“The challenge was to design a piece of equipment that could handle any kind of application challenge yet be intuitive and easy to use for any technician, not just a select one or two,” said Kevin Keefe, Hennessy’s group marketing manager. “We talked to tire dealers across the country and observed technicians at work to make sure we developed the best product to meet their needs.
“Another major hurdle for tire dealers is technician turnover,” Keefe added. “Tire dealers need more than ever to consistently deliver an outstanding service experience in order to compete. The APX90 minimizes the technician learning curve. The onboard training unit addition keeps tire technicians proficient, which is a key factor in helping our customers maintain their competitive edge.”
According to Hennessy, the new Coats APX90 features:
• Clamping capacity of 9- to 30-inch external and 11- to 32-inch internal for servicing today’s wide range of tires and wheels.
• Industry prevailing rim clamp style operation means a short learning curve for technicians.
• Applies smart ergonomics, with intuitive controls located at the point of actuation – requires only one operator regardless of tire size/difficulty.
• Three-position bead loosener that enables complete power in, power out and stop control over the bead-loosening shoe for increased productivity.
• RoboArm technology that applies direct pressure from cylinder to create bead lock and provide extra leverage on run-flat and low-profile tires.
• RoboRoller technology that keeps bead in drop center for large diameter run-flat and low-profile tires.
• Duckhead Roller technology that keeps bead in drop center on run-flat and low-profile tires.
• Horizontal rollers that provide easy bead and rim lubrication, assists in mounting, and demounts lower bead without tire tool.
• Wheel lift to reduce operator fatigue and potential wheel damage.
In addition, the APX90 can handle special applications such as negative offset or reverse mount rims without additional adapters, and can handle “virtually any commercially available run-flat design without the need to purchase an additional expensive extraction device.”
