Hunter touts systems approach to servicing

ST. LOUIS — Hunter Engineering Co.'s reputation as a designer and supplier of vehicle maintenance and repair equipment is well established, but the St. Louis-based company wants customers to think beyond individual pieces of equipment and take a more holistic approach to their business.

Hunter is focusing an increasing share of its engineering resources on combining the individual repair/maintenance processes — tire mounting/balancing, wheel alignment, etc. — into more integrated systems while at the same time automating more and more of the individual tasks needed.

At the forefront of this evolution is something Hunter calls "Safety System Alignment." This is the company's attempt to address rapidly evolving vehicle technology — think anti-lock brakes (ABS), adaptive cruise control (ACC), lane departure warning (LDW), electronic stability control (ESC), etc. — and provide independent aftermarket service establishments with tools to help customers when these technologies are involved.

These new safety-oriented devices, referred to collectively as Advanced Drive Assist System (ADAS), are standard or optional equipment on nearly a third of the 15 million new passenger vehicles registered in the U.S. in 2015, Hunter said.

In its pitch to potential customers, Hunter compares and contrasts wheel alignment and safety system alignment, stating that while the primary goal of wheel alignment is to measure and adjust the primary wheel alignment angles to the vehicle maker's specifications, safety system alignment addresses the relationship between wheel alignment and systems such as ESC, electric power steering (EPS), LDW, ACC, forward collision warning (FCW), etc.

Hunter's Safety System Alignment package features both hardware and software platforms to help a dealer carry out a full inspection.

For example, ESC and EPS, which are increasingly common on newer vehicles, often require a service provider to reset the steering angle and/or other related sensors before the vehicle can be driven away.

Recalibrating steering-angle sensors is becoming increasingly necessary even to complete a standard wheel alignment, Hunter stressed, and will be absolutely necessary to ensure that the functions that make up a vehicle's ADAS perform properly after an alignment.

To help streamline the process of determining which vehicles require steering-angle and/or other system sensor resets, Hunter offers CodeLink, an integrated solution that is updated constantly to include all vehicle specifications using the vehicle's OBD-II ID.

CodeLink covers not only steering-angle sensors, but it also is being expanded to cover LDW or Lane-Keeping System, ACC, intelligent cruise control, etc.

In addition, Hunter over the past year has upgraded many of its individual tire, wheel and vehicle maintenance machines, including:

• A more compact version of its Quick Tread inspection technology system, allowing for a "clean" installation of the unit virtually anywhere in or nearby the service drive. This improvement saves valuable space. The Quick Tread system automatically measures tire tread depth and captures vehicle identification in seconds as motorists drive into the service lane.

The Quick Tread system also can be integrated with multi-point inspection providers to supply digital inspection reports and tires offers to customers. Hunter estimates that roughly a quarter of a typical dealership's customers are in need of immediate tire replacement. Quick Tread allows dealers to audit every vehicle and present timely, informative tire offers.

• Automatic CenteringCheck technology for the Road Force Elite wheel balancer, which is designed to help reduce mis-centering errors by notifying the technician of improper centering. The result is improved quality, increased shop efficiency and customer retention, Hunter said.

Road Force Elite's 4.0 software also features a "Balancer Report Card" with a specified inner and outer error amount and a letter grade to optimize weight placement. The scorecard relies on Hunter's patented 3D-scanning vision system to determine the accuracy of wheel weight placement, which helps technicians learn on the job.

The vision system also features automatic spoke detection, which guides technicians to place wheel weights behind the spokes.

Hunter also noted that the Road Force Elite is a required piece of equipment by a growing list of vehicle makers for their dealers, including BMW, Jaguar/Land Rover, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Subaru, Tesla and Volkswagen/Audi.

• The addition of "WalkAway" capability to the firm's Revolution tire changer line, which Hunter claims can reduce tire changing and balancing times by roughly 25 percent.

The WalkAway capability features 80 seconds of autonomous bead breaking and demounting that can be performed without an operator present, Hunter said, freeing up the operator to perform balancing procedures or other shop tasks during the longest portion of the tire-changing action.

Most technicians mount and balance assemblies sequentially, Hunter said, demounting and mounting all four tires, then balancing all four assemblies. The Revolution with WalkAway frees the operator to balance assemblies while the machine demounts the next tire autonomously.

• Debut of a Quick Check "Flightboard," a video display that shows inspection findings to customers in the service drive or waiting room. This display features inspection results in real-time to educate vehicle-owners, increase shop transparency and ease the friction of manual presentations.

• Launch of an online self-study tire and alignment service program for technicians and industry professionals under the Hunter University umbrella. The program is designed to enhance training in alignment fundamentals, performance tire service and road force balancing techniques, Hunter said.

"This educational tool is an easy and effective method of helping technicians and service advisers understand the process of wheel alignment and the benefits associated with the process," said Doug Felt, technical training manager.

The Hunter University eLearning courses allow students to learn at their own pace and are designed for students at all levels, Hunter said. The courses offer in-depth information, detailed graphics, video and modular segments to allow participants to proceed at their own pace.

The online modules also can be used to supplement instructor-led training courses.

St. Louis-based Hunter is offering three courses: Introduction to vehicle alignment, rolling smooth, and heavy-duty truck and trailer alignment. Each course is divided into modules, and students can exit and re-enter at the same point in the module if using the same computer.