Tag Archives for " tyres in Brisbane "

0 How to avoid a disaster on a Queensland road trip this autumn

Safety tips for your car, passengers and tyres in Brisbane

Tyres in Brisbane’s changing weather conditions can cause problems if they’re not well maintained. Now that autumn is here, one of Queenslanders’ favourite pastimes is an Easter road trip. Perhaps down to the Gold Coast for some rest and relaxation, or into the outback for a family adventure.

Before you head off, prepare your tyres, car, and yourself. Keep your passengers safe and your car on the road with these tips:

Check your vehicle

Vehicle maintenance should be a routine. But before a trip, give your vehicle an extra vigorous once-over:

• Start with the tyres. Brisbane’s roads can be fickle in the autumn. Make sure your tyres have the correct tread depth. Check the tyre pressure, and ensure every tyre is correctly inflated.
• Next, check your fluids – brake and clutch, oil, transmission, coolant, and water.
• Check your lights – front and rear. Replace bulbs where needed. Pack spare bulbs for the trip.
• Check your windscreen wipers and washer fluid. Pack a spare bottle of fluid.
• Get your head under the bonnet and check your fan belt, coolant hoses, and battery.

Check your emergency supplies

Whether you’re driving down the coast or into the bush, be prepared for any emergency. Here are the essentials you can’t afford to be without:

• A first aid kit
• Water – if you break down in the outback, you’ll need around 4 litres of water per person, per day.
• Food – pack some high-energy emergency rations
• Maps and a compass – Sat Navs have a habit of failing when you most need them
• Blankets – it gets cold at night

Don’t forget other essentials for your vehicle: a toolkit; fire extinguisher; two ropes; two spare wheels.

Oh, and, just in case, take a shovel and toilet paper.

Check your vehicle recovery strap

If you get bogged down in the bush, you’ll rely on your recovery strap to get you out of trouble and back on your journey. Since 2003, there have been at least two deaths in Queensland because of unsafe use of motor vehicle recovery straps (Australian Competition & Consumer Commission).

Check the Product Safety Australia website for details about the type of straps you need for your vehicle, and how to use them safely. Or come into our West Brisbane tyre shop, have your tyres thoroughly checked and we’ll help you with your snatch straps.

What if you run into trouble on the road?

If you’ve checked your tyres, hopefully, you won’t have a tyre blow-out. But if you do, here’s what to do:

• Don’t panic
• Hold the steering wheel in two hands and compensate for the pull
• Take your foot off the accelerator
• Don’t brake immediately
• When the vehicle is under control, brake gently
• Pull over in a safe place and stop

Drive safe in floods

Although the worst of the rain should be over, there’s always a chance of flooding. It may take a few days for floodwater to rise. A flash flood could take minutes. Here’s what you should do to stay safe in flooding:

• Never drive on roads which are closed.
• If the floodwater has started to recede, stay off the road until it has been reopened. It could be damaged, and until it’s dry that damage won’t be known fully.
• Even when a road is reopened, drive slowly and carefully – a road that is drying out can be slippery and damage developing slowly.
• Floods cause landslides, so stay wary when driving after flooding. A landslide could happen hours or days after a flood.

Road trip or not, don’t neglect your tyres

Brisbane’s roads can be unpredictable in the autumn. Your tyres may have suffered during the heat of the summer. The rubber could have been impaired. Tread may be worn. As summer drifts into autumn, it’s time to get your tyres checked and rotate them. Rotating your tyres can increase their lifespan.

Bring your vehicle in our West Brisbane tyre shop. We’ll check the tread, and make sure there is no dangerous damage to the sidewalls. We can check the wheel alignment and balance, too. This will make sure that your tyres wear evenly and give you a safer and more comfortable driving experience.

If you want tyre advice, contact us (by Skype, telephone, or on our contact form) to get expert advice at our Brisbane tyre shop.

Keeping your family and fleet safely on the road,

Kevin Wood

0 Tyres in Brisbane – Tyre development to rival Star Wars science fiction

Tyres in Brisbane –  Self-inflating and self-grooving tyres are around the corner

I sometimes sit and wonder about the future of driving, cars, commercial vehicles, and, of course, tyres in Brisbane. The way that the automotive market has changed in even the last twenty years or so has been remarkable.

Cars used to be big and square. They’re now smaller and sleeker, and yet have more space for passengers and luggage. Steering commercial vehicles used to require Popeye-sized muscles. The dashboard used to consist of only a speedometer and a temperature gauge. Sit at the steering wheel of a modern vehicle, and you could be in the cockpit of a Jedi starfighter.

Now, companies are racing to be the first mass-producer of driverless vehicles. Though I have to confess the latest ‘no-hands parking’ functionality will be a godsend to many, I do wonder if such automation will remove the enjoyment of driving for many. Will there be a point when drivers say “enough is enough”, or will technology continue to shape our driving experience? And what is the future for the car and commercial vehicle tyres (especially here in Brisbane)?

In this article, I look at what the automotive and tyre industry might have in store for all of us.

The digital age is going to deliver better performance

Vehicles are going to get faster. They’re going to become greener, deliver more kilometres per litre and become more interactive, but with less driver interaction.

The digital age has already delivered engines that are monitored by a hundred and one sensors. A mechanic no longer pops the bonnet and spends ten minutes looking around your engine and listening to it in physical examination. He plugs it into an all-knowing digital analyser, which pinpoints an issue in seconds.

When you’re driving, you benefit from external sensors that help you reverse in tight spaces, alert you if you get too close to the vehicle ahead, and ring alarms the moment your tyres touch a white line. Like I’ve already said, car dashboards are like something out of Star Wars.

There’s a lot more to come, and developments are going to come thick and fast.

The new age of the supercar is here

Auto magazines are already predicting that supercars that can travel at more than 300 km per hour will be in production within four years. These cars will have just four cylinders as standard. Ford’s EcoBoost Mustang reaches around 230 km per hour, costs around US$25,000, and is already helping Mustang break sales records in the United States.

Supercars with smaller engines, offering better fuel consumption and faster top speeds will be standard in a few years. Perhaps not everything the average petrolhead wants to hear, but definitely the direction of the market.

Lighter cars equal lower fuel bills

The world is going green and lean, and this philosophy is the direction in which vehicle manufacturing is travelling. Carbon emissions are reducing, but the use of carbon fibre is increasing in the production of cars and commercial vehicles. It’s robust and stiff, and it’s lightweight, too. This weight advantage is going to help fuel consumption and performance. Manufacturers are developing carbon fibre parts to replace steel and aluminium used today. By 2020, the automotive industry will be the world’s largest consumer of carbon fibre, which will help to further reduce carbon emissions.

Hybrid cars will become the norm

Battery and engine management advances have helped manufacturers produce hybrid engine cars that will soon be the norm. Fuel economy is going to sprint forward, and roads are going to become quieter – I drove a hybrid recently and thought the engine had cut out at every light!

Reduced driver interaction

We’re already starting to get used to cars that make decisions for us. Cruise control has been around for a while now, and newer technology like distance control is becoming more common. How far can this technology take us? Self-driving vehicles are around the corner, and cars like the Tesla Model S and BMW 7 Series already have technology that self-corrects performance for different road and weather conditions – drivers don’t even know their decisions are being made for them.

Greater vehicle interaction

Where drivers will be relieved of much of their current in-vehicle responsibilities, vehicles themselves will become more interactive. They’ll start talking to each other.

There’ll come a time, and it could be very soon, that vehicles alert other vehicles in bad road conditions, heavy traffic, bad weather, and so on. Your vehicle’s Sat Nav system will update its route in real time, as all this information from other road users is downloaded and crunched at superfast speeds.

The future for tyres in the new age of driving

If you think all the above is exciting stuff, then listen to what could be in store for the rubber between you and Brisbane’s roads.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how commercial vehicle tyres just took a giant leap forward. We can expect more advances over the next few years. You’ll see new tyre compounds, and tread patterns will evolve for greater safety. Road handling capability will increase, but that’s not all. Here’s what tyre manufacturers have got up their sleeves:

• Chips located inside the tyre will connect the tyre to the engine like never before. Just like vehicles will talk to each other, tyres will talk to the vehicle.
• The Tyres will evolve with the road conditions underneath, altering their air pressures to give better traction.
• Tyres that renew their tread grooves – retreading could be a thing of the past.
• Tyres that self-inflate.
• Airless tyres that offer a smoother and safer drive.

Within a decade, the tyres we use on the roads in Brisbane could be a galaxy away from today’s models. It might sound a little science fiction, but we really could be driving on tyres that are safer, greener, perform better, and last longer. Or maybe we won’t be driving on them, but merely sitting in a car that transports us from A to B without the need for driver interaction.

Whatever the future for cars and commercial vehicles, tyres will evolve, too. Tyre manufacturers are spending billions of dollars every year to bring tomorrow’s tyres to you today.

Whatever your tyre needs – high performance, better handling, longer life – contact us today (by Skype, or on our contact form) or phone us on 3333 5510 and book an appointment to have your tyres checked in Brisbane. You’ll find the latest tyres with the most modern technology are on our shelves.

Keeping your family and fleet safely on the road,

Kevin Wood

0 Tyres in Brisbane – Is it safe to drive with mismatched tyres?

Tyres in Brisbane – Make sure your tyre change is made for safe driving

When your vehicle’s tyres in Brisbane are replaced, it pays to go to a tyre specialist. That’s what the following story shows – a nightmare that I wouldn’t have thought could be true. Unfortunately, it is, and it makes me wonder how many other cars are in a similar dangerous state.

Even car dealerships make mistakes with tyres in Brisbane

I was discussing tyres at a barbie a couple of weekends ago when a friend said that she was experiencing poor control. She had twice felt her back-end slip on the camber of a bend that morning before arriving at our place.

As soon as I examined her car, I knew the reason her driving was suffering. She’d had three new tyres recently. That’s three. Not two or four, but three. It turns out that she’d taken her car for a service, and the dealer had replaced the tyres that they said needed replacing. And it turns out that not all car dealerships know that you should never switch out an uneven number of tyres.

Not only had the dealership changed only three tyres, they’d also changed them for a different size! The three new tyres were P195/65/R15, and the one that they left was P195/60/R15. (For an explanation about tyre sizes, see our tyre blog “How to choose the best tyres for Queensland roads and save money”.)

Is it dangerous to drive on mismatched tyres?

As my friend had experienced, mismatched tyres can produce poor vehicle handling. If all your tyres are the same make, model and size, you’ll be able to maintain them for longer with a good tyre rotation policy. Uneven tyres equal uneven steering and uneven braking. By rotating regularly, wear should be evener.

What’s the best strategy for changing tyres?

Ideally, you should replace all four tyres at the same time. It’s also best to replace like with like – the same manufacturer and the same amount of wear. It creates an even balance to your vehicle and improves handling, especially when you most need it – on wet roads, around corners, and in heavy traffic.

For most people, changing all four tyres simultaneously is an expensive proposition. Especially if only one tyre ‘needs’ replacing – for example if you’ve had a blowout. It’s unreasonable to expect you to go to the expense of changing all four tyres for the sake of a single flat.

What if you can’t afford to replace all four tyres?

If you can’t afford to replace all four tyres at the same time, then you should replace in pairs – and on the same axle. Replace with the same style, size and make as your remaining tyres. If this is impossible, speak to us and we’ll suggest a suitable alternative as close to the dimensions and tread design as possible. Most importantly, we’ll match performance, speed and load ratings, and traction characteristics.

And if your remaining tyres have a little wear and tear?

If the remaining tyres haven’t had much wear on them, then you may get away with replacing only the flat. If you do this, then select a tyre that’s the same make, size and type as the tyre on the opposite end of the same axle.

Another solution may be to buy retread tyres – a suggestion that some tyre buyers might consider being preposterous (having been taught by their fathers and grandfathers that retreads are dangerous), but a solution that could save hundreds of dollars on a set of four new tyres.

Always change your tyres with a strategy of safety first. Contact us today on 07 3333 5510 and book an appointment to have your tyres checked in Brisbane.

Keeping your family and fleet safely on the road,

Kevin Wood