the end of March, as the Labour member of parliament for Wythenshawe and Sale East, Paul Goggins sought to raise the concerns of his constituent John Ellis, managing director of Motor Wheel Service (which is keen to raise the profile of this safety issue), with the Department for Transport (DfT). On 29 March, Goggins formalised the discussions in a Private Members’ Debate at Westminster Hall in conversation with the Conservative MP for Hemel Hempstead, Mike Penning, who is the current government minister for roads. MWS estimates that over 10,000 second hand and take-off wheels entered the market in 2009, of which the large majority were sold by companies who do not possess the technical abilities or examination procedures to ascertain the history and fatigue of a wheel.
Recent months have seen a flurry of activity in the road safety and legislative lobbying arenas. During March and April this culminated in the surreal combination of blimping, debating, campaigning and contesting – all focusing in on improving road safety in general and tyre and wheel integrity in particular.
When talking of diagnostic equipment, many immediately think of engine analysers, hand-held electronic devices, but very few put wheel aligners or specialist balancers in that category. However, wheel service equipment specialist Pro-Align is keen to promote its comprehensive range of equipment designed to help workshops diagnose and solve many wheel and tyre related problems such as uneven tyre wear, difficult wheel vibration issues, vehicle pull or crooked steering wheels.
Alcar Wheelwright managing director Kevin Greer has reported a notable area of success in a UK wheel market battling hard against a medium-term slump, which looks set to continue in many segments. The wheel aftermarket is described by the Kent based importer as “difficult and depressed”, but the company is playing up the success of its recently expanded Calibre range, which it says has seen a significant level of interest from both the UK and increasingly mainland Europe. Alcar says the retro styles: Eclipse, Vice, Bomb and especially Vintage fill a gap in a European “look market” it describes as “hungry”.
Tomorrow (Tuesday 29 March 2011) between 13:30 and 14.00, MP Paul Goggins, will lead a debate on road vehicle wheel safety in Westminster Hall. The debate is expected to focus upon how substandard second-hand wheels are entering the commercial vehicle wheel supply chain, the inherent problems this may cause, and what can be done to monitor and assess the scale of the issue.
Trelleborg Wheel Systems has announced a further price hike on agricultural, forestry tyres and wheels effective April 2011. The latest price increase of 9 per cent covers both the European and North American market places. “Booming raw material prices, especially for natural rubber,” were cited as the reasons for the price increase.
Mytyres.co.uk – the UK online shop of Europe’s leading online tyre retailer Delticom – is offering motorists a simple tyre safety check list to ensure their tyres are fit for purpose and help to keep them safe on the road. Interestingly the five-point safety check begins with a recommendation to change tyres when tread depths reach around 3mm.
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