Eight years ago, the board of directors of Sullivan Tire Co. Inc. challenged President Bob Sullivan to hire his successor by the end of the year. When he...

Nitrogen inflation is a relatively new service for the tire industry. However, it is rapidly moving from “trend” to “commonplace.”

K&M Tire Inc. strives for “continuous improvement.” It says so in its mission statement: “The K&M Tire team is dedicated to the continuous improvement of...

State by state, lead wheel weights are being targeted for elimination. Vermont, Maine and Washington already have enacted bills prohibiting their use....

Northwest Tire Factory LLC is truly built from the bottom up in the western United States. The 154 independent dealers who make up the would-be cooperative...

When asked, “What one word best describes Bob Sullivan?” his employees, family members and peers had little trouble answering. And they were...

A tire mounting machine or wheel balancer never dies. It doesn’t fade away, either. It just stays in your shop until, well, you sell the shop.

Panama’s importance to global commerce cannot be overstated. It is a free-trade zone to Central and South America, with billions of dollars of products...

A car’s chassis is more than the sum of its parts. Everything from the shock absorber’s top bushing right down to the tire contact patch is...

When it comes to suspension performance, preventive maintenance can be a hard sell — even as the vehicle sinks closer to the road surface.

Independent tire dealers account for more than $5 billion of the suspension service work performed in the U.S. That averages out to yearly sales of $189,000...

Customer service at the retail level means different things to different business owners. To some, it’s a hook, a way to get people into their stores....

John Baratta recently told independent tire dealers in North Carolina that on any given day, 5,500 tire-buying customers will visit their stores. However,...

Dan Hennelly says he is an extreme micromanager, but he’s not. Even in the early days of Hennelly Tire & Auto Inc., his wife, Diane, set up and...

One side says increasing taxes is the answer. The other side says cutting spending is the answer. Neither side has shown any respect for the other.

It’s a great location. That store would make a better Starbucks than a tire store!”Dan Hennelly gets excited when he finds a primo location for...

When J.C. Penney CEO Ron Johnson hired entertainer Ellen DeGeneres to be the face of the company earlier this year, his reasoning was very clear. In an...

It seems the information on the side of a tire increases as the tire’s profile decreases. Should you need to explain to your customers — or new...

Oil and lubrication service sales represent $1.6 billion in revenue for independent tire dealers every year, or $60,651 per dealer.

The winner of our first Tire Dealer of the Year Award and the winners of the 25th prize have a lot in common. Both focus on serving each customer...