In case you missed it, an “automotive YouTuber” - it pains me to even type those words – recently posted a video describing how the extremely expensive carbon fiber wheels on his Corvette Z06 were damaged by a car dealership during the tire mounting process. (How expensive? I’ve seen varying reports. Let’s just say they weren’t cheap.)
A quick Google search using some key words will pull up more information about this incident, if you’re interested. For the record, the damage to the wheels was cosmetic, not structural, and had “nothing to do with” the car dealer, in the YouTuber’s own words.
The situation, however, does raise a question, which I’ll now pose to you: “What process does your dealership use when mounting expensive, high-end tire and wheel combinations?”
And I’m not just talking about carbon fiber wheels, which, as you might suspect, represent a smaller part of the total wheel universe. I’m talking about any set of wheels and tires that your technicians touch.
Mounting mishaps are more than embarrassing. They can be super-expensive. And they can hurt your dealership’s reputation.
How do you prevent a situation like the one described in the opening paragraph of this column? To learn more, I reached out to Hunter Engineering Co., who put me in touch with Jim Hudson, one of its product managers.
His first piece of advice for technicians in this situation is to take it slow.
“Speed isn’t the priority here,” Hudson told me. “Slow down and pay attention to the basics, like proper lube, toolhead position and drop center location. This is important for all wheels, but especially when the consequence of damage far outweighs the time spent on extra care and attention.
“Also make sure your equipment is in good shape and use the assist devices – rather than a bar – to act on the tire.”
Getting a little more granular, clamping is “the main consideration,” he said. “You will need a clamp center tire machine. Some carbon fiber wheels have aluminum inserts at the center bore, which are suitable for the usual center cone method.
“If a wheel has carbon fiber at the center bore, you must use a flange plate to clamp against the lug seats. Rim clamp machines are completely unsuitable for carbon fiber wheel service.”
Who is working on the wheels also matters, according to Hudson. “Unless your shop specializes in aftermarket or high performance tire service, I’d suggest routing these jobs to your more experienced – or at least, more careful – technicians.” (Hunter recently release a video about mounting carbon fiber wheels. It can be viewed here.)
I also wanted to get a tire dealer’s perspective on the issue, so I called Mike Gust, owner of American Wheel & Tire, an extremely successful, Houston, Texas-based dealership that specializes in custom wheel work. American Wheel & Tire regularly installs tire and wheel packages on Lamborghinis, Rolls Royces, Bentleys, Austin-Healys and other exotic cars. (“We recently worked on a $500,000 McLaren,” Gust told me.)
Gust referred me to Jason Stevenson, his store manager, who echoed much of what Hudson said.
“It really boils down to putting your best guy on it and making sure he’s more than capable of doing the job well,” said Stevenson.
“With those kinds of wheels, there’s no leeway. If you damage them, they’re pretty much gone. When you’re talking about $5,000-a-piece wheels, you want to make sure that whoever is working on them knows what they’re doing.”
Like other rims, carbon fiber wheels, in and of themselves, “aren’t hard to work on. You just have to be extremely careful – doing everything you can to not damage them in any way. We use regular touchless machines – the same machines we use for every wheel and tire we mount.”
Owners of expensive vehicles – and there is a sliding scale when it comes to expectations, according to Alexander - “expect everything to be perfect, all the time. These people want to deal with people who they know can handle the work.”
Stevenson agreed with Hudson that time is not of the essence when working on expensive tire and wheel packages. The target turnaround time “is however long it takes. I tell the customer, ‘Drop off the car and I’ll call you when it’s ready. It’s going to take extra time because of the extra care involved.’”
All these things help set customer expectations at a manageable level, while placing the emphasis, rightfully, on doing the job well, rather than wrapping up the job quickly.
If you haven’t brushed up on proper tire and wheel mounting procedures lately, now is a good time. It will save you money, as well as unnecessary blows to your business’ standing, which you’ve worked so hard to build.
If you have any questions or comments, please email me at [email protected].
