www.kingswaytyres.com Call Us: 254 20 2220996, 0735-699000, 0722-227719 kingswaytyres kingswaytyreske Kingswaytyreske Editor’s Note Happy Diwali, Eid Mubarak and Merry Christmas! I love the last quarter of the year, it has many celebrations; and celebrations are a fantastic way of rejuvenating and reflecting. So whichever festive you celebrate, I wish you well. In the name of festivities, this newsletter highlights some great activities we have done so far. Our high achieving sales people got a fully paid trip to the Catalunya race track, Spain. We were happy to host our Meru customers for a cocktail and dinner and we hosted yet another golf tournament at Sigona. On this note, I would like to give my best wishes to our Operations Director, Kamal Shah for the Captainship position at Sigona Golf Club 2012. As is our tradition, please read through our TYRE TIPS section and get some good value for your care and safety with yours tyres; we pride in giving you this information – power in decisions comes from knowledge and we provide this to you happily. Also check out our Christmas Offer for great value for your tyres this season! And finally, I would like to thank our contributors – Christine Wambui (HR), Nasreen Rasool (Sales, University branch) and Dickson Muchene, our graphic designer for making this issue of the newsletter possible. Please feel free to give us your comments and contributions; your feedback is highly appreciated. With Best Wishes, Reema Reema Doshi Editor O n 28th August 2011 Kingsway Tyres Ltd held a successful free medical camp at Sigona Golf Club. e Golf caddies, staff and other people of the vicinity braved the cold temperatures of the morning to have a check up for blood sugar, hypertension and eyes and were very thankful. Of these people was Alice Njeri Gichungu, 18. Alice was born with a eye defect which by the age of 12, while in primary school, worsened and threatened blindness at such a tender age. Doctors were unable to treat the condition and her parents could not afford the cost for a specialist. It was at this time Kingsway Tyres Ltd., through our MD, Manoj Shah, chose to sponsor her treatment and give her the giſt of sight. is operation was very successful and we are pleased to announce that Alice’s eye sight is now better and has improved her a life. Sigona Medical Camp I n this complicated world, it’s always good to go back down to basics – basics help us understand things clearly. We are going to take a basic look at what we need to know about our tyres to make the right choices when purchasing or taking care of them. First, what is a tyre? In a simple definition, you could say “it’s a box filled with air”; a box that is made of rubber and other components put together to make it perform. And we know without air the tyre cannot function; air is put either within a tube (what we call the tube-type tyre) or in a tubeless tyre case, the air is contained within the tyre walls and the rim (ingenious technology never seizes to amaze me). Safety-wise, tubeless tyre is your best bet. So now let’s look at the very basics in how to know what tyre you are riding. Many a times we have had calls asking us the price of certain rim size; this is not sufficient. We need the full tyre size… what is that? I give you an example 195/45 R 16. is is easily read from the sidewall of your actual tyre, very easy! Now onto what that stands for; 1. e first part i.e. in this case 195, is the width of tyre 2. e second part i.e. in this case 45 is the profile or the height-to-width ratio in % 3. R indicates the radial structure of the tyre 4. e last part i.e. 16 is the inner diameter in inches or what we call the rim size. ere are other symbols on the tyre sidewall which are an indicator of Speed index (or maximum authorized speed for a tyre) and Load Index (load in KGs each tyre can carry). What is important to remember is that each vehicle has a recommended tyre size that the car maker indicates (you can find this oſten on the drive side door latch – it also shows recommended tyre pressure to put in each tyre); it is important to follow this for your car performance and safety. A common question asked is how to know when your tyre is worn out? Michelin tyres have tread wear indicator shown by a bibendum on the side wall (other tyres have similar indicators). If you check this, it is placed at recommended 1.6mm depth; if this is at the same level as your tread, then your tyre needs to be replaced. So why shouldn’t we wait until we get multiple punctures or tyre bursts to replace our tyres? First, it’s a safety hazard; driver’s basic rule is safety comes first. In addition to this, the tyres are designed to grip the road in the best possible way so as to let us drive in peace; once tyres are worn out, this grip is compromised and the car would easily slip. Last but not least thing to remember is your car is designed for a special application, e.g. on road or off road. Similarly the tyres are designed to suit your car’s design; an example is your X-trail could be for only use on tarmac (on road) or go into the wilderness with rocks/dirt/mud etc (off road). Each experience has its relevant tyre guided by the car maker’s recommendation. With this info, it would be easier to understand and explain to your mechanic what your car needs. Do contact our customer service at any branches countrywide for further information on the basics of a tyre and they will be happy to explain this. TYRE TIPS tr ad talk Oct-Dec 2011 Issue 21 Load index (84 = 500 kg / tyre) Tread depth indicator position shown by Bibendum Width (195 mm) Series (sidewall) height divided by width) Structure (Radial) Wheel diameter (16 inches) Speed index Sinai Fire Tragedy (Leſt to Right) Mr. Gichungu, Alice Njeri, Shehzan Luhar & Lions Club Clinical Officer HOW TO READ A TYRE by Reema Doshi O n 15th September 2011 Kingsway Tyres Ltd presented a cheque worth KShs 50,000 as a donation for items to be given to the victims and families of Sinai fire tragedy in Nairobi. Sinai slum, close to the industrial area had a fuel leak and fire broke out through the gutters and affected the slum dwellers. e fire victims were rushed to Kenyatta National Hospital to be treated. Medical services ministry and KNH appealed to the public to assist in extra drugs, bandages and other items to assist in treating the victims. Lions club have managed to put together following items worth over KSh 300,000: Baked beans, blankets, gloves, cotton wool, paracetamol and aprons. ese items were presented to Mary Ngare, PS Medical Services Ministry and Richard Lesiyampe, CEO of KNH.