By now, you’ve probably heard of Facebook and Twitter. You may even be familiar with YouTube and LinkedIn. These platforms are part of what’s popularly called “social media,” the latest Internet age phenomenon.

Tags: Facebook, JTMarCom, Kenwood Tire, Kraft Tire, LinkedIn, Social Butterfly, Social media, Summit Tire, Twitter

Twenty-two years ago, Bridgestone Corp. introduced the ground-breaking Blizzak studless winter tire to the world. Seventeen years ago, the company’s United States subsidiary introduced the Blizzak WS-15 to domestic tire dealers.

Tags: Bridgestone, Winter tires

It’s pretty darn hard to get from here to there without a road map. Laying out your goals bridges the gap between who you are today and the person you sketched out in your mission statement. Yet when I ask people all over the country whether they write up their goals each year, barely one in 10 say they have. But that 10% gushes over how spelling out their goals transformed their lives.

Tags: Business insight, Gegax, Tom Gegax

Wheel speed sensors and how we test them have been changing. Currently, two types of wheel speed sensors are in use: magnetic inductive (passive) and magneto resistive (active). Passive sensors have been around since the early days of the anti-lock brake system (ABS). These are the sensors that function on the generator principle. The sensors work with the toothed tone wheels to monitor and provide the anti-lock brake module (ABM) with wheel speed information.

Tags: ABS, Chrysler 300, Wheel speed sensors

There are many tools at the independent tire dealer’s disposal that can be used to secure repeat business. Some dealers put customers on strict preventive maintenance plans. Some promote tire rotations, oil changes, brake checks and other interval-based services. Others bring customers back with specials and coupons.

Tags: Credit, Credit CARD Act, GE Money

Take a close look at the next late-model, mid-size sedan that rolls into your parking lot. Make note of the car’s tires. More often than not, you’ll find larger tires with a smaller aspect ratio and a higher speed rating — tires that perhaps 10 years ago would have been confined to the high performance or ultra-high performance categories.

Tags: High performance, Ultra-high performance

Chrysler or Dodge minivan drivers may complain of a squeak, creak, pop and/or clicking sound coming from the rear of the vehicle when driving over bumps or while turning. This repair involves replacing both rear spring hanger brackets. To correct the condition, follow these steps. NOTE: This repair applies to all-wheel drive (AWD) and front-wheel drive (FWD) minivans built between Sept. 16, 2002 (MDH 0916XX), and Sept. 28, 2002 (MDH 0928XX).

Tags: Chrysler Town & Country, NVH

Success has many fathers, as the saying goes. One sire to my company’s exponential growth (the Tires Plus stores) was our obsession with improving the way we did things. We were fanatical about identifying roadblocks, unearthing errors, and fine-tuning our system. Part of our campaign included benchmarking the highfliers; and one way we did that was an occasional intel-gathering field trip.

The drama brought about by the recession has yet to be played out, according to tire industry analyst Saul Ludwig.

Tags: Analyst, Saul Ludwig

The driver of a Cadillac Escalade, Chevy Avalanche or other GM truck may complain of a “scraping” noise intermittently coming from the rear of the truck while driving. This condition may be due to the parking brake shoe contacting the drum-in-hat rotor without the parking brake being applied, causing premature wear on the shoe lining.

Tags: Brakes, Noise, Vibration, Harshness, NVH