Punctures and “Run-Flats”

I hope that it’s been raining where you are. We needed it.

However, one side effect that can get us involved, is the greater risk of a puncture.

Why? Because wet rubber cuts easier, and is pierced easier, than dry rubber. When the tread rubber is almost gone, then the incidence of punctures increases markedly. A fair statement is that the rate of punctures doubles when there is only the last ten percent of the tread thickness left.

So it’s only flat at the bottom, you are told by unsympathetic observers, while you struggle with over- tightened wheel nuts, and having to unload the boot to find that long neglected spare wheel. And of course, it’s still raining.

So what do you do about it? An ounce of prevention, and all that.

First- is there a spare wheel in the wheel well. Is there a wheel well? Good question. Many modern cars/SUV’s don’t have a spare. They supply a can of gunk to seal the tyre, and get you home. Supposedly.

Not much use though when confronted by the tyre ‘failure’ in the accompanying photographs.

This is what is known as a “run flat failure”. The tyre invariably is on a rear wheel, and has been run in a straight line, deflated, at speed for a considerable distance. The sidewall “knuckles under” midwall where the rotating tyre hits the ground, and the heat and distortion actually melts the reinforcing cords in the tyre casing. So after around 10 km, it fails, disastrously. As the driver of this utility explained, “it happened on the freeway, mate”.

You’d need a pretty big can of gunk to fix that, mate!

Then they started the unenviable task of finding a replacement tyre. Being a utility, it was shod with commercial (or L.T.) tyres, which even though it was a Holden, aren’t always carried by retail tyre stores. Took the whole afternoon.

So make sure that your vehicle has a spare, that it’s got air in it, and can be accessed. It doesn’t matter if your new car has a steel wheel, with a different sized tyre on it, when all the rest are spiffy low profiles on mag wheels- it has been matched and approved for rolling diameter ,and load carrying capacity, and it’s legal.

If it’s a used car, make sure that it’s got a spare. Period!

Here’s the plug! Stuckey Tyre Service

Stuckey Tyre Service is one of Australia’s premier suppliers of car tyres, whether for vintage or motorsport application, or everyday road use. We supply all the major premium tyres. Our sales office and warehouse are located at 828 Sydney Road Brunswick, Australia.

Servicing the demands of Australia’s leading motor racing teams has provided us with unrivalled knowledge of the best performance tyre and wheel combination for every application, road or track. From the most exotic European sports car to the average family sedan, we at Stuckey Tyre Service have a carefully selected range of tyres and alloy wheels to enhance the road performance, safety and appearance of your car.

At Stuckey Tyre Service you can take advantage of the ultimate precision fitting and balancing service where the utmost care is taken with your valuable tyre and wheel purchase. In particular we take great pride in being able to balance a wide variety of specialty wheels including wire wheels for historic applications. The most advanced fitting and balancing equipment is used by skilled technicians whose work is trusted by Australia’s top race drivers at speeds over 300Kpm.

We at CarbonBlack love sending customers to the Stuckey team.

Google’s new algorithms – patience required or we pack our bags for Bing

SEO gurus and webmasters have watched over the last few weeks as Google has been changing its SERP rankings. From what we can tell so far, there seems yet to be clarity on the changes. To the frustration of all of us, Google does not announce their algorithm updates, and we continue to test results and frequent blogs and forums to gain any further insight. But many gurus suggest Google is experimenting with trust and authority in their algorithms.

“We have well established sites being outranked by new sites and by sites with very few backlinks. Also by sites using black hat techniques and unfortunately we see some established and often very trustworthy white hat websites simply disappearing from the rankings altogether. At the same time we have literally day old Craigslist posts ranking in the top results. Some .edu and .gov sites have flown to the top while others have plummeted.” (SiteProNews)

Patience required or we’ll pack our bags for Bing.

The CarbonBlack SEO team will keep you updated in our blog.

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

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

CarbonBlack keeps the innovations coming for Midas

CarbonBlack and Midas have teamed up to introduce a range of innovations to better connect consumers to 90 Midas auto service centres throughout Australia over the coming year. Midas will be able to connect to CarbonBlack visitors conducting “pre-shopping” research prior to buying auto parts and services.

Today ninety per cent of Australian consumers research a product online prior to making a major purchase – and for the Midas network this is great news. Already Australian consumers are relying on the CarbonBlack site to look for new ways to educate themselves and find the right auto product or service.

Joining the CarbonBlack network gives Midas a greater presence on the internet and allows them to better understand its customers. Gaining a greater insight into the purchasing needs for Australian auto consumers will help them further to deliver the ‘The Midas Promise’.

CarbonBlack profiles the Midas green-friendly LPG conversion program

The inclusion of Midas into the CarbonBlack network further differentiates CarbonBlack for consumers. Consumers have an even wider choice of service providers and in fact now can choose to book an auto service online with any Midas service centre.

And for the fully accredited Midas LPG conversion stores and green-friendly auto consumers the good news continues. This new program from Midas to manage the requirements for environmentally-conscious car owners is now on the web. Consumers can find out where and how easy it is to convert to LPG – saving money and protecting the environment at the same time.

A CarbonBlack website for everyone

Individual websites for each Midas service centre makes business a breeze. Every Midas auto service centre has a specially tailored CarbonBlack website to promote day-to-day business and innovations like the LPG conversion program. CarbonBlack then applies its search engine marketing expertise and ensures each service centre is well represented in the search engines.

Investing in a targeted approach

By better understanding your customers you can more easily invest in targeted marketing campaigns. This gives you a better return on investing in your own business.

Online marketing tools are part of the CarbonBlack service and diagnose customer enquiries, update you on how many customer leads have been received, the number of quotes placed and how many website visitors you have had. CarbonBlack can even time how long people are staying on your site and the time it takes to research and place orders. This allows you to promote existing services and launch new services exactly to the people who need and want them. CarbonBlack, specialising in customer acquisition, now also provides market research and email marketing to over 600,000 profiled consumers.

Expanding its online shopping network

As part of its commitment to expanding the CarbonBlack consumer footprint, a series of online shopping alliances will be rolled out over the coming months. This will see CarbonBlack’s digital catalogue of auto parts, service capabilities and network members placed in strategic pre-shopping sites favoured by Australian consumers. This is all part of CarbonBlack’s drive to reach 2 million active automotive shoppers in the coming year.

Cost-effectively maintaining and expanding your business

As consumers continue to seek value in every purchase they make, measuring your marketing effectiveness to both maintain and grow your business makes sense. CarbonBlack can partner with you to provide cost-effective sales leads every week and only charge you for the leads they send.

Anyway don’t just take our word….visit www.carbonblack.com.au to find out how almost 2,000 service centres around the country have the CarbonBlack edge.

Car repair and servicing bills different in Sydney suburbs

The big differences in car repair costs  between Sydney suburbs and between auto service centres, as mentioned in the Daily Telegraph today, is the key reason why CarbonBlacks’ customers wanted us to expand to all things auto.  As with tyres, our customers can  view customer feedback and get  online comparative quotes for car repair/servicing in whatever postcodes they choose without the hassle of making lots of phonecalls.