Good Garage-What Women Should Look for Good car servicing?

20th October 2020/in All Car Repair Articles /by Eric Roberts

What Women Want-

The unfortunate reputation women, in general have when it comes to all things that have to do with cars is they are supposed not to know anything?. People tend to think that women buy a car on account of whether the colour looks good on her or if the upholstery is nice. The truth is, while there are a few who may be that way, many

Good Garage,happy woman customer — happy woman customer browsing through the tyre stock

women are more mechanically inclined than you think. Here are a few things that women want- in a Good Garage.

1. Positive Feedback about the garage concerned

Women are born shoppers for the most part. And while a few know exactly what they want and buy it at first sight, most prefer to window shop. Asking around and getting feedback from people who have used the Car Garage is one of the most reliable ways to gauge how good (or bad) the services are. You don’t expect the manager or sales person who works for the Good Garage to say anything negative, do you? So getting recommendations or cautionary tales is the best way to weed out the good from the bad.

2. Professionalism as soon as you enter the Garage

If a woman’s reputation is she knows nothing about cars, the reputation of mechanics leans towards the seedy and lecherous who think a woman’s face is below her neck. By doing an inquiry in person and getting a sense of the people she will be dealing with, a woman will know that the garage is not meant for her if they make her uncomfortable with their behavior or comments. There is a place and time to be flirty. A Good Garage is not one of them.

3. Handling Complaints

While this may come together with the feedback, it is important for women to find out how complaints are handled. Women are meticulous in general, so if something is not up to snuff and she wants it repaired or redone, will the garage be reasonable or bully her until she gives up. Ask around about how the garage you are looking into handles complaints. The after service response can be a very telling sign if the garage gives good service because this is where you find out how they handle back jobs and complaints. Check also how many complaints they get on the average. Too many complaints is a signal of poor service.

Good Garage,pellontyres garage reception area — Pellon tyres garage reception area popular with women customers

4. Affiliations (is the garage a member of an association)

A woman wants to know that a Good Garage is backed by more than word of mouth. If she knows that a garage has affiliations with companies that provide support and training for them, she will rest easier in choosing them.

5. Guarantees(ask the Garage about their guarantee scheme)

While there are no guarantees in life, a garage should have a guarantee on their parts and/or services. If they are as good as they make themselves out to be, they should not hesitate to give a guarantee on the work.

So if a woman finds all of this in one garage, she will most likely choose that one. Lucky for her, can help her find these kinds of Good Garage from among their 700 independent and vetted garages nationwide.

· An open and honest approach with the customers

· A high standard of work and excellent value for money

· 12 month guarantee on parts and labour

· An open invitation to inspect, review and rate the garages of your choice to make the best informed decision for your needs

Happy woman customer in a Good Garage

Should you even be looking anywhere else? Finally, it is recommended that these jobs should also be carries out when thinking about selling your car.

Michelin Premium Tyres are Still Amongst the Best Including the Alpin Winter Tyre Range

19th October 2020/in All Michelin Tyres /by Eric Roberts

Michelin Premium Tyres one of the Best

Just the other day I was filling in a tyre complaint form. So, for a suspected faulty tyre, that was made by Continental . The tyre was from an SUV and had started to crack around the shoulder area. The cracks were very deep. Naturally, I recommended that we sent the tyre back to Continental. Importantly, to have a look and see what their opinion was. I always say “suspected fault”. Because we never know whether or not the problem was caused by a mechanical fault or not. Some faults are easy to detect! So, I have learned what to look for over the years. Of course, to determine if it’s a fault or not.

But in this case I was not sure. These SUV’s are very big now and must come up against much flexing. Whilst carrying a large weight, perhaps causing flexing cracks in the shoulder area. So I decided to send them back. Faulty ones are not a very common site these days. Including the budget tyre brands. In fact after giving it much thought! I cannot remember seen a genuine faulty tyre for years now.

Bad Old Days

I am old enough to remember the bad old days when the tyre manufacturers were have a hell of a time with steel belted radials. The two companies with the biggest problems were Goodyear and Firestone and thousands were recalled or exchanged free of charge. The problem was that the steel wire that was used to make the steel belts in the tread area was not properly protected from oxidisation (rusting). When they were punctured the water would penetrate the steel belt and cause it to rust. The tyre then started to lift the treads , causing them to go out of shape. We also had them with bad balancing problems.

Michelin coated their steel belts with an alloy made of brass, which was able to stand up to oxidisation and therefore they did not have any problems with out of shape tyres. The patent that Michelin had on the wire was eventually sold to the other tyre companies and the problems that they were having were eventually eradicated.

Michelin tyres warranty

This brings me onto the reason, that Michelin are perhaps still the best tyre product in the World. From the off the tyre manufacturer from France was streets ahead with the Michelin Premium Tyres X range . They were streets ahead of the other tyre makers and the X tyre became famous for its high mileage and reliability, the tyre would do twice the miles as its nearest rivals and the X was followed by other well-known tyre designs in their repertoire, we had the ZX tyres, the XZY and the XZL, XM and XC and many more that have escaped me. Michelin Premium Tyres also make an excellent winter tyre range, lead by the Alpin. This tyre was developed from the experiences of years involvement in motorsport especially auto rallying.

Michelin Premium Tyres to me have always being the epitome of the best products you can buy. They can always guarantee you safety on the road through good handling an d steering qualities, while at the same time giving the car a smooth ride, whatever type or make the vehicle might be. Michelin tyres France always incorporated leading technology into their tyre products, making them a World leader.

When it comes to first rate premium products, Michelin tyres PLC have become a household name. These premium ones give much better handling, grip, endurance, driving comfort and accuracy. Michelin Premium Tyres quality has never been compromised on its tyre materials and design.

the Primacy 3, Michelin Pilot Sport 3 and the tyre developed for the SUVs, the Michelin Latitude Tour HP.

Michelin tyres leaders in greener tyres.

Because of mounting pressure from the Governments onto the Car manufacturers to make more fuel efficient models, then the car makers exerted pressure on the tyre companies to produce

with a much improved rolling resistance. Michelin Premium Tyres were quick to react and developed the more eco-friendly Fuel Saver tyre.

Because the tyres grip the road they consume a large portion of the cars fuel, because of this they brought out the Michelin Energy Saver tyre range. They reduced the rolling resistance of these tyres by incorporating a secret compound mix that reduced the carbon monoxide emissions from the car that they were fitted to. One of the ingredients used was known to be silicone has been used by other tyre companies. Another breakthrough has been the making of a different type of tread rubber, known as Durable Security Compound (DSC) this enables Michelin Premium Tyres to retain the gripping characteristics of the tyre right down the tread ware indicating bars, yet another first for Michelin tyres energy saver tyres.

Snow Testing General Altimax Winter Tyres-Shows what a winter tyre can do in this snow test

19th October 2020/in Winter Tyre Articles /by Eric Roberts

Snow Testing General Altimax Winter Tyres

Snow Testing General Altimax Winter Tyres

General tyres was acquired by Continental in 1987. Hence, today, operating worldwide. As a result General manufactures tyres for cars, trucks and industrial applications. Including, specialty tyres for 4×4 vehicles.

From the start, the brand has been making tyres for all kinds of motor vehicles. Creating, a large choice of tyre sizes and patterns. Thus, General Tyre continues the long tradition of being the customers’ choice when it comes to Quality, Value and Performance. Especially, for the 4X4 and Altimax products that are produced.

Subsequently, founded in 1915. General Tyre are now based in Fort Mill, South Carolina. So can look back on a proud heritage. Having proven its ability to compete in the ever changing tyre industry. With manufacturing and technological advancements for 100 years.

Unknown, to many motorists. Of course, General tyres are owned and manufactured by the great Continental tyres group. As a result, the famous AT 4×4 tyre ranges are also made by General tyres. Consequently, some in the USA and some in Europe. Therefore, the attached video shows the great performance that these tyres can cope with in winter snow conditions and also in mud and slush.

Snow Testing General Altimax Winter Tyres

These days our customers are very well educated about the virtues of winter tyres. As expected, these tyres are also much safer than summer tyres in winter driving conditions. Many drivers also know about the 7 degrees temperature rule. Of course, many do know this. Accordingly, I will explain in simple terms. Hence, that winter tyres contain a “Silica” based component. Hence, this silica, allows the tyres compound to be flexible when the outside temperature falls bellow 7 Degrees.

Summer tyres do not silica added to their compound. This flexibility allows the tyres more aggressive tread grip better. Therefore, clearly seen in the video. As a result winter tyres are much safer than summer tyres when fitted in the winter months.

Text to go with the above video-General Tyre Altimax Winter + test in snow and mud road in Chistau Valley (Huesca – Spain)

Auto Air Conditioning-101 Made Easy-An Insight into your cars Air Con System

18th October 2020/in Air-conditioning in Halifax /by Eric Roberts

Auto Air Conditioning

Of course, the air conditioners found in the car works similarly to the air conditioners used at present in the offices and houses. In simple words, the air conditioning system of a car is the smaller unit of window air conditioning systems found in many homes.

Although they come out with the same end result. So, the mechanism of a car air conditioning system is quite different from the conventional domestic air conditioning units. The car system in my opinion is a little more complicated. The car system takes the warm air from out of the vehicles cab and recycles the air. Hence, through the cars air-con system. Returning the air to the cab as cold air.

Auto Air Conditioning-Not for DIY motorists

The system is really a heat exchange unit fitted under the cars bonnet. Therefore the air-con system can be very complicated to repair by the DIY motorist. So if you got certain problems in the car air conditioning system then you need to visit your local car service centre. Such as Pellon Tyre and Auto Centre in Halifax UK.

In order to understand, how the car air conditioning system operates. Then, it is required for you to know some of the various parts of the air-con unit. Although systems slightly differ? so In this system, there are two types of valves. There are expansion and dryer valves, which are required for the correct functioning of the air-con system. The function of expansion valves is to regulate the internal temperature of air, and it controls the refrigerant flow inside the system.

This also reminds me that air-con systems are serviced by specialized equipment. Subsequently, our operators have to attend a course and be certified for using this specialist machines that we use.

Auto Air Conditioning-Leaking gas is the main problem

In general though, if your air-con system is giving you certain problems. So, call a local garage. Off course most of the problems that we encounter areas not a simple job to rectify. I recommend that drivers should have an annual air-con service. Possibly, at the same time as as your cars full service. Leakages take out all the gas present inside the air conditioner unit. This is probably the commonest problem that we encounter. Of course with the passage of time, the system becomes useless.

This attached video gives an excellent description of how the Auto Air Conditioning system works in most models of car.

This video represent a “Typical Auto Air Conditioning System – How It Works” as well shows the potential problem of over-charging systems with TXV Valves. Our solution at AC AVALANCHE is to use SMART CLIP Technology for the correct fill!

MOT Test for White E-Type Jaguar-Many boyhood dreams about owning this car presented for MOT Test

18th October 2020/in mot testing, mot testing Halifax /by Eric Roberts

MOT Test for White E-Type Jaguar

of course, it was a sad day when the Government in all their wisdom announced that Most vehicles manufactured or first registered over 40 years ago. Hence, will, as of 20 May 2018, be exempt from periodic testing unless they have been substantially changed.

This “substantially changed “part worried some owners at first. many of these cars have had some major changes. if parts were not available, then they were re-fabricated by specialist companies.

However owners fears were quashed

when it was announced that their would have to be substantial changes to the chassis, running gear and engine capacity before the car was considered as re-built in any way. Especially in the past 30 years of ownership.

According to the UK Government web site then the following changes would be fine- The following are considered acceptable (not substantial) changes if they fall into
these specific categories:
• changes that are made to preserve a vehicle, which in all cases must be when
original type parts are no longer reasonably available;
• changes of a type, that can be demonstrated to have been made when
vehicles of the type were in production or in general use (within ten years of
the end of production);
• in respect of axles and running gear changes made to improve efficiency,
safety or environmental performance;
• in respect of vehicles that have been commercial vehicles, changes which can
be demonstrated were being made when they were used commercially.

Of course this clarified the worries and concerns from the owners of these cars. meanwhile, as it happens we still get these vintage and classic cars presented for the Annual MOT Test. The E-Type Jaguar in my images is a great example. This car was the car that every teenager wanted back in the day. I was twenty years old when this car came out and boy did we want one.

I believe that many of these cars have to be MOT tested for insurance purposes. Importantly to make sure that the car was road worthy or not. Anyhow the white E-Type had many admirers from my other customers on that day. Including myself?

Finally here at Pellon MOT station we recommend Bridgestone tyres for your Jaguar car.

Runflat Tyres Gone Wrong-A look at the “Runflat Safety Tyres” and how they can go wrong

17th October 2020/in All Tyre Articles /by Eric Roberts

Runflat Tyres Gone Wrong

Not many things surprise us but when a BMW 1 series pulled in the other day then we could not believe our eyes?

On a normal busy Thursday morning a customer pulled in to us with a problem(they usually do). His BMW car was making a nasty sounding noise. In fact the guy thought his engine was about to blow up.

The first thing we did was to check the cars levels. Including the water and the engine oil. To our surprise every thing looked fine. We were treading cautiously. So, just in case the engine was about to fail.

In fact everything looked fine so we decided to run the engine. Ryan listened and everything was in order. No warning lights or burning smells coming from the engine. In fact the engine was in good condition.

The next step was a road test.

Ryan took the car on our normal testing run and indeed he could hear a loudish noise. As a result he brought the BMW back to the garage and lifted it up on one of our ramps. He checked the obvious things that could make a noise. Such as the suspension and exhaust parts, everything was in order.

However to his surprise he noticed a massive piece of the tyre missing on the near side tyre on the inside. Where the sidewall meets the tyre tread. Was this the culprit?

As you can see in the image, the damage was substantial. The car was fitted with the original runflat tyre system. With a runflat tyre fitted to each wheel. The job of the runflat is to get you safely home or to the nearest tyre dealer to get the problem fixed. Consequently, runflat tyres have extra layers of rubber coated belt to give extra strength. For this reason the tyre is able to be driven on albeit at 50 MPH.

This eliminates the need for a spare and saves on the overall weight of the car. Thus helping to reduce the cars emissions. The frightening part of this story is the guy had been driving about Yorkshire for at least two days. So as the tyre slowly deteriorated, then the noise became louder from the flapping tread and the guy thought it was the engine.

When we told him we all had a laugh about it. However he was relieved because he only had to buy a new runflat tyre and not a new engine.

Steering Wheel Not Straight ?-Why do you have to to check your Wheel Alignment?

17th October 2020/in All Car Repair Articles /by Eric Roberts

Steering Wheel Not Straight ?

This article reminded me of the number of customers that come to my garage here in Halifax with the same problem. Hence, their steering wheel is not straight.
or many of them say that when the steering wheel is straight then their car pulls to the left or the right. It really does make driving uncomfortable when this is the problem.
Modern cars now have much more refined steering and suspension systems. This makes wheel alignment even more important than ever.
Correct alignment also ensures that your tyres do not wear out prematurely. Another problem after this long wet and snowy winter is the large amount of potholes that are appearing everywhere.
As a result many cars steering has been knocked out of alignment. many cars will show this by pulling to one side. Thus making driving more difficult and not a pleasurable experience.
This also wears your tyres out prematurely.
You would be surprised at the number of cars that come to us for new tyres with one of the sidewalls worn out. As a result sometimes down to the steel cords of the sidewalls. Of course this is the best time to set your alignment up correctly. So, when you buy some new tyres. many of our customers do actually do this. Enabling your tyres to get off to a good start. many tyres now, especially on SUV’s are very expensive.
Therefore the tyres really do need looking after correctly. We do balance your wheels when we fit new tyres but wheel alignment is a separate job altogether. When we fit a customers tyres we do inform them if we suspect the alignment is out. We do a free check and charge from £34.90 upwards for the alignment to be corrected.
Eric Roberts
If you have a car then this is very important thing which you should do.And the thing is to check the Wheel Alignment.Because this can save your many important things.

So, many steering wheel problems are generally caused by your car been out of alignment!

Source: Why to check Wheel Alignment?

Tyre Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS for short)-What we do at Pellon Tyres in Halifax

16th October 2020/in All Tyre Articles /by Eric Roberts

Tyre Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS for short)

So, TPMS, was first introduced as a safety feature and a way to help lower the cars emissions. So, wheat many drivers dont know is that when their tyres have low pressure. Hence the engine has to work harder to propel the car along. Thus creating more pollution than necessary.

Most modern cars now have this system fitted. In fact TPMS is fitted to cars as standard from 2014 onwards. So if the The wheel of your car is fitted with a sensor attached to the wheels valve. Although it looks like a regular old fashioned rubber valve, it is a piece of modern technology warning light comes on then it should not be ignored. The illuminated light means that your tyre pressures are low. Of course this could be caused by a puncture repair and needs immediate attention.

A sensor valve in each tyre monitors tyre pressures

This is how the system works. The wheel of your car is fitted with a sensor attached to the wheels valve. Although it looks like a regular old fashioned rubber valve, it is a piece of modern technology. The sensor knows what pressure your tyres should be set at. If pressure is lost then a signal is sent to the cars computer which illuminates the warning light on the dashboard.

If the rubber or metal valve is damaged then it can be simply replaced and a new one reattached to the sensor. Most car models would cost £19.90 for this service. Incidentally, this price also includes re programming the sensor to the cars computer. Of course this resets the warning light, which consequently goes out.

TPMS sensors should be serviced regularly to avoid sensors developing faults.

So each sensor has its own unique number allocated to it. Of course it is also fitted with a tiny battery. battery failure is beginning to become one of the main problems. The sensor unit is sealed and when the battery fails then a new sensor is required. Like any other battery the more miles a car does then the more use the battery gets. Subsequently, this then leads to battery failure. Thus a new sensor will be needed.

Also like anything else on a car then corrosion can be an issue. The valves and sensors are open to the elements and will eventually be subject to corrosion. This will also be a problem in years to come. New sensors start out at about £69.90 fitted and the light reset. This depends on the type of sensor and whether or not a standard off the shelf replacement will fit your particular car. If the sensor has to come from the main agent then the cost would be much higher.

New vehicles fitted with TPMS and registered from 1st January 2012 so becomes part of the MOT

Drivers should be aware that if your car is presented for an MOT Test. Hence with the The wheel of your car is fitted with a sensor attached to the wheels valve. Although it looks like a regular old fashioned rubber valve, it is a piece of modern technology warning light illuminated then it is a test failure. Although yet another piece of technology, then I think that TPMS is a great safety feature. As a result the system is constantly checking the tyre pressures for you as you drive along. So, any reduction in your pressures ,perhaps due to a puncture will alert you to take evasive action and could save an accident and even lives.

Finally the TPMS system that we use at Pellon Tyres is the Apaseal system and replacement valves.

Nokian Winter Tyre benefits- Also Find out how to drive safely in winter

16th October 2020/in Nokian Winter Tyres /by Eric Roberts

Nokian Winter Tyre benefits

Because of the so called “Beast of the East” then we were all caught out by the massive snow falls and cold temperature of the past week or so. In fact the whole of Europe was swept over by freezing “Siberian” air carried by easterly winds from Russia.

Scenes like this image were common place all across the British Isles. No one escaped it. I think we were caught out by the fact that in the last few winters we have had relatively little or no snow.

Before that we have had spells of cold weather including snow falls in the winter period.

So were drivers ready for the bad weather?

To be fair, many motorists do fit winter tyres in November. In fact we did have some really bad winters and so we at Pellon Tyres in Halifax UK, decided to start a winter tyre hotel. For those new to bad winters, this is where people store the set of tyres that they are not using.

In summer we store the winter tyres and in winter the summer tyres. The only charge we make is for the actual fitting and balancing of the tyres. This has worked very well and keeps our customer base very happy. Unfortunately, we have no more vacancies at the moment our winter tyre hotel is full to the rafters.

However we do sell loads of winter tyre products. Our latest growth area is the addition of Nokian tyres as one of our suppliers of winter tyres. Nokian are building up a UK network of tyre suppliers in the UK. Of course pellon Tyres are honoured to become one of the Nokian tyre centres. Nokian also do a excellent range of Summer tyres including the X line range of “Aramid” reinforced SUV summer tyres.

As a result this article goes through some of the other ideas to help drivers in difficult snowy conditions.

Find out how to drive safely in the winter weather. Before winter arrives, make sure your vehicle is serviced and properly maintained check tyres have the correct tread, are in good condition and inflated correctly.

Source: Find out how to drive safely in winter

Nokian E-Line 2 Summer Tyres-A Tyre with An AA Rating due to Tough Aramid Protection Technology

15th October 2020/in Nokian Winter Tyres /by Eric Roberts

Nokian E-Line 2 Summer Tyres

In my early days of blogging. Then I used to write about almost every new tyre that was introduced by the manufactures. Eventually this began to grind me down. Most new tyres were similar to the last one, or claimed to be the tyre that was greener than the rest. As a result, I have been selling tyres for about forty years now. In the long run, tyres are just a consumer product.

This is certainly true to an extent. Tyre companies have had to come out with different solutions in recent years mainly due to the pressure from car manufacturers. In turn car manufacturers have also been under pressure from governments to bring down the emissions produced by their cars. This pressure has effected every part of the car. Including the tyres.

Tyre were beginning to become smaller and fatter. The 50 and 55 series tyres were introduced to fit some of the sportier cars in the market place. Looks were the thing. If a car looked good on fat tyres then that was kool ?

Things had to change for cars to become more eco friendly. Tyres were being made from unusual materials to make them lighter in weight. Continental are developing the white sticky liquid from “dandelions” Strange but dandelions have the same molecular build up as latex rubber. Yokohama tyres are using “orange skin oils” in their tyre compound mix.

Therefore a tyre that is lighter in weight and is built with a taller overall diameter is much greener.

These tyres will go further. using less of the vehicles fuel. Because they are carrying less weight than there predecessors. The European Union brought out a guide line to show which tyres were the best in each department. The “A” is for fuel efficiency the “B” is fore wet cornering and the “C” is in decibels for tyre noise. When the SUV market began to take off then there was a need to improve “Rolling Resistance” This was done by hardening the tyres compound.

Consequently this had the effect of the tyres having poor cornering. Especially in wet weather. Experiments were carried out with the new materials and “silica” would become the answer. Now most tyres contain silica. This gives the tyres a better rolling resistance and also helps the grip in wet weather situations. Companies were coming out with AA rated tyres the first were the Goodyear Efficient Grips, Pirelli Cinturato P7 Blue and the Bridgestone Ecopia EP001S tyres.

The latest addition to this group is the Nokian E-Line 2 tyres.

As a result Nokian have added an excellent safety feature to the tyre an “Aramid” reinforcement is fitted to the range of SUV summer tyres .This new reinforcement is fitted to the range of SUV summer tyres. Extremely durable Aramid staple fibres, which are also successfully used in bulletproof vests, stiffen and reinforce the sidewall to make it exceptionally resistant to wear and cuts. This is a major safety feature. Especially with the growing amount of potholes that are appearing all over the place.

These sidewalls are so tough that Nokian Tyres Aramid Guarantee covers accidentally on sidewall damaged tyres and provides you with a new, corresponding product free of charge.

You can check out if Nokian E-Line 2 Summer Tyres make an Aramid tyre for your car by clicking and putting your car details in.