Ok fair enough. Had a poke at it and have a few thoughts.
Firstly, there's a good range there. I spotted some tyres I've had a hard time sourcing previously.
-that is good news. give us a ring as well we can probably help more.
Secondly, I don't always appreciate being told what is a "classic" or not. The models under different manufacturers are not an equal distribution of antiquity - ie, if one marque has "classics" in the 70's, then they all should. It might be an idea to also make people more aware of that when they look at the page to begin with. I knew going in, but site traffic that are on the hunt for some odd old tyres might not.
- I'm not sure i understand what you are getting at here. However i think it might be down to us calling a 70% profile tyre like a Michelin XWX or a Pirelli Cinturato CN36 a classic tyre and then specifying that a tyre like the Vredestein Sprint Classic. Isn't a classic tyre. you are absolutely right calling a tyre a classic doesn't make it classic. which is why every day of the week we would encourage you to buy the XWX or the CN36 over the Vredestein Sprint Classic, because they are genuine period tyres that have a carcass developed to compliment the chassis of a clsssic car rather than a tyre that happens to be the right size and writes classic on the side wall
In a similar vein, I don't want a history lesson on my car or marque. Please, just show me the tyres you have. I appreciate what you're trying to do, but in my view, you're either a reference site, or a sales site, not both.
- respectfully could i suggest that is a personal opinion and for some people a bit of history in there sometimes helps them understand why they might choose a certain tyre. principally our history should be at the bottom of the pages and eventually will be, so you have the choice to read it. and it just adds to the content. And to be honest i thought an honest reference site which used the reference to help someone choose tghe right tyre was a good goal to aim for. - am i wrong? I dunno? i thought it would be good.
I second also the counter-intuitive comment re: search bars. The tyre size options should be, IMO, based on the tyre/wheel diameter first of all, as that is, I'm pretty sure, how most people begin their search.
Ie, rather than
145x13
145x14
155x13
155x14
165x13...
etc - it should be organised thus:
145x13
155x13
165x13
145x14
155x14
x15
x16...
etc.
- again tricky one the choice as to how to list the tyre search thingy, we plumped for the numerical type because we are working across such avast range of tyres and we need a search that can deal with a 880X120 beaded edge tyre from before the first world war to a 345/35R15 tyre for a Lamborghini Countach. so we went numerical. we do however also have the ability to search by rim size, and crossply and radial where again you can go by rim size.
There are a few grammatical things I would deal with too if you want to really drive the site forward.
-Thats me. i wrote most of the stuff on the site and i have a CSE grade 4 in English.
Nothing too dramatic but you want it to be really crisp if you're going to market it in a big way.
The side-bars are rather disparate too. Having selectors that start off as a tyre type then change to a tyre manufacturer is rather odd to me.
- Yepo i know what you mean, but there are things like in tyre types there are crossply, radial, etc but the Michelin TRX is a weird millimetric tyre that was only really made by Michelin.
Once having searched for a specific wheel size, I'm then met with a selection of tyres in that size. I would like to see them arranged by ascending size. They sort of are, but there are still 225/45/15 showing up after I've got down to the 255/45/15, and the odd 500-15 poking in, which should have been with the other 500s at the top of the list.
- If you are on the page i think you are, the intention of that page was to list things in order of actual overall diameter, to help people compare radial tyres with their original crossply. But you're right i don't think that works any more. what we developed earlier was a way of displaying all the tyres in descending diameter order, but they were in a chart where you could see those dimensions easily and it's purpose was clear however on the new web site iot doesn't work you are right.
Overall there is a nice feel to it, and if I'm looking at the first draft, then there is some good potential there. I would definitely lose all of the ropey photoshopped B&W photos with women in them though.
I'd
consider buying from it at the minute, based on availability of sizes I need. A bit more work on the site and it would potentially be one of my first go-to sites when i need some tyres for an older car.
SuprisingSkoda - seriously thank you for taking the time to let me know your thoughts on the site. As i have been answering your email it might seem like i am criticizing your comments. that is not my intention at all, actually i was just writing down my thoughts as i considered it. Web sites are tricky things. ones as old as mine evolve into what they are and some of it turns rubbish when you put it into a new platform which is what we have just done. and yes it will evolve some more .
However thank you very much for your thoughts they will be taken into consideration and drive some of our future developments
Dougal