Types of Tyres

There are mainly two types of tyres available in Indian market. Radial and Tubeless. I won’t explain about other types since majority of the market share is captured by these two types.

Radial tyres
These tyres are wider than normal tyres. These became instant hit in India. Radial tyres don't have belts that cross over each other like cross ply tyres do. Here, parallel plies radiate from one bead to another. They are softer and offer a more comfortable ride. As the ride is soft the sidewalls are weak and there is no directional stability, and so stiff belts of steel or fabric run around the circumference of the tyre between the plies and the tread.

Pros
1. Better grip than normal tyres
2. Longer life due to the structure

Cons
1. Requires normal tube inside so not as safe

Tubeless tyres
Tubeless tyres don't have tubes like the tube tyres. The tyre is sealed to the rim, to lock all the air between the tyre and the rim. If a nail penetrates the tread, the air in the tyre doesn't escape as quickly as it would in a tube tyre. The air will only rush out when the nail is removed.

Pros
1. Better on safety
2. Better grip than normal tyres
3. Longer life due to the structure
4. Easy to maintain. You don’t have to remove the tyre from rim to fix puncture.

Cons
2. Nothing


Information courtesy www.carwale.com

Tour De France 2012

Writing this blog when the final individual time trial is in progress. I think Wiggins will hold his yellow jersey to become first British cyclist to win the world's number one cycling race.
This years Tour has been really surprising.

Team Radioshak: Good to see this Team in the first place of Team standings. The problem is they don't have a clear leader though they have lot of strong riders.

Team Sky: First surprise of this years tour. Extremely well balanced.

Chris Froom: He is a selfless rider. Always taking care of the team leader Wiggins. Froom had chance to win a montain stage but stayed with Wiggins.

Bradley Wiggins: What a person. Showed excellent sportmanhip during one of the stage when his rivals struck with puncture. His individual time trial abilities gave him the yellow.

Cadel Evans: Not quite his year. Has lacked the good team support in mountains. Also could not show good strength during mountain stages.

Cheers,
Mayur

Froom followed by Wiggins (in yellow)

image courtesy http://www.stuff.co.nz

Tyre Management

Last week, I was explaining tyre management that needs to be take care of for a passenger car to one my colleagues. After listening to all the intricacies he asked to put all the details on a blog. I thought that's a good idea. I will be posting in next few days about different aspects of tyre management. Keep watching.

Cheers,
Mayur

3M Car Care Review, Baner-Pashan Link road, Pune

Next on my list was the 3M car care treatement.  Owning the car for four year has it’s own impact on the overall looks. The paint has become dull. And to add to the woes, my car was recently splattered with distemper paint all over the body. The paint marks were very small, not noticeable from a distance. Also the silver colour was hiding the paint. I didn’t fix it for last few months. I was looking at it daily but was not making up my mind to take professional help. I also wanted to do the under body rust coating which helps in preventing rust and also helps in reducing road noise (as claimed by 3M). I started reading reviews on different forums and realised that overall response to 3M Car Care is good. So decided to visit them one Saturday. I had decided to stay at the facility to watch the entire process. I was greeted by Mr Tapas (owner). He explained all the packages and it’s benefits. I gave him go ahead and job card was prepared immediately.

I choose two packages
1. Paint sealant – advanced with Powershine for exterior surface protection
2. Under body coating 5 years warranty (Body shutz).

Following steps were involved in the overall process.
1. Sanding
2. Rubbing
3. Under body wash
4. Under body coating
5. Foam wash
6. Waxing and detailing
7. Interior vacuum cleaning

Things which I liked;
1. Extremely well maintained facility
2. Separate areas for washing, cleaning, waxing, underbody treatment etc.
3. All the equipments were latest
4. Well stocked 3M products
5. Separate customer lounge

Things which I dis-liked
1. Generally a car takes minimum 6 hours for basic treatments. Being Saturday, there were many cars being worked on. Cars should not be taken after certain cut off time especially on weekend.
2. I had to pin-point few areas during cleaning which they missed. However the staff was thoroughly professional.
3. On few instances, I felt that the ground staff was not clear about the next job for a particular car. I found disconnect between the staff and the manager.
4. Magazines in the customer lounge were very old


Overall I am satisfied with the end result. Silver Arrow is looking like a new.
Cost breakup
1. 3M Paint Sealant – Advanced (With Power Shine) – Rs. 4046
2. 3M Anti Corrosion Treatment (With 5 years warranty and 10 free checkups) – Rs. 3195
Total – Rs 8135 (including 894 service tax)

The prices are bit on higher side. On a side note, if you take very good care of the car (especially washing, vacuum, waxing) then I think these treatments may not be required. Also another factor you may have to consider is, if you plan the keep your current car for next 5+ years then definitely go for 3M.

Cheers,
Mayur

Entrance

Customer Lounge

Car Care products on display

Customer feedback

Job card being prepared

Sanding using 2000 grit sand paper and water

My heart skipped couple hundred beats by seeing this

Rubbing in process

Car being taken for under body wash

Car being lifted for anti corrosion treatment

Body shutz being sprayed

Paint protection and Polishing in progress

Look at the surface shine :)

Final result...I am happy

Few other cars - Honda Accord. Look at the shine.

Honda City

Tyre pressure

Checked the tyre pressure yesterday. The stupid servicing guys had filled it to 35 psi. 6 psi more than the recommended. Huh...all these days...I suffered a bouncy ride. Reset the pressure to 29 psi. and the difference is immediate. The car feels silent now. On a side note, the rattling from rear left door has become more noisy. Need to take it to service center asap.

Cheers,
Mayur