Considerations for Building a Tire Inflation Station at Your Shop - Tire Review Magazine

Considerations for Building a Tire Inflation Station at Your Shop

If you are considering installing a tire fill station in your parking lot, here are a few suggestions to ensure that the station works for you and that your customers have a positive experience.

Air-Fill-Station-600x300

Building a tire fill station at your dealership can bring many benefits. First, they keep customers from coming to your store for a simple tire-fill service that’s low profit or even performed for free. You can offer it as a free customer-focused service, which promotes brand loyalty. The station can also be used as an educational tool around TPMS and proper tire management. And last but not least, they can help keep your bays open for larger, more profitable services

If you are considering installing a tire fill station in your parking lot, below are five suggestions to ensure that the station works for you and that your customers have a positive experience.

  1. Don’t assume they know how to use an air pump. Provide clear, simple instructions.
  2. Include a brief explanation about their TPMS light and how to tell if it is an air pressure issue or if it is a system issue. Explain that they need to turn the car off and on to see if the TPMS light blinks before remaining solid. If it does blink, the tires don’t necessarily need air. They should go into your shop and discuss their options. If the light is solid, then they can assume the tire needs air. They should check all four tires and the spare against the suggested placard pressure. Include text that explains if the solid light still doesn’t go out after all four or five tires are filled to the proper placard pressure. Some vehicles need to be driven for a short amount of time to allow the sensors to read the tires and turn out the light.
  3. Include an image and directions of where they can find their vehicle’s recommended placard pressure. On the image, place an “xx” next to the proper psi to avoid confusion that the displayed psi is the proper one for their vehicle. Make sure they know not to use the pressure indicated on the sidewall of the tire. A hot tire should be overinflated by 2-3 psi because when the tire cools down, it will go back to its normal pressure because the air expands in heat. For every 10 degrees of air pressure you go up or down, you lose or gain 1 psi.
  4. Include a gauge on the station, whether it is a manual gauge chained to the station or a digital gauge. Do not assume all drivers carry one.
  5. Make sure they check for valve caps and put them back on. If the valve cap cannot be removed, then they should go to the counter for assistance.

Jacki Lutz is the Global Head of Communications, Training and E-Commerce for Schrader TPMS Solutions, a global leader in TPMS. She is a TIA ATS instructor and serves on a variety of industry boards.

Check out the rest of the June digital edition of Tire Review here.

You May Also Like

Tire Mounted Sensors: The Future of Intelligent Tire Sensing

Tire-mounted sensors offer expanded capabilities for TPMS technology advancement.

Tire-Mounted-Sensor

Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS) have come a long way since their original technology was introduced in the 1980s. At its inception, the system only went as far as turning on a warning light when tire pressure went outside of its recommended range. TPMS service was really limited to needing to stock dozens of different SKUs to offer coverage for all vehicle types equipped with TPMS.

Autel Energy Showcases EV Charging Solutions, Electrified Bronco at CES

At CES, Autel Energy showcased its suite of EV charging solutions and an electrified 1969 Ford Bronco.

Autel-U.S.-Enters-EV-Charging-solutions-Industry
2019 Newsmakers: Bridgestone Americas

Nearly all products in the Firestone family of tires have been upgraded over the past three years, and Bridgestone is on track to have all of its consumer tire portfolio across both the Bridgestone and Firestone brands either upgraded or replaced by the end of 2020.

Bridgestone-Newsmakers-800x400
2019 Newsmakers: Nokian Tyres

Nokian Tyres opened its first U.S. manufacturing facility and launched numerous new products. See what’s in store for 2020.

Newsmakers-Nokian-800x400
2019 Newsmakers: Nexen Tire America

Nexen Tire opened its North American Technology Center and debuted the Roadian GTX. Find out what’s in store for 2020.

Nexen-Newsmakers-800x400

Other Posts

Hamaton is heading to Germany for The Tire Cologne trade show

Hamaton’s team will be on hand to demonstrate products including its NFC sensors and dedicated TPMS app and BLE TPMS sensors.

Hamaton-Tire-Cologne-Teaser-Post-EN
Tesla Model 3 TPMS service

Resetting and programming TPMS sensors for a Tesla is a lot like any other vehicle, and the challenge is still the same: keeping the light off.

bendpakEVgarageTPMS-1400
Continental introduces digital tool to check truck tire health

Continental said it’s allowing fleets and truck drivers to test the system for free and users can configure up to five vehicles.

continental_pp_conticonnect_lite
Three cures for the most common TPMS customer complaints

After nearly two decades of existence, some key difficulties remain when it comes to TPMS service procedures and tools. 

TR-Continental-tpmscomplaints