CarbonBlack talks to The Australian Business

CarbonBlack talks about the importance of lead generation and it’s expansion into parts and accessories ecommerce. CarbonBlack in the Australian.

– The Australian, June 2009

One automotive website to find them all…

Have you ever tried searching in Google for a vehicle pre-purchase inspection before you bought a used vehicle, only to see on the first page 10 results for property inspections?

And how do you know which websites are the best for your needs given the millions of websites out there? Today, some websites allow you to search and compare parts fitted to you car, others bring you live news of the automotive industry… But these gems are often buried on the 30th page of Google!

While Google is a great search engine, it is designed to work on a broad scale and lacks the semantic background to filter the results when searches become specific.

This is why CarbonBlack has decided to develop, share and maintain a search engine 100% dedicated to the Australian Automotive Industry.

www.allthingsauto.com.au uses the Google algorithm but has built on top of it to provide a better search experience on all automotive topics:

• selection of leading automotive websites in Australian and around the world
• almost 1 millions urls prioritised by automotive experts
• ability to refine using 12 factors filtering the type of content (e.g: news vs jobs) or type of service (new / used cars vs service / repairs)
• latest news, blogs, reviews and jobs listings

“The Internet is about sharing… We have been developing this list of great websites internally for 3 years, and have decided that it could be extremely useful to fellow industry workers” admits CarbonBlack founder and managing director Jodi Stanton.

“Everyone is welcome to further improve the engine by submitting new websites and we’ll soon be releasing widgets to carry our search engine in your browser so that you don’t have to come back to the site every time you are looking for car specs, a tyre model or the price of a performance part!” Stanton added.

www.allthingsauto.com.au is available for free and also features a growing compilation of the best automotive news sources as well as a job board for the automotive industry.

Cliff Rosenberg, part of the CarbonBlack team and previously the Managing Director of Yahoo! Australia & NZ, has contributed to the strategy of taking this concept live.

Want to recommend a great site to add? Tell us now.

Watch for great new tools on www.allthingsauto.com.au in the coming months.

CarbonBlack releases a widget for consumers to search and compare tyres online

Small, portable, fast…

What’s smaller than the latest smallest mobile phone, but much more portable ?
It’s the new “search tyres” widget from CarbonBlack.com.au, one of the major providers of automotive and tyre industry information in Australia.

Following on the recent launch of a car parts online shop on the website, CarbonBlack.com.au is further developing ways in which motor vehicle owners and car enthusiasts can easily and quickly “hook up” online with tyres and spare parts suppliers, as well as service providers to get their tyres changed, their car serviced or add a new tow bar to the ute !!

the tyre widget available at www.buycartyres.com.au

With the launch of this fast, light and highly portable web widget, Australian drivers will be able to instantly search and compare tyre models online anywhere on the web.

This is in line with our strategy to gain a significant presence in the auto service space this year

said CarbonBlack.com.au’s Sales development manager, Nigel McBride.

CarbonBlack is already discussing white labeling options with several parties, as other service / parts providers realize how they too can provide unique information with a new revenue stream in mind

he added.

The tyre widget is currently in beta version, but CarbonBlack has made it available for anyone to use at www.buycartyres.com.au.

In the month of April, over a million tyre models were viewed on CarbonBlack.
Now, the technology can be incorporated into other automotive trade businesses with minimal effort.

Biodegradable Oil-Reply

I followed a mate’s Landcruiser Diesel into the tennis club the other day, to be greeted by the overwhelming smell of fish oil coming from the exhaust.

He told me that he was running it on recovered cooking oil from the local restaurants and clubs- he works at the municipal refuse dump, so it’s free (at present).

There’s a thriving collection industry springing up to collect this oil, he tells me.

Now those clever Americans are marketing a lubricating engine oil made from rendering down beef tallow- an animal fat, not vegetable nor mineral from the ground,

Each cow contributes 90 kg of tallow fat to the process. I wonder where the energy to render it down (by boiling) comes from -oil, coal, natural gas or animal fat?

Read more at http://motorage.search-autoparts.com/motorage/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=592387

Revolutions in the tyre industry

Trivia question – two North Carolina residents changed the course of the world in 12 seconds 104 years ago. What were their first names?

Only 2 out of 700 (majority Americans) knew the answer – Orville and Wilbur.

As a result I have a very nice travel clock. Thank you Princess Alaskan Cruises. Took the mind off the 7 metre waves in the Bay of Alaska too!

So after 3 years or so, the Wright Brothers changed from skids to wheels and tyres (tires). These were made by Goodyear.

Goodyear are still a major supplier to the world’s aviation and defence industries, and they celebrate the centenary of the first tyres made specially for aircraft this year.

The Wright brothers chased weight savings assiduously, and Goodyear made special lightweight tyres for them. Aviation designers still are chasing weight reduction and tyre performace. Latest development are tyres for the Gulfstream jet which have an aluminium bead wire core, rather than steel. This saves 1.3 kg per tyre!

Want to know more about Goodyear’s centenary of aviation tyres? Go to  http://motorage.search-autoparts.article/articleDetail.jsp?id=950056

Green revolution in auto-industry

Firestone Autocare shops in two American States are test marketing the use of twice-refined, used motor oil during routine car servicing.

The mind boggles that sufficient oil is available for collection, re-refining, and distribution to justify the program.

However, economics will determine whether the program is ultimately successful or not.

Recycling used oil uses 85% less energy than processing oil from new, Firestone executives claim. Many parallels to recycling tyres by retreading them can be drawn.

Good on them for having a go.

If you want to know more, go to http://motorage.search-autoparts.article/articleDetail.jsp?id=950056

Tyre Tread Compounds

There’s a great deal of confusion amongst car enthusiasts, particularly the “rubber burners”, on tyre tread compounds and their make-up. One enthusiast on a car blog announced that tyres weren’t made from rubber at all, but from oil. You know what- he was mostly right!

Oils ain’t oils, and rubber ain’t rubber any more.

Tyres contain 3 or 4 different rubbery materials. One is natural rubber; which is the juice of a tree, which is coagulated using acetic acid, smoked and dried. The others are all made from oil, and are called “polymers”- another term is “long chain macromolecules” but don’t worry too much about that. It is now possible to make “natural rubber’ from oil too, but it’s cheaper to let the tree do it.

These various rubbers can be mixed together in different ratios in giant blenders to make a compound. At the same time, other important ingredients are added to make the resultant product tougher and stronger. A typical tyre compound may contain 10- 14 ingredients, all added for a specific reason. The most important of these is carbon black, of which there are many types.

A tyre typically has 7 to 11 compounds, each doing a specific job, be it encasing the bead wires, keeping the air in a tubeless tyre, flexing the sidewall, sticking the layers of nylon or polyester together, and so on. But there is only one compound that hits the road where it all happens, and that’s the tread compound.

This is basically the only criterion on which the motorist can judge the performance of the tyre, so it receives the most comment from car enthusiasts. The tyre engineer and chemist can vary the compound formula to maximise/minimise any tyre characteristic that he requires.

A typical passenger tyre tread compound contains as the base polymer styrene-butadiene copolymer, around 35% carbon black to reinforce it, and maybe some silica. These increase the abrasion resistance, tear strength, and cut resistance. Without them, the tyre would go gooey, and wear out very rapidly. Remember those old crepe rubber soled shoes?

Vulcanisation chemicals such as sulphur, zinc oxide, stearic acid, and accelerators make up 3-5%; antioxidants and antiozidants to stop it perishing or cracking, processing aids such as oil, resins, tackifiers to aid in the lay-up of the assembly are all incorporated.

Some tyres have two tread compounds- either side by side (very rare), or a cooler running undertread compound under a harder, hotter running cap stock. Most, however, only have one compound in the tread area.

The rubber used in tyres is normally a copolymer ( mixed and then polymerised together) of 23% styrene, and 77% butadiene. However, this ratio is not set in concrete, and specialty rubbers of different proportions of these two refinery products can be made. For example, “cling rubber”, which was widely touted for its improved wet grip, is 40% styrene, 60% butadiene. The resulting rubber ran hotter, and wore out quickly under Australian conditions. A 90% styrene, 10% butadiene rubber is used to make floor tiles, not car tyres.

Another rubber developed for use in tyres is polybutadiene. Butadiene is the most common feedstock from a refinery. However the resultant polymer suffers one big disadvantage- its wet grip is poor. Its big advantages are however, that it stands up to extreme abrasion much better than other rubbers, and runs cooler. Back in the days when the Armstrong 500 Miler was run at Phillip Island on standard tyres and rims, and the track was not a smooth hot mix like it is today, Harry Firth won the race by changing only one tyre, whilst everyone else changed at least twelve on the very abrasive track. But he lost 3 seconds a lap, because down on the ocean side, the tyres wouldn’t grip to racing levels. The tyres were made from a high proportion of polybutadiene in the tread, specially airfreighted out for the race.

We’re not as skilful as Harry Firth was then, and the Australian motorist puts “grip in the wet” as the top desirable characteristic from his tyres, so its use is now mainly confined to truck tyres in blends with natural rubber, where heat is the main enemy of tyre performance.

So ultimately, it’s the “grip” of the tread compound that drives, steers, and brakes the car, through the contact patch, around the area of a size 12 shoe. It does this by slipping! Sliding generates friction, and this causes things to happen. All tyres slip, particularly driven and steering tyres, which is why they wear out. No friction- no progress. Try driving and steering on black ice sometime to see what I mean.

“Rubber burners” overlay this with “sticky friction” by heating the tread surface till it starts to revert- goes gooey. Lots of smoke! On top of this, tyres generate heat internally from the stresses generated by flexing (the hysteresis loop). As the rubber warms up, the rubber changes its grip characteristics, provided that the compound hasn’t degraded to the gooey stage (“goes off”). This occurs generally in the thickest part of the tyre under the greatest load, like the outside shoulder of a tyre being driven on a banked circuit. That’s why you see tyre technicians who are evaluating tyres, drive a thermocouple needle into the shoulder of the tyre tread- the thickest part. The electric blankets on the wheels ready for a change onto a race car are there for the same reason- so that the car will handle similarly to the old, warmed up tyres.

The position of the white stripes in the tread grooves of the Formula 1 cars indicates the type of compound used in the tread. The tread grooves are there to slow the cars down, even when the road is dry. Race team managers under F1 Rules have to use at least two types of tyre during the course of the race. This adds another source of tactical variation for managers to consider, as though they haven’t got enough on their plate. But the race result may have been decided in a tyre development laboratory in Kobe or Luxemburg or wherever, since so much data has been accumulated on the vagaries of each circuit, and the tyre compound that performs best on that circuit.

It’s almost time for the Melbourne Grand Prix- so enjoy your viewing

CarbonBlack in the AFR – Mar 3 2009

From tyres to e-commerce – AFR Mar 3 2009

CarbonBlack launches a turnkey ecommerce solution

Australia February 24, 2009 — CarbonBlack.com.au, Australia’s leading independent online destination for tyres and other auto services, today announced the launch of both its ecommerce and fulfilment services for the auto parts and accessories sector with over 900,000 parts listed for over 7,800 vehicles.

In addition to finding leading service centres for services (such as tyre fitment, logbook servicing and pre-purchase inspections) consumers will now be able to research and buy parts by vehicle make, model and year as well as popular accessories such as car reversing cameras and ipod chargers, all at competitive prices.

Parts and accessories suppliers may sell their parts products online through CarbonBlack, as well as make use of CarbonBlack’s new fulfilment services. CarbonBlack has partnered with Magnamail Pty Ltd, one of Australia’s leading direct marketing companies since 1974.

Magnamail delivers products to all parts of Australian and New Zealand for leading Australian suppliers from its state-of-the-art 5000 sq meter warehouse. “CarbonBlack operates on a very professional level, and has significant industry networks. We are pleased to join forces to service some of the auto industry’s leading clients,” outlined Mr. Rafique Majam, Managing Director of Magnamail.
CarbonBlack Managing Director Jodi Stanton says she is pleased to continue to bring new opportunities to its growing base of consumers and trade participants.

CarbonBlack’s existing clients include the Motor Traders’ Association, Hunter Holden, Pirelli, Continental, most Victorian Mazda stores, Lube Mobile, Sydney City Toyota and the new entrant Benchmark Auto. Already they have signed on significant parts suppliers as well, providing both parts and accessories. “We are not seeking to replicate existing channels, but work closely with a smaller number of key clients on converting their sales. Most suppliers do not have the processes and IT systems in place to deliver the small shipments or provide adequate customer service and CRM”, states Ms. Stanton. “It’s a complete turnkey solution.”

CarbonBlack.com.au is leveraging its mass marketing partners such as CatalogueCentral.com.au and dozens of niche automotive partners such as the Australian Women’s Motorsport Network to market the ecommerce site.

Carbon Black is an online community with voting, recommendations, reviews and useful search capabilities that become more helpful over time as more people contribute. CarbonBlack.com.au uses interactive tools to provide a targeted experience for visitors. Since establishment in mid 2007, CarbonBlack has increased its marketing services to include market research and email marketing to over 600,000 profiled consumers.

Sell your products on CarbonBlack
More about CarbonBlack Fulfilment

If you would like to discuss ecommerce or fulfillment with CarbonBlack please email Nigel nigelm@carbonblack.com.au or contact us.