Twister motivation to start something new

Deborah and Chris Chester with their RimPro-Tech wheel protectors. Photo / Paul Estcourt

When a tornado bore down on Deborah Chester's Taranaki home in July 2007 she thought her family was gone for, but little did she know it would be a catalyst for the establishment of an award-winning business venture.

She grabbed her two daughters, aged six and eight at the time, and managed to escape from the house before the twister slammed into it, ripping off the roof and blowing out the windows.

Shards of glass became embedded in the children's beds, which the girls would have been sleeping in only a couple of hours later.

Chester said she began to look at life differently and "make the most of every day" in the wake of the tornado that hit the coastal town of Oakura.

"Obviously we lost the house - we lost everything," she said.

"We [husband Chris and daughters Paige and Madison] moved up to Auckland to make a fresh start."

After arriving in the city, Chris had a dream about developing a coloured PVC strip that could be applied to car wheels to protect them from being scratched on kerbs, she said.

Chester said she thought it was a great concept and the couple worked 17 hour days at their flooring firm, which they had relocated from Taranaki to the North Shore, to be able to afford to patent the wheel band idea.

RimPro-Tec was born and its products, which are manufactured in Henderson and patented in 63 countries, are now being sold in New Zealand, the United States, Canada, Britain and Malaysia.

The company won an award in the US for its wheel bands this month.

Chester, RimPro-Tec's chief executive, said the company was currently looking for licensees and distributors in other parts of the world, including France and Italy.

The firm's target market is car owners who have upgraded their vehicle's exteriors.

RimPro-Tec's wheel bands can be applied to 13-inch and 22-inch wheels.