Demounting, mounting and inflating tires may seem to be essential for shops performing tire services, but when NOT performed properly, those basic skills can cause the most grief. When those gorgeous new rims get scratched during installation, you’re in for a customer-service headache.
Adding to the complexity are today’s tire and wheel designs. Trends such as run-flat tires, custom rims and larger rim diameters make a seemingly easy task far more difficult.
As wheels and tires get heavier, they also get harder to change. This added weight also can take more of a physical toll on both technicians and tire busters. Without the right equipment, it also can slow your floor-to-floor times.
From a bay productivity perspective, any small improvement in speed, cost and quality of changing a tire can add up to big savings over time based on faster bay turns and volume alone.
With that in mind, managers are always looking at areas to improve. From more expensive fixes such as faster tire changers and modern equipment, to more simple solutions such as keeping wheel weights organized and bead lube bucket higher, service managers have a variety of options to improve the shop floor when it comes to the seemingly simple function of tire mounting, demounting and inflation.