tyres – miyagi.sg

Bridgestone And The Sound Of My Nose Whistling

I am skeptical and usually ‘discount 50%’ any crafted sales and marketing pitch, and Bridgestone’s spiel about their Turanza GR-100 sounded no different to any other enthusiastic presentation about the technological marvels of say, an electric razor or a rechargeable stylus.

Earlier this year, I met the lovely people at Bridgestone and they asked me about the car I drive and whether I needed a set of new tyres. It was timely because I did need a new set of tyres, the current ones being a bit worn after two years.

My friends would know me as an automobile non-enthusiast, and when I turned 40, I bought a station wagon instead of a sports car. My mid-life crisis came with lots of cargo space. Bridgestone’s Tyre Concierge took this into consideration and immediately suggested a range of tyres to suit my style.

I am skeptical and usually ‘discount 50%’ any crafted sales and marketing pitch, and Bridgestone’s spiel about their Turanza GR-100 sounded no different to any other enthusiastic presentation about the technological marvels of say, an electric razor or a rechargeable stylus.

But the session with the Tyre Concierge and the Tyre Doctor Ken Lim at one of their B-Select retail lounges lounges was thankfully short and I was happy to drive off with my swag of free, brand new tyres, ready to run my errands for the rest of the work day.

Half an hour on the road later (the dealership was quite far out), I realised something. I hadn’t had the radio on, and I had had half an hour of driving without any road noise. It was all quiet apart from the engine and the little whistling from my congested nose (sensitive to car workshop dust lah).

So, everything the Bridgestone Concierge and the Tyre Doctor was telling me about Bla Bla Bla Superior Quietness Bla Bla Silent AC Block Bla Bla Optimising Road Contact Bla Bla was trying to make its way back into my consciousness. It didn’t quite make it. I stopped my car, went online and tried to read the product specifications properly.

I got to 3D Helmholtz Noise Reducing Resonators and I felt my eyes glaze over and the whistling from my nose started to make me doze off. Then I remembered the last words the Tyre Concierge said to me, which were, “I guarantee you will feel and hear or rather, not hear the difference”.

The take away is that proper tyre selection makes a big difference, and people (like me) baulk at spending a few hundred dollars on new tyres without seriously considering the difference this auto part makes in safety and comfort.

But of course the test was whether Naomi would know the difference. I didn’t tell her the tyres were changed – she simply felt I had to go and clear the congestion in my nose cos the whistling was driving her crazy.

If your car’s tyres are a bit worn, contact Bridgestone’s Tyre Concierge here: BS-Concierge@bridgestone.com – The service is free of charge.

The shopping’s virtual but the money’s real

Many young parents would agree with us that the prices of baby products in Singapore are simply ridiculous. We’re paying through our noses for things like swaddling blankets – my mom visited my sister’s family in Toronto and came back with a whole stack, at C$2 per blanket. Guess how much they were selling the same blanket here? S$20! And they’re made in China!

So it’s not surprising we’ve taken to shopping online for a lot of Kai’s things. Diapers are cheaper online, as are toys and even clothing from shops in NZ and Australia end up cheaper with freight than retail in Singapore.

Naomi recently discovered blog shops to be a real treasure trove – and you don’t have to deal with sales people harassing you to buy something when you take your time and browse through all the pictures of Kate Spade bags to your heart’s content.

I’ve bought music and movies online, and when we bought the car we now drive – we spent days going through carmakers’ sites, customising interiors and colors before putting on an online request for a test drive – a query that was quickly answered and arranged by a sales consultant (although the disappointing thing was when we were told – “oh, those interior colors not available in Singapore models, only the European ones”).

But, like I’ve mentioned before, I’d buy things like tyres online because it saves me the hassle of driving to somewhere in Ubi or Sin Ming and haggling with inscrutable mechanic-type salespeople. And if you do need to get tyres for your car, now’s a good time because Tyrepac’s having their first anniversary sale.

I was going to say they’re slashing prices on all tyres, but “slashing” and “tyres” should not be in the same sentence.

You get the idea. Tyres are on sale. Go get them before they roll away.

Tyrepac – tyres delivered to your doorstep (and fixed on your car)

Disclosure:
Tyrepac sponsored a set of tyres for the purposes of this blog post.

I love driving, but car maintenance can be a pain. But that’s mostly because I’m quite the idiot when it comes to anything mechanical.

Cars I’ve driven would’ve lasted a helluva lot longer if I’d taken the trouble to look after them.

But that’s all in the past, and now that I’ve a young family, I’d like to say that I’ve turned over a new leaf. It was a sobering moment when my brother asked me to pop the hood of my car, and I didn’t know how to, and pretended to tie my laces while I fumbled for the car-hood-opener-thingie.

Leopards don’t change their spots (or preents), and well, when it’s time to get the car’s oil changed, brake pads replaced, tyres rotated, I still go “meh”, until someone tells me it’s gonna cost me a lot more if I don’t do what I’m supposed to on time.

My mother-in-law has the same cavalier attitude when it comes to car maintenance, and it wasn’t until it was quite obvious that the tyres of her car resembled those on F1 cars that she asked me if it was about time to get new ones.

Translated from Taiwanese, that meant, “can you please get new tyres for me, dear son-in-law?”

Now, my experience with buying car tyres is like an Ang Moh going to Sim Lim and expecting to get a bargain. I just hate not knowing the prices on things, and seeing the weird code on what’s supposed to be price tags just makes everything more infuriating.

So it was indeed fortuitous that I found out about Tyrepac’s online tyre shop, saving me the trouble of driving to a tyre shop and getting conned and earning the ire of all concerned.

More importantly, the Tyrepac site took the mystery out of buying tyres completely – all I had to do was select make, model and release year of MIL’s car, and all of Tyrepac’s offerings were available for me to choose from.

Alternatively, were I more knowledgeable about tyres, there is an option I would have used, titled “I already know which tyres I need for my vehicle” that allows you to select by tyre width, profile, radius and brand.

Now with the range of tyres to choose from, I was able to google for reviews to help me with my choice for MIL’s car. Tyrepac also has their own set of reviews submitted by users.

Then there’s the thing that was the clincher – they actually sent a mobile tyre workshop over to fix up the tyres for the car. This service costs just $20 extra – and that’s pretty reasonable if you’re not the sort to navigate through confusingly named Industrial Parks and their many identical looking lanes.

They arrived, opened the truck panels and revealed their mobile tyre workshop, which was a little noisy because of the generator, but hey, whaddya need a stealth tyre workshop for?

Within the hour, all was done, and MIL’s old tyres were taken away to be recycled while I drove her car back into her driveway, delighted that the squeaky new Goodyears were making her car completely safe again.

Well, almost. The mechanic that fixed up the tyres informed me that the brake pads were worn, and should be changed soon.

I’m going to be fixing up an appointment with Tyrepac for that soon as they offer mobile servicing

As for tyre knowledge. I’m still quite “meh” about it, but information is at hand on my bookmarked page here.

(My experience with Tyrepac came earlier than expected when the MIL’s car battery died a week before our scheduled tyre change – they have an emergency battery service that works out to be a helluva lot cheaper than if you were to call AAS (what an acronym) – so I’d recommend that if you do drive, keep Tyrepac’s number handy. That’s 1800-TYREPAC (8973-722))

CURRENT PROMO:
JAPANESE CARS PROMOTION
Tyres from S$73 for the Altis, Wish, Camry, Latio, & many more other models! .
Whilst stocks last!

Advertorial: Tyrepac 3-day tyre sale

I was recently pointed to Tyrepac by an old acquaintance who works there, and it’s the first online tyre shop I’ve seen. They’re currently operational in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China and Korea.

If you need tyres, you simply go to the site, pick your car make and model, and a selection of the right tyres for your car is there for you to choose. You then pick the one you want, and pick a certified installer’s location to get your tyres installed on your car.

There is also a service where the installer comes to your location and fixes your car up for you.

If you’re in the market for new tyres, do it this weekend. Tyrepac has a 3-day sale at Ricardo Leng Kee, where there’ll be great discounts on brands like Goodyear, Kumho, Falken, Dunlop, Nankang and Firestone. There’ll be wheels and other accessories for sale as well.

I’ll be posting a review of their online ordering and on-site installation service soon.

3-Day Tyre Sale Details:
Ricardo Auto is located at 6 Kung Chong Rd (off Leng Kee Road) Singapore 159143.
Call 1800 TYREPAC (8973722) for pre-sale orders or, 64752112 from 14th to 16th for enquiries on available brands and sizes on offer

Tyrepac - Asia's First Tyre Portal. Buy Tyres Online in Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, China and more!

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