Some More Useful Facts About Tires
Posted on March 12, 2010
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Probably, you have read and heard a lot about tire myths. You believe some of them, other you try to check yourself. Look through some more facts, concerning tires, and make useful conclusions.
Lets turn to some of them:
1.Wide tires can increase the speed of your car, if you take part in a race.
It’s true. If you have big and wide tires, your possibility to avoid slipping is higher and your car accelerates faster.
2. Automobile tires, filled with nitrogen leak out the air slower than that ones filled with the oxygen.
Yes, sure. Nitrogen molecules are bigger and that’s why iflation pressure don’t need to be checked so often.
3. Winter tires provide you with additional safety.
It’s the real truth. Especially when you have severe winter weather in your country and strong snowfalls.
4. The optimal service life of a tire – 25-35 thousand miles.
Tires becomes weary when you drive much, cover rather long distances at high speed, you are to change your tires nearly once a 4 years.
5. Overinflated tire will burst.
It doesn’t happen if you have a new tire of a good quality. Only if you have a damaged wheel the exceeded pressure on the sidewall may cause such a problem.
Top 7 Questions Most Frequently Asked At Tire Shop
Posted on March 11, 2010
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We have conducted small research regarding the questions that are most frequently asked at tire shops. Below you will find the questions and our brief answers.
How noisy?
Acoustic comfort is very important for many drivers. The question can be answered as follows: if other conditions (manufacturer, price segment) are equal, V-shaped directional tread pattern will be noisier. Physical laws work here: V-shaped layout of grooves and tread blocks causes resonance in shoulder area what in its turn entails increased noise level. So, if acoustic comfort is more important for you than high-speed directional stability on wet surface, tires with non-directional tread pattern will suit you better.
How soft?
The question may be very relevant especially if one has to deal with poor-quality roads. The common principle is: the lower the profile – the worse the absorption of undulations. In case two tires have the same profile but the sidewall of one of them is softer, the tire with more rigid sidewall will deliver less comfort. The disadvantage of the tire with a softer sidewall is its higher exposure to damages.
When was the tire manufactured?
A lot of people have been asking the question lately as they look for the tires manufactured in 2010 or 2009. In theory such search is a waste of time as tires can be stored for more than three years without losing their properties. But their storage must be proper, and there the anxiousness of a purchaser is justified as he is not able to monitor storage conditions. On the other side, one can easily distinguish tires that have been stored improperly – they have dents on sidewalls, radial and circumferential curvings, worn spots and small ruptures.
Where was the tire made?
People are constantly interested in the manufacturing country. Many of purchasers are afraid of Chinese tires. But all the tire producers say that the quality of the products manufactured under their brand will always be the same regardless of the manufacturing region. The human factor has minimal influence on the manufacturing process. The main thing there is the quality of the used components and equipment that is the same at all works (China, Russia, Europe, America). The sellers confirm this information saying that faulty tires are equally rare among the products manufactured both in Europe and China.
What do color spots on the sidewall and circumferential stripes on the tread mean?
The question is asked not very often but regularly. Drivers are afraid of marks on tires because they consider them as signs of the lowering of quality. There is plenty of such information on the Internet. Here is the truth: spots on the sidewall are markers for balancing. For example, red spot marks the heaviest place on the tire, yellow – the lightest. By the way, working on the modern balancing machines makes the spots absolutely unnecessary but some producers still mark their tires. Circumferential stripes can be either traces of the testing machines that check radial wobbling of tires at works or inner manufacturing markers that simplify manipulations with different models and sizes of tires at warehouses.
Will the performance on wet surface be good?
Quite popular question. To answer it one can recommend tires with directional tread pattern. Nevertheless, premium segment tires with non-directional tread pattern also provide good water withdrawal properties.
How long is the service life?
This question is typical for those purchasers who have already chosen some particular model. Frankly speaking there isn’t a single criterion. The common principle is following: softer rubber wears faster. Such rubber is basically typical of sport tires as they are to ensure better traction performance.
The Secret of Airless Tires
Posted on March 10, 2010
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New technologies bring us new perception of life. They make it more convenient,easy and stylish. This is the main advantage of contemporary inventions. If we turn our attention to innovations, concerning the sphere of automobile industry, we may notice that new developments are rather creative and useful too.
Michelin Company takes into account the practical improvements of its goods in order to provide a good quality of them. So, lets explore the characteristics of the new intellectual tires, which have been introduced by Michelin.
Tweel is a new technology of manufacturing tires which allows to ride without inflate them. Airless tires is a kind of alternative for inflated regular ones. A tire is put on a wheel, and plastic bands are used instead of the normal sidewall. The material, which is used in their production is polymer, that’s why the tires are rather flexibile and provide support in difficult situations. Thanks to this invention you don’t need to worry that your tire can be punctured or have a flat. Besides, you don’t need to suffer from air valves and air compressors at gas stations.
Of course, airless tires are the tires of future, but they have their drawbacks as well. One of the most serious ones is the vibration of such tires, which appears while driving at high speed. The other difficulties, caused by them, are heating and noise.
It has been decided to use this tires for military purporses of the US, as they rather safe and convenient and have a form of a honeycomb.
Hubcaps - junk or a work of art?
Posted on February 23, 2010
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What is junk for one person, for the other one - is treasure, especially for a person with rich imagination. For many of us hubcaps are simply parts of our automobiles, but for some people it’s a valuable material for creating a work of art. Ptolemy Elrington is the artist from Brighton, the UK, who can make interesting sculptures of animals such as dragons, dogs, owls, sharks, crocodiles, fish from hubcaps. In this way the author expresses to us his main idea, that used things can live the second life.
You should admit, that it’s rather an extraodinary, but a very beautiful and useful way of garbage utalization. So, the artist collects thousands of lost hubcaps on the sides of the roads all arond the Great Britain and create his intricate sculptures. With the help of his good imagination and magic hands he transforms useless hubcaps into glittering animals.
Each sculpture is so detailed, as you even can’t believe that they have been made from BMW, Mercedes, Ford and Volvo automobile hubcaps. Ptolemy Elrington finds them more flexible for his work.
All the hubcaps, which the artist finds, have scratches and wears, but they add even more beauty to new models.
