Normally when you see old tyres piled up on the side of the road or dumped on some beauty spot, they look like a complete eyesore.

But could the answer to recycling ugly scrap tyres be closer to home then we could have imagined?

After watching Channel 4’s brilliant Grand Designs programme we wonder how many aspiring homebuilders will be start looking at the abandoned tyres in a new light?

Darren and his partner Adi created a single-storey family house built from tyres ram packed with earth – a concept which originated in Mexico more than 30 years ago to create buildings which are dubbed ‘earthships’.

While the couple chose to build their dream home in France, because planning regulations are more relaxed and it was cheaper, there are already two eco-friendly ‘earthships’s in the UK and plans for a third.

The ‘earthships’ have already landed in Kinghorn, Fife, and Brighton, and now a feasibility study has now been commissioned into the possibility of creating an ‘earthship’ centre at Merkinch Local Nature Reserve.

Presenter Kevin McCloud summed it up as: ‘I suppose that, over the past ten years or so, we’ve got used to being able to buy our lifestyle - off the pages of a magazine, for example.

‘Whereas, of course, Adi and Darren haven’t so much bought what they’ve got here - they’ve made it. And in making it, that doesn’t just mean making everything from scratch; they have salvaged, recycled, reused and reincorporated stuff as they’ve gone along. Things - like that glass bottle wall - which are beautiful.

‘If this building is an exemplar, it isn’t so much about sustainable construction as perhaps, an example of how we all should be living.’

Denna Bowman, etyres Head Office

By Katherine Clarkson

The Pirelli tyres plant in Carlisle has halted production for two weeks in bid to save jobs and survive the ‘spectacular fall in production’ suffered by the car industry.

Business Secretary Peter Mandelson pledged to support the tyres factory last week and described the planned shutdowns as “short-term measures to ensure its long-term existence.”

The BBC reported that Lord Mandelson said the government understood the importance of manufacturers like Pirelli in places like Carlisle, adding that assistance will be given to help them through the recession.

He said: “Pirelli has not asked the Government for a bail-out nor is the Government in the business of offering bail-outs. What we are doing is giving assistance to manufacturing companies, whose employment base means they are very important to regions and localities like Carlisle, to help them through the worst of this recession.”

The Cumberland News added that Lord Mandelson said he was confident Pirelli would ride out the economic storm and the Italian-owned firm would still be in Carlisle once the economy recovers.

In an official statement issued by the company Pirelli explained that the factory has been forced to close until March 4 to combat the effects of the global economic downturn. It is the second shutdown at the plant, which employs around 1,000 people, this year. Further shutdowns have not been ruled out.

It stated: “Pirelli Industrial in the UK has already taken steps to mitigate the effect on employees by reducing to zero overtime, an extended Christmas and New Year break, and announcing a further shutdown in February 2009.

Pirelli blamed the “spectacular fall in production experienced in the car industry” for the action.

Pirelli Industrial said it is confident that with the continuing support of its employees and unions, jobs and the long term future of both the Carlisle and Burton factories can be protected.

An estimated 40% increase in road damage from the last fortnight’s severe weather has pushed the number of potholes in the UK up to a staggering 1.5 million, the AA fears.

Tyres are usually one of the major casualties as unsuspecting motorists often clatter over the crates which appeared after the recent bout of snow and ice carpeted the UK.

Now the AA breakdown patrols are beginning to map the newer hazards – and the old ones that have re-emerged – and are also reporting pothole related damage to vehicles they are called to rescue.

The AA is also asking drivers and riders to help identify Britain’s worst potholes by taking part in the online discussion at www.theaa.com/zone.

Claims against local highway authorities and insurance companies are expected to soar way above normal – last year councils paid out £65 million in compensation. Even so, many drivers and riders will be left out in the cold by claims being rejected by highway authorities or below insurance excess levels.

Although potholes are inevitable after severe weather, the UK teeters on local road collapse from a maintenance backlog that was already going to cost £1 billion and take 11 years to put straight – before this winter.

It is estimated that 853,614 potholes were filled-in last year at an average cost of £69 each. However, restoring the road surface and stopping the re-emergence of potholes through proper maintenance has lagged by an ever-increasing amount.

Notorious pothole hotspots identified by AA patrols include: Ashford in Middlesex, Acton in London, Ipswich, Felixstowe, Stowmarket, Botley and Hedge End in Southampton, Basingstoke, Bournemouth, Ringwood, the New Forest, and Salisbury.

Denna Bowman, etyres Head Office

By Denna Bowman

Saving money is a priority for everyone at the moment, but putting off carrying out major repairs and not replacing worn tyres is a false economy.

However, consumers can cut the cost of tyres by shopping online to avoid paying the high street depots high prices and getting repairs carried out will save money in the long run.

A survey by a leading car magazine highlighted how belt-tightening motorists who are trying to ride out the recession by not spending money on their cars, is leading to an increase in potentially unroadworthy vehicles.

More than half (51%)  of motorists are worried about paying for repairs found during an MOT inspection, a survey by motoring website and magazine Auto Trader found.

A further 10 per cent are delaying putting their car through an MOT test until after its due date and 7 per cent are delaying renewing their road tax.

The survey showed that 32 per cent of motorists are holding off doing repairs to their vehicle, and of these nearly 15 per cent of the repairs are deemed to be ‘quite major’ with 5 per cent ‘very major’.

However, in the long run, putting off replacing tyres and repairing faults can lead to fines, penalty points, increased wear and tear to the vehicle and in the worst scenario, accidents and even breaches of insurance policies, making them worthless.

Matt Thompson, managing director of Auto Trader, said: ‘It is extremely worrying that nearly half of all UK motorists are prepared to drive in an unroadworthy vehicle to save money during these difficult times.’

He added: ‘with tightening budgets and job losses looming, motorists are being very careful with their money and feel they have no option but to sacrifice essential vehicle maintenance as the cost of motorising continues to increase.’

Etyres, the UK’s leading online tyres firm, is up to 40% cheaper than high street depots because it does not have garages to run and other large overheads which force prices up.

Shopping for tyres on the internet can save motorists a small fortune, but sometimes our new customers are still amazed that they can save time and hassle by choosing etyres.

An email came in this morning from Niall in Bury.  He had two Pirelli’s fitted to his Hyundai by our branch in Wigan.  He thanked us for our ‘great service’, which was just as cheap as another online tyre supplier – but the major difference that impressed him was we went to his home and fitted them for free.  He also described our service as ‘quick, professional and polite’. 

Everyone likes to get a good deal and saving money is a priority in today’s gloomy economic climate, but just as important is helping customers make their life a little easier.

When our customer sent through his special instructions for fitting the tyres, he asked us to avoid certain times because of the school run – which we were happy to work round. (On a personal note, he also liked what drink our fitter liked!  Happy customer/happy fitter!)

Alex, National Call Centre

By Oliver Hall

The debate about fitting new replacement tyres to the front or rear of a vehicle has taken an interesting turn thanks to an entry in the new Mercedes C-class handbook.

The long established Tyre Industry view is that the new tyres should be fitted to the rear.  The advice probably dates back from when most cars were rear wheel drive and this was for the best grip to avoid common oversteer or spinning out of control.

But, in a letter to Mercedes the Tyre Industry Federation stated: ‘The advice in the vehicle handbook of the new C-class Mercedes is that, if tyres of the same size are fitted on the front and rear wheels, where necessary single new tyres should be fitted on the front wheels first’.

The TIF warned: ‘This is not consistent with the advice of the tyre industry to the effect that, in general, when new tyres are fitted, they should be fitted to the rear irrespective of whether the vehicle is front or rear wheel drive.’

However Mercedes credit new technology, namely the Electronic Stability Programme (ESP) with overtaking the old teachings.

Mercedes was the first automobile manufacturer to fit its passenger cars with ESP, which is an active safety system which improves vehicle stability in all driving situations.

Its introduction has removed the need for drivers to fit the new tyre to the rear for driving stability and safety, because in an unforeseen situation (emergency braking/tight corner) the system simply takes over.

Drivers are particularly impressed with its effectiveness on wet surfaces or in aquaplaning conditions.

ESP operates by actuating the brakes individually on one or more wheels on the front or rear axle.

We think we’ve got it bad with traffic wardens taking photos of our vehicles to make sure parking fines stick, but you wouldn’t want to own a car in Victoria, Australia.

At the moment so-called ‘grey ghosts’ patrol suburban streets on foot, marking tyres with chalk to keep a record of time limits.

But chalk-marked tyres are about to become a thing of the past as new drive-by spy cameras hit the streets and are expected to triple the number of parking fines issued to motorists.

The digital technology allows parking officers to automatically detect offences simply by driving past.

The ‘autoChalk’ system combines global positioning, lasers and cameras to record the shape, colour and registration details of every car parked along a street.

It remembers how long a car has been in one spot and fines over-stayers on the next drive-by.

The machine can scan more than 7000 cars an hour and records before and after images of offending cars just in case of a challenge!

Victorian parking enforcement company Tenix Solutions has already started testing autoChalk and a two-month trial is planned and the system could be rolled out for councils by June.

The system’s Canadian inventor boasts the technology triples the productivity of parking inspectors.

Tenix Solutions product manager Sally Damiani said autoChalk would stop motorists hogging timed spaces.

Katherine Clarkson, etyres National Accounts

By  Katherine Clarkson

As the credit crunch bites and vehicle owners seek ways to save money, cheap tyres will start to look like an attractive option to UK buyers.

A large number of Chinese tyres suppliers and wholesalers are therefore seizing the opportunity and clambering to exhibit their products at the leading Brityrex09 exhibition in Manchester later this year.

The September show is seen as a ‘gateway to the British market’ as the Chinese contingent step forward to promote their goods and boost their export sales, while the domestic exhibitors are in decline.

In the past month, a large number of Chinese suppliers have confirmed their involvement with the show, which will include Koryo Tyres industrial, Long March, Qingdao Odyking Tyre Company, Shandong Wanda Boto Tyre, Star Tyre Group of Shanghai and Techking Tires.

Paul Farrant, a spokesman for show organiser ECI International, said: “We are taking more enquiries and bookings from China than any other country apart from the UK at the present time.

“China has such massive production capacity that it needs to sell more product overseas to compensate for lower demand at home.  Brityrex is seen as a gateway to the UK market which is why exhibitors are so keen to get involved in the show.”

etyres understands the need for consumers to save money and seek out bargains, however, it offers a far better solution to help buyers economise without resorting to economy products.

By operating a totally mobile fitting service, etyres does not have high overheads and expensive garages to maintain, which means its prices are up to 40% cheaper than traditional high street depots.

Therefore customers can still have premium brand tyres, but with mid-range and economy price tags.

There are still a few days to go, but already this February has been the busiest on record since 2001 for the AA breakdown service.

Despite warnings to check tyres and drive carefully, breakdowns and accidents were inevitable, as tyres slipped and slid across icy roads and drivers struggled to control their gliding vehicles.

In the first 11 days of February, the AA dealt with more than 133,000 breakdowns – 21,000 more than for the whole of February 2008.

And the snow and ice were also responsible for 44 per cent of the claims made to AA car insurance this month.

Of these 33 per cent involved cars sliding into the back of other vehicles and 31 per cent were drivers who came to grief on snow and ice, skidding into other objects.

Some notable claims include:

·         A driver tried to avoid a parked car, hit a road sign, bounced off a tree and still hit the car he was trying to avoid.

·         Another claimant said: ‘The car came straight at me on its roof.  It bounced off my car and ended up back on its wheels.  Fortunately the driver wasn’t hurt.’

·         One expensive claim was for a customer who lost control going down a steep and icy street ‘hitting a dozen parked cars on the way’.

Ouch! Ouch! OUCH!

Alex, etryres National Call Centre

By Alex Kapadia

The dangers of driving with low tyres pressure have been highlighted by consumer watchdoge magazine Which?

Researchers took a typical family hatchback – a Peugeot 308 – and deliberately deflated one or more tyres at a time to see how it affected the cars performance.

In every case fuel economy was worse and its anti-lock braking system (ABS) was less effective.

The researchers reduced the pressures of the different tyres from their original setting of 2.4bar (35psi), first by 0.5 bar, then by 1.0 bar and then by 1.5 bar (down to 13psi). As a guide, one bar = 14.5psi (pounds per square inch).

They found that when the right front tyre was deflated, the biggest risk was to how the car gripped the road when a sideways force was applied

After accelerating round a fixed-bend from 37mph to 60mph they measured how much sideways slip there was.  When the pressure in the right front tyre dropped by just 0.5 bar, the cars ability to keep its line was reduced by 7%. When the pressure dropped by 1.0 bar, it lost one third of its lateral grip, although further reduction made it no worse. The car was also slower at making an emergency lane-change (in the dry).

A drop of 1.5 bar brought the maximum swerve speed down from 44mph to just over 37mph.

Fuel use increased a little – by about one or two miles a gallon.

When the right rear tyre was deflated there was has far less effect on safety, with one exception.

In a situation such as when you have to change lanes in an emergency where the load is suddenly transferred on to the back wheel, a reduction of 1.5 bar led to diminished lateral grip, reducing the maximum test speed from 44mph to about 39mph.

When all the tyres were deflated the performance was generally similar to having low pressure in the right rear tyre, although the ABS was more effective.  There was a similar drop in how quickly you could change lanes while still keeping control of the car, as was seen with one tyre deflated.