Category Archives: Vehicle & Tire Tips

This Dashboard Light Could Save Your Life!

Tire Pressure Monitor System dashboard indicator

Do you know what this dashboard light means? It is your tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) telling you that one (or more) of your tires is dangerously under inflated.

Under-inflated tires are estimated to cause thousands of car crashes and hundreds of deaths each year, yet 42 percent of drivers still can’t identify the TPMS vehicle dashboard icon, and 1 in 10 surveyed admit to having intentionally ignored a TPMS warning and continued to drive, according to survey results from Schrader International. Continue reading This Dashboard Light Could Save Your Life!

Are You Prepared for the Perils of Pothole Season?

 the perils of potholes After the one of the worst winters in decades, roads are showing the results. Now that springtime is upon us, motorists are finding a plethora of potholes on the roadways. Cold temperatures, snow, and rainfall in many parts of the country have created the perfect storm for the motorists’ dreaded “perils of potholes period,” cautions the Car Care Council of Canada.

According to EZStreetAsphalt.ca, tens of thousands of tonnes of patching materials and many millions of dollars in labour are used each year to fix the potholes — only to have the same potholes open up the following winter. Overall, spring potholes cost the country millions of dollars during a two- or three-month period with the cost of pavement integrity issues caused by the thaw ranging well into the future. So far in Toronto this year, the city has already repaired more than 85,000 potholes. And the annual budget to repair potholes in Montreal averages about 2.5 million dollars. Continue reading Are You Prepared for the Perils of Pothole Season?

Certificate of Achievement Awarded to Active Green + Ross

Safety-kleen-make-green-work-logoSafety-Kleen, a leading provider of environmental services to commercial, industrial, and automotive customers, recently awarded a certificate of achievement to Active Green + Ross tire retail shops for avoiding 1,701 Metric Tonnes of Greenhouse Gas Emissions (CO2e). Active Green + Ross made this reduction through Safety-Kleen’s closed-loop recycling program for used oil from January 1 through December 31, 2013. Based on the EPA.gov Clean Energy calculator (CO2e)*, this is equivalent to any one of the following:

• 320,693 therms of natural gas
• 722,168 litres of gasoline
• Carbon sequestered by 44,096 trees grown for 10 years in an urban environment
• 69,480 propane cylinders used for home barbeques
• 3,960 barrels of oil
• Emissions avoided by recycling 595 tons of waste instead of sending it to a landfill. Continue reading Certificate of Achievement Awarded to Active Green + Ross

Michelin Introduces A New Type Of Tires For Better Stopping — No Matter What!

Michelin-Premier-AS-Test-Track-Braking-1h

When it comes to stopping our cars, the first thing most people think of are brakes, but that’s only partly correct: Brakes stop wheels. TIRES stop the car. Tires, shmires, right?

Think again: Under ordinary driving, the average commuter stops 40,000 times a year, and our tires serve us so well under the best circumstances we don’t give them much thought. But throw in some icy or snowy winter weather, or a few spring or fall rainstorms, and suddenly, we’re asking our tires to perform adequately under the worst circumstances. And when they’re worn, these conditions subtract even more from their performance potential. Continue reading Michelin Introduces A New Type Of Tires For Better Stopping — No Matter What!