Mega challenge for Tyre Works
New Zealand’s newest tyre Mega Store has plenty of reasons to impress customers following the opening of the brand new Tyre Works retail outlet in Mt Maunganui last month.
There’s the huge selection of new and used tyres stocked in the store – all 12,000 of them!
Then there is the quick service promised by TyreWorks staff. They’ll fit and balance a full set of tyres in less than fifteen minutes, plus undertake a free wheel alignment check in less than 60 seconds.
That sort of service is all made possible thanks to the high tech equipment installed in the purpose-built Mega Store, behind the existing Tyre Works tyre shop in Hewletts Road, Mt Maunganui.
Owner Steve Wilson has put all his 30 years of experience into creating the TyreWorks Mega Store and he is planning to impress customers in a big way.
To help Steve and his team deliver on their customer service promise, he chose a range of Hunter and Corghi machines to equip the store.
Taking pride of place in a purposebuilt alignment bay is the new Hunter fully integrated alignment (FIA) system. This system is the first of its type in the Southern Hemisphere. The new alignment machine is the Hunter Hawkeye Elite wheel aligner that Mr Wilson says will drive new business in the store.
But the technology goes even further, because the Tyre Works Mega Store has become the first in New Zealand to feature the new Hunter Quick Check system, which is described as a “revolutionary” way to encourage more motorists to have wheel alignment.
It is a ‘lite’ version of a regular Hunter wheel alignment machine that is used by workshops to carry out a speedy check on a vehicle that is visiting the workshop and provides a print-out within 60 seconds. If the print-out shows a wheel out of alignment, the technician can use it to advise the customer a full alignment is required.
Mr Wilson says the Quick Check will be offered free to all customers who arrive at the store and he believes it will be a winner. Based on experience when the Hunter Quick Check was first introduced in the United States, tyre stores saw significant increases in business, ranging from 16 percent to more than 100 percent.
“Drivers who have alignment issues, want quick answers, which is why we went with the Hunter Hawkeye Elite,” he says. The Elite includes Hunter’s patented Codelink tool for easy steering angle sensor resets.
“We can do an alignment check on the customer’s vehicle in less than 60 seconds and show them what’s needed there and then. Alignments are becoming a very important part of our business, particularly with the sophisticated suspension on modern vehicles.”
The Elite wheel alignment system is boosted by a full featured low profile 4.5-tonne Hunter RX45 scissor lift that is among the most compact on the market and it boasts features that make it ideal for carrying out cost effective alignments. This lift incorporates the FIA system with automated locking / unlocking of the turntables and slip plates during its procedure with the smart Win-Align software from Hunter. The space-saving, low-profile design brings it down to just 222mm off the floor (best in class), which is brilliant for enabling lowered vehicles and sports cars to be easily driven on. Plus, it has louvered ramps that prevent wheel spin if the tyres are wet.
Complementing the Hunter equipment are five Corghi tyre machines, including three tyre changers and two wheel balancers.
The tyre changers include a standard A2025ti, plus a leverless version of that model, specially designed for use on expensive alloy wheels with very low profile tyres, plus an A2015ti tyre changer. The wheel balancing work is carried out by an EM7240DDPR and EM8340.
Mr Wilson says the choice of equipment had been made with a wide customer base in mind, from those driving light passenger cars, through to specialty performance vehicles, SUVs and also light commercial vehicles.
The whole operation has been geared towards offering fast and efficient service, with a minimum of waiting time, he says.