Casey Gubler, owner of Salt Lake City, Utah-based Woods Cross Point S Tire & Auto Service, credits the high volume of large wheel and tire packages it installs to the outdoorsy nature of Utah.
“Everyone kind of has a lifted vehicle out here,” says Gubler. “Whether it’s Mom’s 4Runner that’s lifted with bigger tires or a full-blown (Ford) F-350 with a six-inch lift running on 26-inch wheels — that’s normal to see out here.”
Because of the prevalence of these types of vehicles in Woods Cross Point S Tire & Auto Service’s area, Gubler has focused on servicing vehicles with larger wheel and tire fitments the correct way.
He has the best people at his dealership work on these jobs, has the right equipment and takes into account the time it will take to complete the job.
A well-equipped shop
Gubler’s father opened a Big O Tires location in 1986 and had gotten up to four stores at one point. He built the location Gubler is currently based at in 1998.
The outlet spans 38,000 square feet and has 24 service bays that perform tire and wheel installations, oil changes, customized truck lifts and mechanical repairs.
The large number of bays has helped the dealership adapt when it takes a while to receive parts.
“Tearing a vehicle down and then having to wait three days for a part in order to do your thing is frustrating. So it’s nice to have extra space to juggle it all.”
Bigger and more expensive
The new trend in custom wheels for light truck applications, according to Gubler, is 24-inch wheels to 26-inch wheels, with those wheels being “super-wide. We’re talking 12 to 14s with a super deep lip.
“They’re definitely tougher to mount and having the right equipment is key — and having the right people.”
Gubler says assigning large tire and wheel package installations to your most skilled, experienced technicians is critical.
“I know you want people to learn, but you can’t afford for somebody to screw up because some of these wheels are a $1,000 a piece and if you make a mistake — which could be as easy as dropping or bumping (a wheel) and damaging it — you’re already upside down trying to make a profit,” he explains.
In addition, Gubler says he “demands” the time to complete tire/ wheel installations and other vehicle modifications. This entails communicating expectations with customers.
“The customer can’t sit there and wait while we put these fitments together for them. It’s more they drop it off and give me as much time as I need.”
Woods Cross Point S Tire & Auto Service specializes in installing tires and wheels on dually trucks, which makes having the right people and enough time to complete the job even more important.
Gubler says a customer will buy a Platinum Ford F-450 — which already costs more than $100,000 — and ask him to put a lift on it or install a large wheel and tire combination.
“It’s important to know all the steps, so you don’t put something together backwards or damage something in the process.”
Woods Cross Point S Tire & Auto Service has become the “go-to” place in its market for large tire and wheel installations.
Some customers will buy a set of tires and wheels “and take it to three different tire dealerships that say they are not going to install them. Then they take it to my store and I say, ‘OK, I’m willing to try, but you have to leave it all day and this is what it’s going to cost you.’”
Tips and tricks
Having grown up in the tire industry, Gubler knows there are tips and tricks to installing large, expensive custom tire and wheel packages. He says tires and wheels are sometimes packaged pretty tightly and it’s always good to open one tire and wheel to make sure they will work before unboxing the whole set.
Gubler says unboxing these products can take a significant amount of time and can take up a lot of room at his dealership.
“Another trick when it comes to these expensive wheels (is that) a lot of them will come with a packing foam lip protector and when we clamp those to the machine, we will leave that protector on a lot of the time,” he notes. “And when the wheel gets clamped to the tire machine, they have a little plastic guard on them.
We always want extra protection, so we will get a shop rag and fold it into fours and set it on the clamp. So now that wheel is clamped with the plastic protector, a rag and a foam protector just to keep that wheel from getting nicked,” which can be very expensive.
Gubler adds that when customers are spending a big amount on just purchasing tires and wheels, they do not want to see a scratch on their brand-new product.
Creating conversation
Gubler says it’s important to talk with the customer upfront about what the price of any service will be and how it could fluctuate depending on various factors, like the complexity of the job.
“It can be hard to charge more money for that extra time or just hard to know how much to charge, in general.
“You need to have conversations with your customers, so they’re not blindsided by the price and you’re also not blindsided for not getting paid as much as you invested.”
It goes back to assigning the right employees to the installation, he says.
Sometimes Gubler will jump in.
“I can come in and say, ‘This is how much it’s going to cost and this is how much time I will need’ and we get a feel for each other, so we are both more comfortable with this project.”
Knowing your customer is key, according to Gubler, who says some customers will see an online photo of a tire and wheel package installed on a truck, SUV or car and will want their vehicle to look like that, too.
Some will go out and buy the tire and wheels and bring them to Gubler and he’ll have to tell them, “‘That car sitting on those wheels with those tires could never be driven on the road.’”
Sometimes customers will continue to push back. Gubler says this is the time to get to know a customer’s driving habits and what he will use the vehicle for.
“If this is like a brand-new Escalade that maybe the customer drives on the weekends, that’s different than if it’s Mom’s soccer-car Cadillac that gets driven hard every day.
“You don’t want 24-inch wheels on Mom’s soccer car. Our job is trying to find that practical point.”
