For the past two years, Tire Review has brought you Dealer Diary, a monthly series that focuses on typical tire dealers and the ins and outs of their business. Dave Schardt, president of The Wheel Source in Dayton, Ohio, has made custom wheels his primary focus through both a retail store in Dayton and wholesale operations around the country. Tires are still a big part of The Wheel Source’s business, but they specialize in custom wheels and other performance products. We’d love to hear you comments on the series. Drop us a line or send us an email at [email protected].
Diary Profile Dave Schardt, Owner The Wheel Source Location: Dayton, Ohio Years in Operations: 10 No. of Bays: 3 No. of Techs: 2 mechanics and 2-4 tire changers Tire Brands Carried: Yokohama, Toyo, Vogue Average Jobs/Week: 40-50 wheel/tire jobs,10-20 service jobs Retail/Wholesale: 40-50% Other: Non-Tire Services: Springs, shocks, brakes, performance exhaust, superchargers, bolt-on horsepower items, NOS installation and refills, alignments, oil changes, steering wheels, shift knobs and other interior parts.
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Internal Training and Experience Helps Dealer Keep Wheels Rolling
For most tire shops, wheels are a secondary or even tertiary sale. Dealers don’t keep a lot of wheels on hand, having to place orders to fill customer need. But The Wheel Source is different in that it’s wheels first, tires second.
Where tire dealers have stacks and stacks of tires in a warehouse, Dave Schardt has stacks and stacks of wheels. Tires, too, but much more chrome and alloy. Wheels are the important part of The Wheel Source. The average ticket going out the door is between $1,500 and $2,000, but a "sale for $4,000 to $5,000 is not uncommon," Schardt said.
That’s a lot of money coming in and going out. That means there has to be a lot of wheels to supply these sales. In its showroom, The Wheel Source displays product from Momo, BBS, Giovanna, G-Racing, TSW, Dayton Wire Wheels, Forgeline, Volk Racing, Racing Hart, and Lowenhart. "However, we also offer Arelli, ATS, Enkei, Epic, Billet Specialties, Detata, HRE and other premium lines in the showroom," he said.
Get the idea they’re really into wheels?
All types of custom wheels are constantly arriving at Schardt’s warehouse. Shipments from his main eight vendors come once a month. But during the peak season, things change.
"These monthly shipments range from 48 to 100 wheels per vendor. However, this time of the year, we’re getting these type of shipments every week," Schardt said. "We also receive entire containers – about 400 wheels – this time of year to stock up for the season and, of course, to get a better deal."
With all of these wheels coming in, and with the season just starting to blossom, it’s important to know how and when to look ahead. Schardt begins his forecasts early, placing those orders for containers in January and February.
Storage and Handling Obviously having wheels in stock is important – just like keeping a healthy supply of tires – and with the size of Schardt’s warehouse (30,000 square feet), that’s easy to do.
"We have about 2,000 wheels in stock right now," he said. "But that number is decreasing because of the cost and popularity of the 20- and 22-inch wheels. The profits are the same, but there are fewer wheels to keep around."
A couple thousand wheels are a lot to have on hand – even when you’ve got a big warehouse. And with such an expensive item as wheels, it’s critical that they are stored carefully and correctly. Improper storage can cost a lot in profits.
"All of our wheels are inspected when they first come in, and then stacked on pallet racks or on skids based on the vendor and fitment," Schardt said. "All wheels must be put in plastic bags or foam packed before they’re put in a cardboard box. Cardboard will scratch just about any finish – paint, chrome or polish. We see it everyday when a customer sends a wheel back without the plastic bag or foam.
"Every wheel over 17-inches also must have two layers of cardboard or some other protective device like a plastic ring covering protruding edges. For storing used wheels or wheels without boxes, we’ve built wooden wheel racks that hold the rims horizontally. There is now a company out there that makes flat plastic bands in different sizes that enable you to stack the rims on top of each other."
Another thing that’s just as critical as storage is handling. Dealerships see it time and time again when wheels are damaged accidentally by the technician during installation. Everyone who comes in contact with the wheels needs to be trained in the proper methods of handling. And the employees must know how the shop wants to handle the wheels – how they used to be handled at a different job may be incorrect.
"All of our employees get extensive training on handling rims. Our tire technicians are trained by our own staff in order to eliminate any bad habits they might have developed somewhere else," Schardt said. "Also, a lot of our technicians have had no experience prior to working for us.
"There is something to be said for training an employee from ground zero. They only know ‘your way’. It also expands your pool of people to pull from. There are a lot of young enthusiasts who just want to work with cars. It’s a great entry-level position for us. Some of our best salesmen started out with us as a tire changer with no experience."
Wheel Maintenance Whether you deal with a lot of wheels or not, dealers know that wheel maintenance is important. Dealers go a long way to make sure the wheels look shiny and new upon installation, and they need to make sure the customers are also capable of taking care of their rims once on the car and on the street.
When it comes to tips on consumer maintenance, Schardt has more than a few:
- Stay away from car washes with rotating brushes.
- Put a coat of wax on your wheels any time you wax your car.
- Never drive chrome wheels in the snow when there is salt on the road. "Salt will absolutely destroy chrome wheels," Schardt said. "In fact, we offer to switch our customers’ wheels over in the winter for free, in order to try to steer them away from riding on them through the winter."
- Don’t use wheel cleaners. "The only wheel cleaner we will recommend and sell is P21S."
- If you do use a cleaner such as P21S, always cool the wheel off before applying the cleaner. Spraying any kind of soap on a hot wheel will ruin the finish instantly.
- On bigger size wheels, put extra air in the tires in order to give them a little extra protection.
- Always use hubcentric rings and new lugnuts.
- Always use a torque wrench to tighten lug nuts to manufacturer specs. Then, if possible, retorque the wheels after 100 miles.
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