Visual tyre size comparator

Found great visualization tool for tyres and rims.

Rim size and offset can be founded on wheel inside.

Wheel / Tire Size Comparer Light
And russian analog - Визуальный шинный калькулятор

45 900 km | 2Y 5M

Hankook Ventus V12 evo at CheckUp

Tires were replaced. I chose Hankook mostly because of friends recommendations and web reviews.
Also, I found few places where I wanted to do tires, but only CheckUp were fast with answer.

I called to TireClub (turns out that CheckUp is the same) - they said we will call you back next day or two with proposal - wtf? :-)

Toyo and Falken are from Japan. Toyo should be also great, but more noisy. Falken seems okay too, but less points like Toyo vs Hankook. You can check my prev post for more information.

So I made a call to order Hankook and next day they will bring tires from supplier. And that's what happened on next day, no shit. I took my Fabia to ChackUp Netanya (great advantage when working from home :-)

Met great guy Sharon. When you look on his hands, you will understand a lot :-) he knows what he do. I should mention they have renewed tire shop less than a year - it wasn't CheckUp before, so new fancy place, new equipment, people may be same, I don't know. You have big window to watch how they work, coffee, tea - that's what you paying for here :-) and of course additional services (will see later).

Important to check manufacture date on tires before they start work on it. New tires are okay if less than a year since production date. These were week 23 of 2012 - almost middle of 2012, on edge I would say.

Key was passed, vehicle was lifted

And this was new to me - TireSaver. They plug all 5 (4 + spare) wheels and fill with nitrogen. About that, if it's for free - go for it, otherwise - outside air is fine too and free. See Is Nitrogen Better than Air in Car Tires?

More about Parker TireSaver Nitrogen Tire Inflation Systems, PDF

Next, they offer you brake and wheels alignment with discount. I never did the last, so I wanted it anyway - it's more than 2 years passed, you should do that once a year for proper maintenance.
As far as I know, they use modern equipment from Hunter's - HawkEye.

Brake stand at front, wheels alignment - lifted car

Brakes are fine, wheels alignment was a bit off on front left wheel (see red color).
Brakes result can be compared with another one I did on annual inspection 3 month ago.

Before I go for new tire pictures, let's finish our bizniz.
4 years warranty. With Israel hot weather 2-3 years and tire is dry, throw it for you safety. But I know one guy he already 8 years on same tires :-)

The bill - 2,366 NIS

Now - THE TIRE!

Sharon make me happy with green caps or maybe that's from TireSaver whatever. They looks great, match green plastic caps on wheels.

Why I would recommend CheckUp (they not paid me and no discounts :-)
- free nitrogen (including spare wheel), free filling for tire life at all branches
- new equipment and tools
- up to 6 payments on credit card without interest
- new valve stems and cool caps, no need to remind
- lounge zone with drinks
- extra services for free for a year or whole tire life (tire rotation, free tire puncture fix, spare tire replacement on the way if 20km from on of branches)
- brakes test in place
- wheels alignment test in place with new equipment
- no scratches (almost :-) on rims from tools
- nice people, thanks Sharon!

Video from Eric the Car Guy on changing wheels.

Btw, I'm not sure if they cleaned rim from dirt so tire can seal properly, but everything is looking good.

Update (2014-06-25)
This is how it was before CheckUp was built. Found on Google Street View, dated Dec 2011

40 600 km | 2Y 3M

Shinearama order

I looked where to order wheels care kit and somebody at forum advised for Shinearama. The nice thing about them was if your order below 2.5 kg, the FedEx 2-4 b.days delivery will cost you £10. But I totally missed customs fee that can be applied, but later about it.

So I ordered 2 brushes, sealant for rims and dressing gel for tyres. I looked for cleaner too but most of them increased package weight above 2.5 kg limit. Finally, I found one that for some reason didn't add too much. Here are order items:
1. Mothers Wheel Brush (single)
2. Poorboy's Wheel Sealant (8oz)
3. Poorboy's Bold N Bright Tyre Dressing Gel (473ml)
4. EZ Detail Mini Brush (single)
5. Scholl Concepts RIM7 Wheel Cleaner Gel (500ml)

This is PayPal payment: total £60.47 converted to 368.31 NIS. Looks cool.

It came to Israel really fast, you can check FedEx travel history.

But now customs come into play. On 5th of Feb I got a call from FedEx agent telling me that I need to fill "Declaration of Personal Import of Goods" (blank 130, PDF). And I did trying to minimize items cost :-)

And after 2 days delivery guy came home with my package. Also they told me before that I need to add extra 145 NIS... At customs they added VAT 31 NIS and customs fee 103 NIS and also some storage fee.

The following papers were found in package plastic pocket

Overall, I paid 515 NIS for this order :-(
Now from sad and black'n'white part here coming fun and color!

Packaging, left side was opened at customs and sealed back with tape

Mothers Wheel Brush

Poorboy's Wheel Sealant

Poorboy's Bold N Bright Tyre Dressing Gel  - smells so fucking good  like delicious dessert :-)

EZ Detail Mini Brush

Scholl Concepts RIM7 Wheel Cleaner Gel - front

Scholl Concepts RIM7 Wheel Cleaner Gel - back

Now I waiting for Saturday to try this products, hope will not be raining.

Also, I found another american site Detailed Image. I liked so much their detailing guides - I think next week I'll place new order for engine bay cleaning stuff with something else ;-) Stay tuned!

Update (2012-02-25)
After two usages here is what I think.

Brushes are must have accessories for wheel cleaning, a lot easier and fun to clean than foam or wash mitt. Just on moment... You should wear safety glasses and maybe gloves to protect yourself. Take a look on my glasses and pure white t-shirt after job done (black dots are brake dust):

3M safety glasses after wheel cleaning with brushes

T-shirt after wheel cleaning with brushes

T-shirt sleeve (zoom) after wheel cleaning with brushes

Poorboy's Wheel Sealant is... useless. I really can't feel any difference. Just waste of time applying it and cleaning wheels anyway with brushes. But I will give it another chance.

Scholl Concepts RIM7 Wheel Cleaner is good. It no so helpful to me as I wash every week or two, but it do its job well. I will use it more on tyres swapping. It will help to clean calipers and inner disk. Btw, it smells so bad, you better use it outside.

Poorboy's Bold N Bright Tyre Dressing Gel is cool but I expected more shine :-) Really protects, you can see as is repels water. And lasts long, I guess, once a month or more is enough.

Regarding before/after pictures. I usually end up with wheels (the last thing) when it's dark already, so nothing to show yet.