The plight of aging tires

Ed Noga, in his July 17 Op-Ed piece (“Aging's fine for wine—but not for tires”) failed to tell us why his boat trailer tire failed.

I have seen a bazillion-number of tires that were very weather cracked and have never heard of a tire failing because of weather cracking. There had to be a real reason that the tire failed—or did he not bother to check out the inside of the tire?

You've got to wonder about someone who does not carry a spare or a lug wrench.

The next time Mr. Noga goes to Cape Canaveral, Fla., he ought to check out the tires on the trailers that move the space shuttle to the launch pad.

Selling more tires is great, but not out of fear or scamming the public.

Ed Cohn

Executive director

California Tire Dealers Association—South

Granada Hills, Calif.

Scrap tire dilemma

I'd like to see articles in Tire Business on recycling tires.

I have a small tire shop. We're lucky to have some people in our area who use scrap tires for different things, but we still seem to get stuck with a lot of junk tires.

Nancy Inlow

Owner

Valley Tire

Tonasket, Wash.

Editor's note: Tire Business regularly publishes articles on such topics on our Scrap Tires/Recycling page.

What's a dealer to do?

With the rising gas prices, tire price increases, employees not happy, always moving from one job to another, the money we spend in school training ASE-certified technicians and the money we pay for employees—after all of that, they pick up and move to another job.

What is the answer?

Arthur Bradley

President

Ace Parker Tire Service Inc.

Sumter, S.C.

Bring back the old logo

Assuming that Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. didn't throw away all the signs, banners, decals, business cards and stationary with their good-looking old logo, I think they will be able to get back on track.

Jimmy Nylund

Technical writer

Four Wheeler Magazine

Los Angeles

Almost scammed

I would like to see an article about scams using a credit card over the phone and having tires shipped.

We just had someone try this rip-off on us, but thanks to previous articles in Tire Business we caught it before we got stung.

Lynn Webster

Manager

Meekhof Tire & Service Inc.

Jackson, Mich.

Editor's note: The Sept. 11 issue of Tire Business featured a front-page article about scammers again targeting tire dealerships with phony over-the-phone orders. It included some tips for preventing getting stung, as well as available government publications on the subject, a toll-free phone number to call—(877) 438-4338—for information and help about identity theft, and a government Web site on the subject: www.consumer.gov/idtheft.

Partner with effective suppliers

It was with great interest that I read the Tire Business editorial (“Bay crisis provides opportunities”) in the Aug. 14 issue.

You cited Lang Marketing's findings that the number of U.S. service bays has dropped precipitously over the past 10 years, while the number of vehicles on the road has greatly expanded. Jim Lang's recommendation was for tire dealers to focus on ways to enhance service bay productivity.

I would like to add to his timely list of suggestions that dealers are well-advised to partner with suppliers who can help effectively manage their shop-level inventories of critical staples such as filters, brake pads, belts, wipers and chemicals, so that service opportunities can be optimized while promoting service bay turn-speed.

Waiting for deliveries of common-use products is a service bay turn-speed killer.

The current decline in the sale of tire units—combined with a reduction in service bays and a pronounced service shift from repair to preventive maintenance—can produce near-term pain while simultaneously presenting significant upside potential. To take advantage of the opportunities, dealers should strategically align with vendors that can provide meaningful support to help them maximize service sales while efficiently turning their service bays.

Barry Teagle

Vice president, franchising

Mighty Distributing System of America

Atlanta

Dan fan

We wanted you to know how much we enjoy Dan Marinucci's automotive service column. We always turn to his article first. It's very informative and very interesting.

Brenda Galloway

Co-owner

Berney's Tire Inc.

Albany, Ga.

Psst...here's a secret

In response to Goodyear's recent earnings statement, I have to say it's about time the huge companies realized you can't throw money at a problem, hoping to fix it.

They finally discovered my “secret”—keep overhead low and reap the profits, year after year. Of course, I have been in the tire business only 18 years. I started out with $3,000, have had zero losses in 17 out of 18 years, as far as inventory goes, and have been profitable every year!

Roger Ledbetter

President

America's Tire Centers

Denver