Supa Professional, Supa Efficient, Supa Quick
My dad, like myself was always travelling, so he had to ensure that his vehicles were roadworthy.
As I grew older I realized why we always tried our best to make a trip to a Supa Quick and I started valuing my trips more to their fitment centres.
On my journeys to the different fitment centres around the country, I learnt some of the history of the Supa Quick brand.
Bill Taylor from Firestone launched the Supa Quick franchise in probably one of the best years, 1986 (mostly because I was born then).
The brand was launched to protect the smaller tyre dealers around the country from the large conglomerates at the time. In 1991 Murray & Roberts purchased the company before the final acquisition by Bridgestone, Japan in 1996.
Supa Quick was the first tyre franchise in South Africa and was the first tyre brand to start customer guarantees and have a national presence on television.
Besides the excellent and super quick service that was offered, the brand affiliated itself with leading tyre brands like Bridgestone and Firestone, which set them apart from their competitors.
More than 10 years ago when I was looking to change my tyres on my car, I asked my cousin who was working in the tyre industry, which tyre he thought was the best, given that I liked a bit of a sporty tyre. Without hesitation he said that at the time the best tyre was Bridgestone MY-01. He mentioned the technology used on the tyre was far superior than any other brand, it was affordable, and the road handling on wet or dry surfaces was excellent.
Sadly he tragically passed away shortly after that, but every new vehicle that I have had since then, I have fitted Bridgestone MY-01 tyres. I feel it was the best advice that I was given, though it would have been nice for him to see me “carrying on the legacy”.
For the last 10 years I have been very happy with the service these tyres have given me, to the point where I would rather wait for the shipment to come in to my nearest Supa Quick than to fit another tyre.
Which brings me to the present. I recently had a puncture in my tyre and it needed to be replaced so I visited Supa Quick Centurion Lifestyle. It was probably my lucky day because one of the Bridgestone representatives was at the store. We started chatting about the different tyres and he taught me a few things about the different tyres that are available in the market. Not to get a biased opinion, I spoke with the owners to clarify the information.
While chatting to them I learnt more about road safety, tyre safety, and they also completed a free safety check on my vehicle, where they tested my tyres (including the tyre on the spare wheel), brakes, shocks, battery and windscreen wipers. The safety check is linked to an app which sends you the results of the check in real-time. It took a few minutes, but well worth it because it was like a full health check of the car which is needed every few months or every time you consider driving on a long journey. Thankfully for me, everything was fine except of course the puncture I had on my tyre and there was some oil leaking on one of my front shock absorbers. Both were not serious but because we travel often around the country I thought it best to replace the tyre and both front shocks.
Besides the 3 different types of tyre tread patterns that I learnt about which are the standard tread pattern, asymmetrical tread pattern, and directional tread pattern, I also learnt something very interesting and useful to know. This was to do with the marking on tyres; where to find the size of your tyre, the weight it can hold, the top speed it can travel, and the manufactured date of the tyre.
The tyre I had fitted is 205/40/R17, which means that the width of the tyre from left to right is 205mm. The height from the top of the tyre to the lip of the rim is 40mm and the radial diameter is 17 inches. The 84W next to the 205/40/R17 on the tyre means that the load weight is 84, which on the tyre chart indicates 500kg and this is the amount each tyre can hold. The W is the speed rating which indicates the highest speed the tyre can travel at, which in this case is 270km/h. The manufactured date is indicated differently on each tyre but it generally looks like 4817, which simply means that in the 48th week of 2017 that particular tyre was manufactured.
After processing all this new information and the discussion I had with the Bridgestone representative and the owners I was now looking at fitting a new tyre and not my usual Bridgestone MY-01. They then brought out the tyre for me to look at, and I could already envision those Bridgestone Potenza RE003 wrapped around my 17-inch sport rims.
Now I had a bit of a personal dilemma; one new tyre and three semi-old tyres just didn’t look right, and with the fresh tread and sporty design on the Potenza RE003, I couldn’t leave without getting all four new tyres.
I once again consulted with the experts on the best shock absorbers to compliment these stylish tyres and it was unanimous, Monroe was the king of shock absorbers. I was happy with the decision of the Monroe shocks and the Bridgestone Potenza RE003 tyres, and before I knew it everything was fitted and the balancing and wheel-alignment was completed as well.
A bonus for me was from 01 July 2019, Bridgestone had joined Firestone by also introducing a Tyre Damage Guarantee on their tyres. Firestone who has been offering a guarantee for a number of years on all their passenger tyres from 15inch and above, while the Bridgestone (which I purchased) was on all the passenger tyres from 17inch and above.
The guarantee is for one year from purchase of the tyre, where if there is any ir-repairable damage to the tyres, you only pay for the tread you have used on the damaged tyre when replacing it with a new tyre. The process to register your tyres is quick and can be done by a consultant at a Supa Quick when you purchase your new tyres or can be done via the following link.
The team at Supa Quick Centurion Lifestyle from Sizwe and Marietha at the welcome desk, to Phillip in the fitment centre, the owners Khaya and Silimela and the Bridgestone representative Neil, were all very professional and not only guided me throughout the entire process but were all knowledgeable and could assist me in all my questions and queries that I had, and I had quite a few.
I was even more surprised when Sizwe gave me a courtesy call a few days later to find out it if everything was to my satisfaction and if there was any further assistance that I would need.
As I have mentioned before, I asked quite a few questions from the fitment experts at Supa Quick Centurion Lifestyle which I’ve compiled into 15 handy tyre safety tips for you HERE
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Ziyaad Plaatjes is the Co-Founder of iloveza.com.
He is a Bachelor of Commerce Honours graduate and has been running businesses since the age of 13. Ziyaad is a registered Financial Advisor, but has taken on many roles in various industries over the years. With his entrepreneurial skills and vast knowledge he assists individuals and businesses to grow and achieve their goals.
Find him at: Instagram: @ziyaad_86 / @ilovezacom Twitter: @ziyaad86 / @ilovezacom Facebook: iloveza.com LinkedIn: Ziyaad Plaatjes / iloveza.com YouTube: iloveza.com SoundCloud: iloveza.com E-mail: ziyaad@iloveza.com
