Tire change house calls

Avoid the lineups: mobile tire changing services will roll up right to your driveway

Nov 07, 2008

Your life is hectic, your time valuable. You dread the thought of a lengthy wait in a tire shop lineup for the annual winter changeover.

But fear not, there are ways to ease your hell on wheels.

Two companies in the GTA offer fully mobile tire shops. Peter Wright, the elder statesman of this idea, founded The Contact Patch mobile tire service 16 years ago and has been going strong ever since. Based in Mount Albert, north of Toronto, Wright roams the GTA in his bright orange truck doing changeovers and repairs. TireMaxx, an Etobicoke tire retailer, has several trucks on the road, calling its mobile service Tire Butler.

The idea is simple: start with a flat floor cube-van sized truck, equip it with a state-of-the-art tire mounting machine, a top-quality balancer, air or nitrogen supply, shop tools, jacks and make house calls to clients. Of course, the truck bed must be isolated and stabilized to make sure the tire balance will be proper.

Jack Benzacar has had Tire Butler up and running for two years now and, like The Contact Patch, is heavily booked. The fee structure varies between the two companies.

Tire Butler sells tires at a discounted structure and charges a $60-$70 flat rate for the mobile service, over and above what the company charges to do the changeover and rebalance (if needed). The mobile fee is the same whether you buy tires or not, so you can have it come to just change your tires.

The real saving happens when you have several vehicles – the mobile fee only applies once. Benzacar tells of a neighbourhood group where they changed more than 12 cars. The truck set up in a driveway and everyone paraded their car through.

The Contact Patch, however, does not charge a mobile fee to regular clients. Peter Wright discounts his new tire sales, but not as heavily as a discount shop. Wright mostly deals with high-end cars. Both companies offer tire storage services. The Contact Patch charges $80 per season for four tires. Tire Butler offers a tire management service for $150 per season for four. The fee includes cleaning, checking the wheel/tire assembly, rebalancing and remounting.

Tire Butler has another service for those who work downtown – a changeover shop in the parking garage under First Canadian Place. Discovering it's not very convenient to change tires on Bay St., Tire Butler opened its mini-garage. It is by appointment only and your vehicle will be picked up and returned to your parking spot.

– John Mahler

Toronto Star