Essential Tyre Changer Routine Maintenance Tips For Garages

Undoubtedly one of the most commonly asked questions put to us, the ‘how do I look after my Giuliano Tyre Machine’ request is one we actually love to answer. In any garage, it is a very real but very unfortunate fact that the tyre fitting machine can be the least considered item of equipment when it comes to love and care.

Lifts are a bit more ‘in your face’; you are working under them, there is more of an onus in terms of insurance and Health and Safety, and people just seem more conscious of the need to service vehicle lifts. Similarly, diagnostics products often have to be routinely looked at because maybe they are an MOT item like a gas analyser, or need regular updates and/or calibration. A tyre machine, however, can all too often be neglected.

So, when someone asks ‘what should I be doing?’, it is music to our ears. There is no doubting the positive effect routine maintenance can have to the life and reliability of a tyre changing machine. It is a complex collection of mechanical components, including pneumatic components that will always need some kind of attention.

Of course, the simplest and, arguably, the most sensible way to look after this investment is to use the supplier to attend on a 6 or even 12 monthly basis. It is easy to forget that your own time is not free, and sometimes it is better value to pay an expert to do what they do every single day and are vastly experienced in, and put your own efforts to more productive use. At Giuliano Automotive we have specialist tyre equipment technicians who know tyre fitting and removal products inside out, top to bottom, and they will often spot things before they happen. However, it is fair to say that everyone who owns a tyre machine is going to be mechanically minded, so given some guidance there really is no reason the maintenance and servicing can’t be done in-house.

We know lost of tyre shops who make it an official part of the job; a routine check that can be alternated between employees. A simple check sheet laminated and cable-tied to the machine with instructions for someone to follow is worth its weight in gold when you take into account the return simply through longer life, before we even talk about better performance and reduced cost of ownership. We even have some of our larger customers, who own multiple machines, allocate a tyre machine each to a specific tyre technician, and it then becomes their responsibility to take care of that product. Before you know it, there becomes a competitive element as to whose machine is the shiniest and best looked after!

What we have done here is provide a list of simple, routine actions you can take to ensure you get the very best of from your investment. From the size of the list, you will see it really is minimal, but these actions will make a huge difference and you will get the very best from your Giuliano Tyre Changing Machine.

Before we get to those actions, let’s take a look at the effect and positive consequences of giving some ‘TLC’ to what is often an overlooked, overworked and, dare we say, often abused tool in the workshop.

Life Expectancy
There are so many moving parts in a tyre changer that all interact with each other, that if one element of that is allowed to slip, it can rapidly affect the deterioration of the other vital components, as well as compromising the ability to do its job as it should.

Performance
Following on from the point above, if parts are allowed to wear, become loose, become dry, or even start to break, it can seriously affect the performance of the machine, I.e. the ability for the tyre changer to do its job, which is to fit and remove tyres in complete safety.

We know this from machines that are ‘retired’ because they are, for example, damaging wheels. Many would consider the machine having had its day, and this may be the case if its been allowed to go too far. However, we have seen on so many occasions a customer say that their machine is damaging wheels and they think they may need a new one, only for one of our technician to adjust and tighten two grub screws on the demount head (the little tool that sits against the rim, often also called a ‘duckhead’ for obvious reasons), and it results in an instant ‘cure’. “It’s like a new machine”, is an oft-heard statement once one of the Giuliano tyre machine experts has worked on a well-worn tyre changer.

Safety
When we talk about safety, this is two-fold. Firstly, we talk about the rim and tyre. A machine with too much ‘movement’ from slack that has developed, which could be as a result of a worn hinge / pivot pin, a loose demount head, or a loose vertical pin on the bead breaker (the list is endless) can easily scratch alloy rims and rip tyres. At this point, all hell breaks loose because there is a soon-to-be unhappy customer in the waiting room, an unhappy business owner, a deflated tyre technician, and a member of the Giuliano service team that is probably going to get the brunt of it because it’s “the machine’s fault” and, well let’s face it, it has just become a very bad day. The consequential cost makes the time taken to service the machine, or even pay for a Giuliano engineer to visit, seems like a drop in the ocean.

The other safety aspect is that of the operator. Anyone who has ever seen the result of someone who has trapped their fingers in the machine because a clamping cylinder has allowed to become increasingly loose will know the value of keeping everything tight and secure! We live in a litigious world, allowing for any opportunity for an employee injury is essentially negligence, and then we open a whole new can of worms!

So now that we have discussed the merits of routine service and maintenance of your Giuliano Tyre Machine, and the downsides of not doing it, let’s look at the very simple, short, but valuable list of checks you can make.

To add even more perspective, we have added some detail as to the purpose and point of each particular element.

Print this off, laminate it, make it part of the working week, and even stick a copy in the personnel files signed by your employees if you want to be super vigilant. However you implement it, just know you are adding immense value and life to your Giuliano Tyre Fitting Machine.