Replacing Tires, Fixing Flats and Other Auto Services - Tire Reviews, Buying Guide & Interesting Facts

REPLACING A TIRE

It is not our purpose to give you instruction in the technical or mechanical aspects of removing and replacing tires. Manufacturers of air-fed tire-changing equipment help buyers learn how to operate it. The purpose of this report is to show you how to run a tire store based on the expertise in the field that you either possess or can hire intelligently.

Offer custom wheel work for luxury cars but you need not stock a whole line of specialized inventory. Most tire suppliers can give you quick turnaround on special orders.

The tire changing machinery in this spacious shop is located within a few feet of 2S *1 every general service person. The air compressor here is inside the shop. To save everybody’s ears consider putting your outside either underground or in an outbuilding.

That said we can tell you that you should be aware of a few steps basic to every tire replacement. First off there are five main aspects of the installation process as follows:

1. Removing old tire and wheel from car

2. Removing old tire from wheel

3. Attaching new tire to wheel

4. Balancing and inflating new tire

5. Mounting new tire and wheel on car

We’re going to cover each area in turn in fairly general terms. Check with individual equipment manufacturers to make sure you’re following correct operating procedures.

This GSP is using the tire changer to break the beads of the tire and remove it from the wheel.

Removing Old Tires

The car must be driven into the tire- changing bay and put on a hydraulic lift. If you’ve got a hydraulic pit and a 6-foot lift you have to position the car on the lift click holding levers into place and activate the pressure. If you have an aboveground speed hoist you center the frame of the vehicle at midpoint over the wide rubber pads on the top of the hoist.

Once the car is in place activate the hydraulic lift. When the car is in the air the general service person (GSP) uses the hubcap hammer to remove the hubcap or wheel cover. In the case of locking wire wheel covers the owner’s key is needed. Then he uses the reversible air gun to take the lug bolts/nuts off setting each set of lugs safely inside the hubcaps. The lugs can be broken loose while the car is in the air because of the tremendous power of pneumatic tools. When the tire is removed from the car of course the wheel goes Lubricate the rim of the wheel and the bead of the tire before putting on a new tire on a wheel. This allows the rubber on the tire to stretch rather than break when it is fitted between the beads of the wheel rim.

The spin balancer’s gauges allow the GSP to determine where between the rims of tire and wheel the wheel weights should go.

This machine is analog, newer ones are digital with it. Most general service personnel take all the tires off then put them all on at once rather than processing each tire individually.

Removing Tire from Wheel

The tire changer is used to separate the old tire from its wheel. The GSP throws the tire onto the changer and the inverted cone mechanism spins on a shaft and bolts it down. This shaft protrudes about 12 inches upward. Some machines have a second movable cone placed through one lug nut hole that further secures wheel. Then the valve stem is either deflated by removing its core or center or it is pulled out with a stem puller which is similar to a lever. This deflates the tire while still secured to the wheel.

The GSP activates the changer by stepping on a pedal. This causes a bar on the underside of the changer to come between the outer rim of the wheel and the inner rim of the tire spinning around the circumference breaking the underside bead and releasing all the air pressure. Some changers have deluxe arms that break both edges at once. This separates the tire from the wheel but with the tire sitting between the wheel rims.

The GSP takes the steel bar and sticks it between wheel and tire connecting it to the center post of the machine. Again he steps on the pedal causing repeated turns that result in the tire being one-half over and one-half under the top wheel rim. The GSP puts the bar under the bottom bead of the tire secures it to the center post and steps on air-pressure pedal. The bottom half of the tire pops and stretches out over the top. The GSP discards the old tire. He uses the stem-puller to place a new valve stem in the wheel. The next job is to put the new tire on the wheel. First the tire beads are lubricated with tire lubricant or Murphy’s soap and water gel paste or a similar substance. The purpose of lubricating the beads is to facilitate stretching them over the wheel. The rubber should not be dry when you do so.

Attaching New Tires

Now the GSP reverses the process with the tires using the tire changer. After lubricating the tire he sets it down on top of the wheel. The tire bar is inserted between wheel and tire and the GSP steps on the pedal. The bar goes around the rim as before stretching the bottom bead over the top of the wheel. The process is repeated to get the top bead over the top rim as well. Once again the tire beads are between the beads of the rim.

Now the new tire is inflated. The tire machine has its own air hose. The GSP puts that on the valve stem and steps on lever which inflates tire. Some tire manufacturers even have little dots that correspond to where the valve stem should be. The tire is turned to that point which makes for better balancing and then inflated to the manufacturer’s recommendation. Once it is inflated the GSP unbolts the wheel and takes tire off of machine. He then secures it to the spin balancer.

Balancing

The GSP now puts the tire and wheel on the balancer. The shaft on the balancer runs horizontally instead of vertically which makes it easy to put tires on it. The tire is secured to one of several threaded cones. Then adjustments are made. The GSP needs to measure the distance from machine to tire wheel assembly the width of the wheel and the tire diameter. These are programmed into the machine and the button is pushed.

Now the machine spins for about 10 seconds. A digital readout appears telling the GSP where to put the wheel weights on the front and back of wheel. The GSP pounds weights into the balancer with a tool designed for that purpose. Then he re-spins the tire to confirm that it’s balanced.

A spin balancer interfaces with wheel and tire and tells where any flaws in the roundness of the tire or thickness of the rubber are located. Lead wheel weights are inserted on the wheel to balance out the roundness or thickness.

New Tire Mounting

Before a whitewall tire is mounted on a car most GSPs like to hose off the bluish film covering the whitewall. This is a protective rubber sealant that keeps the whitewall from being scuffed in transit or storage. It is best to wash the whitewall before putting it on the customer’s car. Nothing annoys customers more than spending $400 on new tires and having to wash their own whitewalls.

The GSP mounts the tires one by one using the reversible air gun to secure the lug bolts while the car is in the air. Once the car is back on the ground the GSP should double-check the pressure with his gauge and adjust the tire pressure as required.

FIXING FLATS

Fixing flats is easy with today’s technology. The GSP removes the flat from the wheel. Then he puts the wheel aside and puts the tire itself into a flat repair tub full of water. The GSP submerges the bottom of the tire and rotates it slowly looking for air bubbles revealing the location of the leak(s).

Once the leak is found the GSP marks the leak removes the tire and dries it off. He then prepares the surface to accept the vulcanized rubber compound patch that is chemically bonded to the surface of the tire. When this dries the tire may be reattached to the wheel balanced and mounted on the car.

Some flats cannot be fixed for various reasons. One may be that the wheel itself is defective and will not seal air inside the tire. This is often the case when a car has been in an accident or when a leak cannot be discovered in the flat repair tub.

Another reason may be that the tire was punctured in a place such as the sidewall causing structural damage that cannot be repaired as it will not hold a patch. Confirm this by looking at a tire punctured in this way. You’ll see that the sidewall is not made of smooth tire rubber but of several Fixing a flat is a process whereby the surface to be repaired is roughened so that it can accept special galvanized bonding that chemically seals the repair material to the inside of the tire.

Layers of fabric or stringy material, this is irrepairable and the customer needs a new tire.

WHAT HAPPENS TO OLD TIRES?

Once you’re up and running you’ll accumulate a large pile of old tires. It’s best to junk them unless you’re going to start your own retreading operation. But it isn’t as simple as calling the local recycler. You need to use a little psychology and common sense in unloading these tires.

Ideally of course you’d like to sell off these tires to retreaters and create a nice little extra profit center for yourself. Forget it. There’s no shortage of junk tires. Land-fills won’t take them because of the amount of space they take up and the fact that there’s a lot of empty air between hollow tires. Give them to anyone willing to haul them off for you.

Inevitably some of the replaced tires you find yourself in possession of are going to be in pretty good shape. Initially you may cringe at the thought of losing the money you might have gained by selling the used tires. But it makes more sense in regard to your time and the space you will need to store your inventory cars waiting to be serviced and so on to work out an arrangement with some guy who will haul off the old tires. Look in your Yellow Pages under “Junk Dealers “Tire Recyclers and so on to find this person. By giving him the good tires as well as the bad you provide him with the incentive to deal with you. This person is the one who makes his money selling the old tires particularly the bigger ones to retreaters. You’re buying service by giving him these tires gratis.

OTHER AUTO SERVICES

When tires are off the car in the air this is an ideal time to check the front suspension brakes shock absorbers. You want to encourage your customers to allow you to perform these services as well as

PLACE STAMP HERE

Dynamic Tire & Rubber Company 123 Sheldon Avenue Southwest Akron Ohio 12345

You must provide a postcard to customers to fill out at their convenience and send in to the tire company. On one side is the preprinted or stamped address of the tire company and on the other is a space for the serial numbers.

DAVIS TIRE TIPS

If you want maximum mileage from your tires follow these Davis Tire Tips:

• Slow down! Excessive speed creates excessive heat your tires’ number-one enemy. Drive safely and sanely at moderate speeds and increase the life of your tires.

• Proper inflation is a must! Check the owner’s handbook that came with your car to determine the Correa air pressure for your tires.

• Strange tire wearing? Davis Tire Center’s trained personnel can check your tires to see what’s wrong and why and take corrective action at once.

• Avoid road hazards. If you can’t avoid them take them slowly or you increase your chance of having a blowout

• Rotate and balance tires every 5 000 miles. This will cause your tires to wear at the same rate and allow you maximum mileage. Get into the habit of inspecting the condition of your tires on a regular basis. If something looks wrong have the experts check it out.

• Proper alignment is a must! If you experience “rough steering” after driving over excessively rough roads or if you think your tires are wearing out too fast in regular service bad alignment may be the problem. Have it corrected immediately to avoid further damaging your tires.

Tire replacement. Alignment is another related service which takes place while the car is on the ground.

If you are going to offer wheel alignment you will need to have an alignment rack. Manufacturers supply instrument- specific instructions for operating this equipment but some things remain constant. Each automobile has three settings on the front end: caster camber toe in. Auto and alignment rack manufacturers have specs and all chassis people put out charts for all cars produced. You don’t do any measuring with the rack but essentially align the front wheels to the proper perspective of the car. This assures that you won’t pull from side to side or squeal when turning. The alignment rack provides proper settings. It doesn’t set any angles for you but tells you where the angles should be. Some are computerized.

Alignment heads which are basically large 3-pronged bars attach to the outside or inside lip of the wheel. In the perfect center there is another horizontal bar. Once the head is attached the machine is turned on. Then either on a screen or on a computer the correct specs and any deviation there from are given. To adjust the wheels into alignment the GSP uses front-end tools wrenches sockets with special angled handles for ease of operation.

If you deal in batteries you should have the correct equipment for testing and installing it. Such equipment is by and large “user-friendly and installation of ™ batteries is among the most simple auto repair jobs around. For this purpose you need at least one high-rate mobile charger and a portable charger suitable for 6/12 volt batteries. Also get a battery/starter load tester with 500-amp capacity and an economy tester plus a few sets of heavy- duty booster cables and a truck-to-car booster. This package plus several hydrometers (for testing for weak acid solutions) battery lifter filler bulb and assorted small tools should run you from $500 to $700.

To offer brake service you need the equipment described earlier in this report. In addition to pads for disc brakes and shoes for drum brakes your most important piece of equipment will be the brake lathe which can create a new surface on a disc brake rotor or on the inside of a drum. If you have to create a new surface on for example a rotor you put the rotor onto the lathe which has cutting bits that shave off the ruined surface and make it ready to reinstall on the car.

Sometimes you may have to work inside the center hub of the wheel. If you’re taking a rotor or a drum off you can take the wheel bearings out and repack them with bearing grease. You put the bearings back on then reinstall the rotor or drum.

To offer shock-absorber adjustment and replacement you don’t need any fancy tools or equipment. Basically shocks aren’t a high-profit fast-dollar item. An average shock absorber can be replaced in less than five minutes. It’s basically a matter of unbolting the old ones and bolting on the new ones. By the way don’t service shock absorbers. It makes much more sense to replace them.

EXTENDED WARRANTIES

Many dealerships offer extended warranties on tire care. This can be a highly profitable service for you. For a (rather DAVIS TIRE CENTER LIMITED WARRANTY ON PASSENGER CAR TIRES PRESENT THIS RECORD OF SALE IN CASE OF CLAIM DAVIS TIRE CENTER warrants the tire(s) identified on the reverse side of this invoice to be free of defects in workmanship and materials except as noted hereafter. DAVIS TIRE CENTER warrants said tire(s) against damage of any kind that might render them unfit for additional service during the period covered by this warranty. If any tire(s) should fail during said time period due to defect(s) in workmanship or materials or if any tire should incur damage except as noted hereafter that renders it unfit for additional service DAVIS TIRE CENTER will repair it at no charge to customer or in the alternative if said tire(s) is(are) damaged beyond repair DAVIS TIRE CENTER will replace it with a new tire of the same type and size.

Customer will be charged a fee calculated and adjusted by multiplying the number of months elapsed since the tire was purchased by the monthly adjustment fee noted on the reverse side of this record of sale.

This is a limited warranty and contains certain exclusions. This warranty does not apply to tread wear incurred in the normal course of tire service. Also this warranty does not cover tires worn as a result of improper alignment improper mounting improper balance of the tire and wheel assembly or any tire that is subjected to vandalism projection rub abuse or neglect. Additionally this limited warranty does not apply to tires used on commercial vehicles.

This limited warranty will be honored during normal business hours upon presentation hereof together with presentation of defective tires) to DAVIS TIRE CENTER.

This limited warranty is exclusive and in lieu of all other warranties or remedies. Any warranty whatsoever in connection with the sale of the tire(s) recorder on the reverse of this statement whether expresses or implied is limited to the time period of this limited warranty. DAVIS TIRE CENTER will not be held liable for consequential or incidental damages including loss of time inconvenience loss of use of vehicle road service charges loss of revenue or damage or loss of property. Some states do not allow limitations on the duration of an implied warranty or on the limitation or exclusion of consequential or incidental damages. Accordingly the above-described exclusions or limitation may not apply to you.

The customer is advised that this limited warranty gives specific legal rights. The customer may also have other rights that vary from state to state.

This notice should be printed on the reverse side of your sales slips or work orders. Your legal rights and obligations may vary depending on your state. This is why you should have your lawyer check the language of the warranty to assure that your shop is fully protected.

LIFE-A-LIGNMENT INSURANCE

DAVIS TIRE CENTER4420 Parkland Express Avenue Yuma AZ 21880

Congratulations. Your purchase of Davis Tire Center’s exclusive Life-Alignment Insurance Policy entitles you to regular free-of-charge wheel-alignment safety inspection every 5 000 miles for as long as you own your car. If you bring in this Policy Davis Tire Center will test your vehicle for proper steering adjust toe-in/toe-out angles as needed and reset camber/ caster tilt absolutely free.

This offer is not transferable and is confined to the testing and adjustment of wheel-alignment as required. It does not include the cost of tires or parts that must be replaced or any additional labor that may be required. In order to qualify for the services rendered via this policy you must present this certificate to Davis Tire Center at the time Life-Alignment service is requested.

THIS OFFER IS VOID IF TAB CERTIFICATES ARE DETACHED.

Date Life-Alignment Policy Issued:
Odometer

Vehicle Make Model:
Invoice No.

Customer name:

Address:
SIDE ONE TAB CERTIFICATE NO. 10DO NOT DETACH!

This certificate entitles you to one free wheel alignment at 50 000 miles from odometer reading above. Parts and additional service extra

Date used, Original Invoice No.TAB CERTIFICATE NO. 9DO NOT DETACH!

This certificate entitles you to one free wheel alignment at 15 000 miles from odometer reading above, Pans and additional service extra.

Date used:
Original Invoice No.

TAB CERTIFICATE NO.8 DOES NOT DETACH!

This certificate entitles you to one free wheel alignment at 40 000 miles from odometer reading above, Parts and additional service extra.

Date used:
Original Invoice No.

TAB CERTIFICATE NO.7 DOES NOT DETACH!

This certificate entitles you to one free wheel alignment at 35 000 miles from odometer reading above, Paris and additional service extra.