Marketing Your New Tyre Changer

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From the 1st November 2012 it will be a legal requirement for all new tyres to feature one of the new tyre labels as required by European Regulation No 1222/2009. The intention behind these labels is to give customers more information about the performance of each tyre. It covers three areas - wet braking, which gives you a guide to how safe the tyre is; rolling resistance, offering a guide to fuel consumption; and external noise. The labels are very similar to those found on household appliances such as washing machines, and should be easy to understand.



These new tyre labels are likely to encourage consumers to put more thought into the tyres they purchase, and tyre manufacturers to put more effort into improving the performance of their product. In time this should improve the safety of our roads (by reducing stopping distances), reduce greenhouse gas emissions (by reducing fuel consumption), and reduce the noise that traffic produces. Overall this should result in a definite improvement of our environment.



From the 30th May 2012 you may start to see the new labels appearing on your car tyres, and from 1st November 2012, they will become a legal requirement on all tyres sold in the European Union. Tyre manufacturers have welcomed the new tyre labelling laws as it will better inform tyre consumers of three crucial performance characteristics. The new labels will give information about fuel consumption, wet braking and noise levels. Interestingly, tyre manufacturers actually measure many more performance indicators than just the three on the labels - Dunlop track at least 50!



These new tyre labelling laws are likely to have a dramatic effect on the tyre retail industry. As this is more than likely the biggest change in tyre retailing over the last generation, it is only natural for manufacturers and retailers to wonder what the effects may be. With this change coming as we are still in a recession, it is even more important that retailers are able to properly prepare.



The current situation actually seems to be improving; while many tyre retailers have been closing branches this year, these figures have dropped from the previous year when twenty times as many branches were closing among the top 20 tyre retailers in the United Kingdom. In fact, many companies are reporting growth over the last year, with new tyre fitting depots being added to networks across the country.



The biggest concern that tyre retailers have is that consumers will be confused by these new labelling laws and that may affect their buying confidence. While tyres are a distressed purchase (i.e. not generally something that you look forward to spending your money on), it is a worry that consumers may put off buying their new tyres until the last possible minute, which puts them at greater risk of experiencing an accident as their tyres will not be performing as well as they should. One thing the retailers will be doing to try to combat this is having a lot of point of sale literature available to explain the labels to consumers. They will also need to accept that consumers may require a bit more time spent on explaining things to them when they are choosing their tyres prior to fitting. In the long run, the extra effort should pay off, as better informed consumers make for an improved retail environment.



We all know we ought to check our tyres regularly, both for wear and tear, and the tyre pressures, but do you really know what you are looking for? Your car tyres are the only part of your car that is in contact with the road, so the way your car drives will depend a lot on the condition of your tyres. The area of each tyre that is actually in contact with the road surface is only about the size of a foot, so if you want to stop when you press your brake to the floor, you need that small area of tyre to have sufficient tread and the right tyre pressure to stop in adequate time. After all, under an emergency braking situation, it could save your life MOT near me.



So you are ready to check your tyres. Here is a quick list of things you should be looking out for:



The tread wear indicator bar - this is a bar going across the treads that is only visible when the tyres are wearing out. There will be a few of them in different places, and if your treads are at the same level as the indicator bars, you probably have only 2 millimetres of tread left. As the legal limit is 1.6 millimetres, this means it is time to book in for your tyres to be replaced.