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Does a shop have to do tires?

Sean

By Sean
in Tires and Tire Services

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Sean Enthusiast

Sean

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Posted (edited)

Greetings looking for feedback on tires and associated equipment. A shop I am in negotiations to purchase doesn't have any tire mounting or balancing machines or alignment for that matter. The owner claims that due to the big tire chain store in town he feels it is a loosing proposition. The chain store does a lot of free work. I was wondering what others have to say? I wasn't necessarily looking to start selling tires but being able to mount and balance seems like a positive thing. I could see being able to do winter tire switch overs and balancing as ways to get a ROI

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marista Explorer

marista

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We do tires at our shop. We got a great deal on some used machines. We are in a high traffic area so we get a lot of walk in business for people with flats, etc. It's an added bonus to be able to offer tires to our customers instead of losing the business to someone else. We just hooked up with a new vendor for tires and we really make a decent profit on tires. We don't stock tires so they need to be done on an appointment basis. I think the profit is worth the investment in the machines.

Having a the ability to balance tires in house is a huge plus. A lot of our customers issues can be solved with just a re-balancing of their existing tires and it's great to be able to do that for them rather than send them elsewhere.

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Sean Enthusiast

Sean

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I spoke to tire rack on the phone this morning and it was a promising conversation. I need to do some research on the types of machines I would need. I don't want to finance a bunch of expensive new equipment so I will be looking for used, refurbished on sale etc. I will avoid super cheap machines that won't last. Any thoughts ?

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ATSAutomotive Collaborator

ATSAutomotive

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I spent about $3500 2-3 years ago on a brand new set of Ranger tire machine and balancer. Ranger is made by Bendpak and is not a top machine like COATS but it has served me well since I've had it with some maintenance.

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Sean Enthusiast

Sean

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Can anyone point me in the direction of a good place to purchase the tire machine and changer? I have found some online I was just wondering if anyone has a company they love to do business with?

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JimO Collaborator

JimO

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New tires, seasonal snow tires, balancing tires and tire repairs are a good part of my business. Until recently I always had

Hunter tire machines and balancers. Two years ago I changed to Snap-on and they have been very good. Understandably both Hunter

& Snap-on are expensive but they both offer very good service when needed. I believe Snap-on is running equipment specials right

now and that could also mean that your Snap-on dealer may have info on used equipment if the new is too expensive for you.

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oktire Apprentice

oktire

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I'm the opposite of most shops on here. I'm a tire shop that does auto repair. The only thing that I will say is get a changer and balancer that will clamp on the outside of a 20" rim minimum. You will need it. Also you can make money on tires don't sell your self short. IF you have a Meyers tire supply that services your area the sell their house brand it built by corghi 9824 but has a 10year transmission warranty. worth the money.

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Tires Too Collaborator

Tires Too

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Corghi was one of the first rim clamp machines available. I had one years ago and had good luck with it. Service was a bit of an issue. I have been using Hunter for the last 15 years because they do have good service available, but we rarely need it.

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ATLAuto Rising Star

ATLAuto

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We are installers for Tire Rack, Tire Easy, and were for Discount Tire Direct before Discount Tire came to town. We pick up some addition work and customers from this.

 

Frank, I've been thinking about getting in on this as well. What percent of your tire sales would you say come from these sources?

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