Industry Report
RMA Cuts Support After Court Ruling Hopes for a tire industry checkoff program were dealt a couple of significant ®€“ potentially fatal ®€“ blows in late February after yet another court ruled that a popular checkoff program’s consumer education effort was unconstitutional, and the RMA withdrew support for the proposed program.
Ready for TPMS?: Final Rulemaking Will Happen Soon, and it Pays to Be Ready
Before the end of the decade, every vehicle you work on will be equipped with a tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS). Right now, every OEM in Detroit is putting a TPMS on at least one car line, and import models will also be suitably equipped. As much as the tire industry really didn’t like NHTSA’s
Telling Men From Boys
More than a few times, I’ve heard people explain that the basic difference between car tires and truck tires is their obvious relative size: truck tires are bigger! This fact is certainly true in the majority of cases, but even that explanation is becoming a bit marginal. While overall outside diameters remain quite different (at
Style-Driven Service
Tire changer and wheel balancer manufacturers are adapting to the latest trends to help your service business keep up. In the tire and wheel business, style often comes before serviceability. As you know, large, low-profile tire and custom wheel sizes continue to proliferate. That’s bad news for the independent tire dealer who hasn’t invested in
Dead Letter Office
Well, we can retire the letters "I", "T" and "E" from the industry alphabet. Don’t need ‘em because there is no ITE anymore. The announcement that the tire industry’s lone annual convention and trade show has passed into history ®“ more a whisper than a scream, actually ®“ really wasn’t a surprise. Dylan said, "You
KISS Tiremaking
KISS Tiremaking We’re all familiar with the acronym "KISS" ®“ Keep It Simple, Stupid. It’s generally good when instructing a large audience or trying to standardize procedures among diverse groups. KISS helps people remember detailed procedures, routines and sequences. However, KISS doesn’t always work when product and process technologies are involved. I was reminded of
Industry Report
Master contract talks between Bridgestone Americas Holding (BAH) and the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) shattered Nov. 13 after union negotiators walked out of a bargaining meeting claiming the company’s contract proposal was "so far off the mark" and setting the stage for a possible strike at BAH tire plants across North America.
Handling an Issue
If you’re a car enthusiast, or at least spend some time reading the promotion- al material selling high performance passenger vehicles, it’s hard to miss the importance placed on tires and wheels in achieving outstanding cornering and crisp response. The tire contribution in what truly is a multi-faceted handling equation is further underscored weekly at
Faster and Even More Furious
UHP BUSTS THE SOUND BARRIER Many of you reading this article are probably standing in the middle of the ITE/SEMA Show floor. Or soon will be. Around you are acres and acres of performance tires mounted on bright, shiny wheels. Huge diameters and short sidewalls. Practical performance and radical cosmetics. It’s not just that
Industry Report
With a new three-year labor contract in hand, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. turned its attention to other restructuring issues as it works to right its financial ship. The tiremaker formally announced the closing of its Huntsville, Ala., plant, then laid off about 200 employees from its Tyler, Texas, facility.