Safety Tips for Driving in the Summer

Summer means higher volumes of traffic into the roads and particularly on motorways. Regardless of whether you are planning a short day-trip or a long-journey, you might want to take a few steps in order to drive you and your loved ones to your final destinations safely.

 

Before you go

Ask yourself: is your car ready for the journey? If it’s not or you are not sure, take a look at our articles Is Your Car Ready for the Summer? And Car Maintenance Tips for the Summer.

 

On the road

There are a number of boxes that, if ticked, they will certainly improve the safety and comfort of your road trip. Here’s some:

• Always use seat belts & the correct restraint/booster seat for your child
• Leave early or later to avoid the rush
• Keep a safe distance – use the two second rule
• If you’re tired, stop & take a break – even for just 10 minutes
• Don’t drink & drive
• Don’t use a hand held mobile phone when driving
• ALWAYS expect the unexpected!

We feel particular attention needs to be paid if children and / or pets are among the passengers in your car. Specifically:

 

Summer driving with children

Long car trips with children can be the stuff of nightmares. Here are some ideas to help you arrive safe and still in the holiday mood:

• Take turns driving & looking after the kids with your partner so that the driver can just concentrate on the driving
• Bring along some in car entertainment. Books, Magnetic Games, Story Tapes or even a DVD, but avoid distracting the driver
• Play games – Number plate game, count the red cars, eye spy, etc
• Take breaks – everyone will benefit from some fresh air & a stretch of the legs
• Bring along snacks and water/drinks
• Don’t forget some wet wipes!

 

Summer driving with Pets

Make your pet travel experience enjoyable by following these simple, common sense tips:

• Never leave a pet unattended in a car during the summer
• Bring plenty of water with you & something for your pet to drink from
• Pets should always be suitably restrained while the car is moving
• Don’t allow your dog to put its head out of the car while it is moving

No matter where you are going or who you’re sharing your trip with, the choice of your tyres can literally go a long way. By choosing Zeetex tyres you will make sure both yourself and your loved ones will have a comfortable and safe journey to the Summer destination of your dreams.

The Summer is here, and what better way to spend it than out on the open road. It’s the perfect time to pack up the car, strap your loved ones in safely and head off on that much longed for road trip. Before getting all packed up it is most important that your car is Summer ready.

ZEETEX UK have compiled a list of some simple Summer Car Maintenance tips that will make sure you are ready to hit the road.

Keep your cool: Staying cool is important not just for you, but also for your car.  Beyond checking the level of coolant fluid in your car, be sure to inspect the state of the hoses and coolant reservoir to keep an eye out for leaks.  

Check your engine belts: There is usually a serpentine belt that runs between the alternator, the fan and several other components. It can deteriorate, become loose, start to squeal, and sometimes just break for no apparent reason. It needs to be in good condition and at the right amount of tension. If you see cracks in the belt or small pieces missing, it’s time to replace the belt.

Stay hydrated: It is as important for the car to stay hydrated as it is the passengers. Beyond checking the level of coolant fluid in your car, be sure to inspect the state of the hoses and coolant reservoir to keep an eye out for leaks.  Check oil, brake, power-steering and windshield-washer fluids regularly. These liquids never stop being used and consumed.

Check the brakes: How are the brakes on your car feeling in general? Are they lacking in bite? Feeling a bit spongy? If so, new pads and a system bleed might be required. This is the kind of maintenance you should have your mechanic or dealership take care of.

Make sure your wipers are working properly: Whether there is a heatwave or monsoon rain, make sure your wipers are working adequately. If the wipers are worn they can affect your driving vision. This can be a fiddly operation so perhaps ask your mechanic/dealer to do this for you.

Tyre Pressure: High temperature and climate can deflate car tyres. Check each tyre frequently and add air as necessary for a safer trip. Check your manual for levels specific to your vehicle, treads should be free of stones, stray nails and the like, and all four should be in good condition. Good condition means no cracks, no uneven wear (this might be caused by a suspension problem) and plenty of tread depth. And make sure to check your spare tyre too.

Keep the driver and passengers cool and hydrated too: It can get hot out there so make sure everyone’s cool and hydrated. Make sure to check your air-conditioning is working properly, and when parked up for a while, try to find shade, so the car stays cool,  to make it a comfortable journey for everyone. It’s better to make a few more bathroom breaks and stretch your legs than to end up cranky and tired.

To drive safely and in full comfort on your Summer road trip, make sure your car is equipped with ZEETEX tyres. Why not fit your car with ZEETEX ZT4000 4S – All Seasons

Tyres with specially engineered “All Weather” compound ensures outstanding performance & safety year-round. https://zeetextyres.co.uk/tyres/passenger-car-tyres/zt4000-4s-all-seasons/

Seat Position

If your seat is adjusted, meaning you don’t need to stretch your legs to reach the pedals or crane your neck to see out of the window, you’ll avoid a lot of physical stress and ultimately travel more comfortably.

According to experts, maximum comfort is reached when you center yourself in the middle of the seat. If you are positioned correctly neither the front edge of the seat should hit the back of your knees nor you will have to extend your foot to reach the pedals.

 

Tidy Up

This is similar to living in a tidy and clean house versus a messy and dirty one. Empty cans, plastic bottles, napkins or any other item that doesn’t belong there are not only annoying and increase your level of stress and sicomfort but they are also likely to put your safety at risk.

 

Microfibre Towel

Inexpensive items such as a microfibre towel can make a big difference in your level of comfort behind the wheel. For example, you can use the towel to keep your windshield and rearview mirror clean. Having a good view of everything around you has a positive effect in the driver’s overall confidence and well-being.

 

Mute the Noise

Noise is probably one of the most irritating things when it comes to driving. Some suspicious noises in the car might well be the sign that you need to do that long-overdue maintenance but some other noises can be the effect of a noisy car, which more often is the sign of bad, noisy tyres.

If you are looking for ultra-silent tyres, you have to try Zeetex HP 1000 whose serrations on the groove wall reduce pipe resonance noise making it an ultra-silent tire. To find out more, visit: https://zeetextyres.co.uk/tyres/passenger-car-tyres/hp1000/

Whether you are planning a long or short trip by car, the coming of the Summer is always a good time for doing a bit of maintenance for the car.

It’s easier for you to get ready for the Summer than it is for your car. OK, maybe there is a little diet involved but that aside your car will definitely require more than pulling out your tank top, bathing suit of flip flops.

Summer car maintenance is critically important. That’s why we want to give you a list of things to look at

Some of the items on the list can be checked by yourself, while others might need the assistance of a mechanic. If you are not sure, it’s always best to pay a visit to your local garage and get the car checked out.

Coolant System

As you would probably expect, both your car’s coolant and radiator do a lot of overtime in the Summer. The coolant system keeps your car from overheating but also guards it against corrosion and lubricates your water pump.

Checking your coolant system means checking your radiator, water pump, cooling fans and the likes. You certainly don’t want to be stuck on the side of the road because you neglected to service your coolant system and the engine overheated.

Battery

It’s common for batteries to fail when in the presence of sudden changes from hot to cold weather and vice versa. Batteries have a liquid which evaporates during hot temperatures. As a result, the battery life gets shorter. It’s also very important that you get your battery checked, if you want to avoid any unpleasant surprise before or during your Summer holidays.

Tyres

Checking the tyres means checking the tread. Poor tyre treads negatively influence your car stopping distance and overall maneuverability. It’s also good practice to rotate your tyres and often check their pressure as sudden changes in the temperature can cause your tyres to lose pressure more quickly.

It goes without saying that when it comes to tyres, it’s also vitally important choosing the right ones. If you are looking for high-quality summer tyres at an affordable price, Zeetex tyres are very popular with many motorists. Particularly, you should check out Zeetex HP 2000vfm.

Its reinforced design gives more resistance and wide transverse grooves helps in overall aerodynamics.

The second round of the Irish Drifting Championship (IDC) is around the corner. On May 26th the spotlights will be on Dun Laoghaire and its decommissioned ferry terminal for a more than unique event.

Due to future plans made by the Dublin Port Authority, this will also be the final time the Irish Drift Championship will transform the ferry terminal into a purpose-built drift circuit.

As for Round 1 of the IDC, which took place on April 21st at Mondello Park, County Kildare, Zeetex will follow and support Pro AM drifter Paul Kennedy and his Zeetex HP 1000 tyres in his efforts to make another amazing qualifying round and delight his supporters coming to see him from County Longford.

Tickets for last year’s event in Dun Laoghaire sold-out in under 4 hours and certainly lived up to the anticipation and the constant action, breathtaking backdrop and stadium-like atmosphere, which make this event unmissable for any true Irish Drift Championship fan.

This is going to be Ireland’s best drivers battle in the most unique venue ever perceived and Zeetex will follow it with live updates, interviews, photos and videos directly from the docs.

Tickets for this event are available at https://www.driftgames.life/products/idc-round-2-2018-event-tickets

If you are arriving by car please be aware that for this event, there is strictly no public parking at the event venue. Any parking at the event venue itself is reserved for Irish Drift Championship staff only.

If you are attending the event as a spectator, the town of Dún Laoghaire has multiple paid car parks which are located at the Lexicon, the Pavilion, Dún Laoghaire shopping centre, IMC Cinema and Bloomfield’s Shopping Centre and are all a 5-10 minute walk at most to the event venue.

Alternatively, as Dún Laoghaire railway station is located just 30 seconds from the gates of the event venue, we do recommend using Irish Rail’s DART service to travel to the event.

The tire industry meets for the first time in May 2018 and the tire-cologne’s preparations are in full swing.  The Tire cologne has been making waves in the tire industry and brings together top leaders pioneering innovation and sustainability on board.

With over 600 exhibitors, Zeetex would unfold at the Booth no – B050, Hall no. 07 welcoming more than 20,000 international visitors across the globe.

The most awaited SU4000 4S – all season tyre is set to launch at the booth counter following the success of its predecessor ZT4000 4S. The scintillating booth would display most celebrated summer tyres of Zeetex like ZT1000, HP2000 vfm, SU1000 vfm, HT1000 vfm and CT2000 vfm. There is also an array of exceptionally performing winter models like WP1000, WV1000 , WH1000, WH1000 SUV and WQ1000.

Booth will host some interesting sports activities and games for the visitors to have fun. Games like crazy golf, automatic dart, and mini billiards are being arranged to entertain the guests and lot of fun is along the way. There are also some amazing giveaways for the lucky winners at the booth.

We at Zeetex, invite everyone to come to our booth, talk to us, play with us and celebrate the occasion along with us.

Keep watching our social media pages for more updates about the upcoming show.

The end of May / beginning of June will see two bank holidays weekends respectively for UK (May 28th) and Ireland (June 4th). As the weather gets warmer, it’s very likely that the roads will be quite busy. If you are planning a getaway with the car, at home or abroad, there are some simple car safety checks to make before you head off, that could save you a lot of trouble and help keep your family safe.

Give the interior a clean

The majority of motorists are not particularly careful about keeping their cars very clean – inside or out. A recent survey of 2,000 motorists showed that one in five tidy the inside of their car just once a year, generally ahead of an NCT or garage visit. Cleaning the inside of your car is not just for aesthetic reasons, but for safety too. For example, an empty can, bottle or other piece of rubbish rolling under the brake pedal could have very serious consequences.

Check the tyres

Having shoddy tyres in bad condition can lead to trouble, or even accidents. After all, tyres are your only point of contact with the road. So the next time you fill up your car with fuel, check both the air pressure and the tread depth of all tyres, including the spare wheel. If in doubt, take your car to your nearest garage to have them professionally checked.

Check the windscreen wipers

On holiday, the weather might not go according to plan. To be ready for those sudden, heavy showers, check your car’s wiper blades. Check that the rubber blade hasn’t worn down or peeled away from its base. If the wipers are not clearing rain away completely, replace them before you set off.

Check the lights

Driving with defective lights is illegal, because of the danger it poses to you and to other road users. So before you head off, ask a family member or friend to walk around your car as you switch on the side lights, fog lamps, reversing lights, headlights, operate the main beam and then check the indicators and brake lights. If you are travelling to the continent, don’t forget to use headlamp converter stickers so that your headlights don’t dazzle oncoming traffic.

We hope you enjoy your bank holiday weekend in the UK, Ireland or abroad. If you are looking for best value tyres combining performance and safety, look no further than Zeetex tyres. You can find more info at zeetextyres.co.uk.

For many drivers, the summer months are a great opportunity to enjoy driving, but many often wonder when to switch change from winter tyres to summer tyres? After all, tyres for winter and summer are designed with different conditions in mind, so you need to understand these factors so you know when to change tyre options.

If you want to know when to change from winter tyres to summer tyres, there are numerous things you can do. First, however, you should observe the condition of your tyres. This way, you can identify if it’s time to replace tyres before you fit them to your vehicle.

Summer tyres should be fitted when the average 24-hour temperature rises above 7°C. This, of course, is a general principle for drivers want to change tyre. It is hard to determine a specific date, as the weather in late winter, as well as early spring, can be very variable. Depending on your local weather climate, you could replace tyres at the start of March, or perhaps the end of April.

Similarly, we also do not recommend switching to summer tyres just because the weather has risen above 7°C for a couple of days. It is more sensible to wait until the weather stabilises – at least for a week or two – before replacing tyres for summer products. This reduces the likelihood of compromising your safety on the road and ensures you don’t swap out your tyres due to an unusual spike in the temperature.

If you are looking for high-quality summer tyres at an affordable price, Zeetex tyres are very popular with many motorists. Particularly, you should check out Zeetex HP 2000vfm.

Its reinforced design gives more resistance and wide transverse grooves helps in overall aerodynamics.

Read more: https://www.oponeo.ie/tyre-models/zeetex-hp2000-vfm
The content of this page is the exclusive property of Oponeo.pl S.A.

The outer shoulder blocks help increase stability while cornering and inner shoulder dissipates water and heat quickly.

The well positioned wider grooves & slightly curved lateral grooves help in quicker dissipation of water thereby enhancing braking & stability on wet conditions

Finally, the continuous 3 center ribs with optimal block distribution provide steering stability performance at a high speed

Irish Drift Championship is one of the historic and leading professional drifting series in Ireland which is held every year. It is also regarded as the world’s best championship series considering various parameters like popularity, drifter’s talent, live viewership and a roaring support from the audience and petrol heads around Ireland.

The showdown is between the Irish Drift Championship and Irish Rallycross Championship which is also place at Mondello Park April 21-22nd 2018. The Mondello Park is Ireland’s only international motorsport venue which is approximately 30 miles (48 km) from Dublin city centre, located in Caragh, County Kildare off the R409 regional road. It also boasts having 2 international circuits, a national and a short circuit for motorsports & drifting.

Over 200 competitors, will compete against each other on two challenging circuits. Among the competitors is Paul Kennedy, the drifter from Co Longford that we proudly support as Zeetex Ireland.

Paul would mount Zeetex HP 1000 tyres from the high-performance series of Zeetex product range and there is a reason for that, here is an excerpt from one of the recent chit chats we had with him at an exclusive pep talk with Zeetex Ireland:

“I tried a couple of high-end brands and I wasn’t happy with them. When the tyres got hot the tyre would start peeling off. This doesn’t happen with ZEETEX tyres. Also with standard tyre you might get 4-6 laps, while with ZEETEX tyres you might get up to 10 laps”.

Our best wishes to Paul for the upcoming championship and wishing him good luck. If you are close by and want to experience the adrenaline rush pumping from inside sitting at the edges of the seats and check out the tickets at the Mondello Park website. Limited tickets will also be available at the gate at the event, come and let’s have fun!