Visit to Dutch Continental tyre importer

[tnas@dtpdirect.nl (Tom Nas, DTP Direct bv)]

I visited the Dutch Continental tyre importer yesterday, as an add-on to
the personnel of the VAG dealer where my mechanic friend works. Apparently,
Continental tyres is partly owned by Pon, the Dutch VW/Audi importer, and
hence all VWs and Audis sold here get their tyres replaced by Contis. The
importer also does Uniroyal and Semperit tyres, Cromodora, BBS, Bugatti,
Ronal, Centra and lots of other alloy wheels. A very impressive and
efficient-looking operation, and their warehouse was enormous. I saw some
sets of alloy wheels there that made my mouth water. Oh, for a shopping
trolley and five minutes of unsupervised time there...

Centra has just introduced a new kind of alloy wheel. It's a multi-spoke
type wheel of a beautiful smooth design, polished to a high gloss that's
been finished by spraying it with a semi-transparent laquer with black
paint added. A bit difficult to describe, but the result is something like
black chrome, which looks beautiful on a black or dark grey car. They
showed a 17" version, and that was one of the most beautiful wheels I'd
ever seen. (salivate) If you've ever seen something photographed in 'low
key', you know what I mean. This finish also disguises the presence of
brake dust. These wheels will become available for all late model Audis
(5-bolt). Not for my humble 4-bolt 80 though...

After a video and a presentation, the guy from Conti asked the people
present what their opinion of Conti tyres was. The answers were mostly
unprintable. The 'round, black, holds air' went no further than 'black'.
Apparently there are leasing companies that insist on the dealer replacing
Contis with other tyres. Hmmm...  the most favourable comment was that
Contis seem to have a long life, because they're made of hard rubber. Nice
dinner afterwards, anyway, and I was impressed by the business these people
do.

Tom
(my Audi 80 1.8S once out-accellerated an F-16 :-) )

 _______________________________________________________________________
   Tom W. Nas, graphic design                        tnas@dtpdirect.nl
   DTP Direct bv                              Voice +31 (55) 5 790 799
   Apeldoorn, the Netherlands                   Fax +31 (55) 5 790 125

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