Bowie, MD - The Tire Industry Association (TIA) has announced the release of a new training resource that covers the installation guidelines and safety advantages of winter and studded tires on passenger and SUV/LT vehicles. Winter Tire Replacement is a 15-minute video that retailers can use to explain the differences between all-season and winter/studded tires. Winter Tire Replacement was made possible by a grant from Nokian Tyres to the TIA Foundation.
“During our annual meetings with the tire manufacturers, the subject of how TIA can help the industry is always addressed,” said Roy Littlefield. “A few years ago, we brought up the idea of an industry video that addresses the recommended practices for installing winter tires. We partnered with Bridgestone to release Passenger Tire Replacement back in 2009 and felt Nokian would be the perfect partner to produce a winter tire version.”
“As a company that specializes in tires for consumers in northern climates, our focus for the past 70 years has been to design and build tires that improve the overall safety of the vehicle in winter conditions,” said Todd McDonald, Vice President Products & Pricing/Customer Service for Nokian Tyres. “We know that TIA specializes in tire training, so we were excited to work with them to develop a much-needed in-depth training video on the safety guidelines and benefits of winter tires.”
Winter Tire Replacement is another consumer and industry educational video that people can view, download and distribute at no charge. It is currently available on TIA’s “tiresafetystartshere” YouTube and Google+ pages and covers three specific areas:
Filmed at Nokian’s Ivalo Proving Grounds in northern Finland about 175 miles north of the Arctic Circle, Winter Tire Replacement features a series of tests between all-season and winter tires. Identical passenger cars and SUV’s were tested on snow and ice for stopping, acceleration, lateral traction, and incline traction. The video also examines the effects of installing winter tires on the front axle while all-season tires are installed on the rear axle.
“There is no way that TIA can produce a video like this without the support and assistance provided by everyone at Nokian in the US and in Finland,” remarked Kevin Rohlwing, TIA Senior Vice President of Training. “We were able to film head-to-head tests between all-season and winter/studded tires to show drivers the safety benefits of tires engineered to perform in winter conditions. By providing the test track and facilities in Ivalo, Nokian made it easy to capture some incredible images that are sure to leave an impression on the viewer.”
Retailers are encouraged to provide links to Winter Tire Replacement using the following URL’s:
www.youtube.com/tiresafetystartshere
Google+ tiresafetystartshere
Retailers who want to download a copy should contact Donna Sage at dsage@tireindustry.org.