A marriage of two great names!

Designed, Built & Engineered In Italy Since 1976

The story of GIULIANO AUTOMOTIVE is arguably the much simpler one.

A privately-owned, family run business, Giuliano has enjoyed a very stable presence in the garage equipment industry since their foundation. With a steady growth and conservative expansion of the product offering, the company has remained true to its core area of expertise, which is very much ‘around the wheel’.

This means that, whilst much of the traditional Italian manufacturers have become corporately owned, lost their original identity and essentially developed into ‘Jacks Of All Trades’, Giuliano has followed the same path in terms of values, product sector and dedication to what we do best.

The focus is still very much centred around tyre changers, wheel balancers, wheel alignment, and a select range of complimentary products and accessories that support that clear specialisation. The past 49 years have seen Giuliano partner some of the biggest names in Garage Equipment, which means that, even if you owned a tyre changer with what could be a long list of famous brand names on the front, there is a very high chance it could actually be one of ours. It is testament to the quality and reliability of our machines that a huge proportion of our historical business has been OEM, producing 100s of exclusive models for prestigious partners Worldwide.

Innovation, Approvals and Endorsements

With over 150 patents to our name, the evidence of Giuliano’s effect and influence on the market is plain to see. Some of the incredible landmarks, which have in many instances changed the direction of the market, include developments such as the Power X turntable, ‘leverless’ operation and the ‘Par-Move’ design.

Power X famously incorporated 4 cylinders on a tyre changer clamping system, as opposed to the traditional 2 cylinder system found on all other ‘table-top’ machines. The benefits are numerous and well-documented, and this feature single-handedly extended the life of that element of a tyre machines, in addition to providing valuable technical advantages.

The ‘Evo’ (or QX, depending on the particular market) leverless system is something that perfectly symbolised the term ‘game changer’ when it was launched. This device allowed the transformation from a conventional tyre changer, whereby the operator uses a lever to remove the tyre, into an automated system requiring little to no effort from the user. It’s introduction at a time when run-flat tyres were becoming more prominent enabled an entire industry to progress in terms of equipment to do the job.

More recently, the Par-Move (Parallelogram Movement) tyre machine design has created a completely new era for the way we think approach the task. Stronger, easier, and more practical than anything in its class, the Par-Move is fast becoming a standard amongst professional tyre shops, garages and alloy wheel specialists throughout the World.

It is this kind of development which has led Giuliano to have official endorsements or approvals with the likes of Lamorghini, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Working with prestigious names such as these has helped ensure we remain at the forefront and provide solutions that are welcomed, and very much needed, by the industry.

Balco – a reassuring legacy

We have to go all the way back to 1984 to re-visit the founding of what was to become one of the best-loved and most respected names in wheel service equipment technology.

“Willie and Bernie”
Two entrepreneurial engineers who had worked for what was, at the time, one of America’s largest manufacturers of vehicle test equipment, had some ideas for new products that led them to follow their own dreams. Leaving their existing employer, Nortron (which was to become part of Sun Electric Corporation, later known as Sun Diagnostics), Bernie Jackson and Willie Bonner set about working on various projects for diagnostic, wheel balancing and wheel alignment equipment, three of which were about to change the direction of garage equipment forever.

Balco, shortened from The Balancing Company, went on to develop a wheel balancer that could be operated by hand, a type of wheel alignment system that was to use 3D cameras and targets as opposed to the ‘string’ or optical methods employed t the time, and a hand-held tool that would become the blueprint for the future diagnostic equipment.

We now know these products as the ‘Handspin’ wheel balancer, the ‘3D’ Wheel Aligner, and the ‘Scan’ tool! The hand spun method of wheel balancer was met with mixed reaction. Back then, balancing machines were generally big and bulky, operated from a 3ph electrical supply, and spun the wheel up to around 300rpm in order to gauge the imbalance of the rim and tyre. In contrast, the Balco B90, as the first model was known, was compact, could run off a 240v supply, and took accurate readings at just 90rpm – a speed that could be managed by cranking the wheel up to speed by hand. Competitors called it ‘Mickey Mouse’ technology, and it was largely ridiculed to begin with. However, the market slowly but surely took to it, with the reliability and affordability giving it increasing credibility, to the point where Snapon became the exclusive partner for the Balco B90 in North America, renaming it the Snapon WB200, and establishing it as a serious contender.

The revolutionary alignment idea of using cameras and targets to obtain vehicle geometry readings was a slower burner in terms of development.

For the era, this was a radical approach, with the ideas of Willie and Bernie almost too far ahead of the technology available at the time. However, they persevered, they tested, and they improved, resulting in the first 3D systems appearing in garages at the end of the 80’s. As Bear, then arguably market leader for alignment, were only just coming out with CCD technology, the 3D vision coming from this small, California-based engineering company was remarkable.

In addition to these ‘wheel and tyre’ related developments, Balco were also busy developing a diagnostic tool; another ground-breaking concept which was to change the face of how the industry would work ‘under the bonnet’. Like the aligner and balancer categories, this type of product in itself wasn’t new, but the way this was approached certainly was. What was later to become known famously as the ‘Scanner’, was the first diagnostic tool to work across as range of vehicle manufacturers, using a simple Yes / No, thumbwheel and scroll type operation, a methodology that would become standard in all walks of life in the future.

The Snap-on Era

And so it was that a flourishing relationship and clear indication that Balco was very much ‘the one to watch’ in garage equipment terms led to the company to become part of the Snap-on Tools empire, where it flourished under the huge reach and resources that affiliation was able to provide. Certainly, for nearly three decades, you could barely pass a workshop without seeing a product that either wore the Balco logo or was somehow a rebrand or derivative of those early innovations.

In Europe, a manufacturing and distribution HQ was established in Shannon, Ireland, and it was here that the ingenuity and R&D continued and led to more ‘industry firsts’ under the Balco name. Products such as the B995 Ultrasonic Wheel Balancer (pictured here) typify the progressive and ‘outside the box’ thinking of those engineers. The B995 utilised sonar for taking the rim dimensions at a time when everyone else was still using measuring gauges; probably the first time that ‘touchless’, a widely used adjective in todays world, was used in automotive equipment terms. It also had a tilting shaft, meaning the wheel could be mounted horizontally and then tilted back into the vertical position, making it not only easier but arguably more accurate due to using the weight of the wheel to self-centre on the cone.

An advert in the mid 90s famously (and controversially – one of the tyre industry bodies felt it was derogatory to tyre technicians!) stated “The B995 ‘Idiot’ Balancer – It is so simple, any idiot can use it!”. That strapline, a dig at the increasingly complex nature of wheel balancers at the time, certainly worked. The phones rang off the hook, and the machine became a best-seller!

The ubiquitous B995 firmly placed Balco as a credible name in high volume tyre shops, far removed from the smaller garage that had been drawn to the notion of the small-footprint and low cost ‘hand-spin’ machine. Interestingly, whilst the B995 was motorised, it still only operated at 90rpm, a feature patented at this point and one that eliminated the need for the traditional wheel guard or ‘hood’ needed on competitors’ machines.

Balco UK, the UK subsidiary, went on to become the undoubted market leader for specialist tyre equipment during the 90s, leaving a legacy of people and reputation that still exists today.