Tire Installer Review Advanced & Auto Center

TwinTurboGTR · #1 08-06-2012, 10:57 AM

For the benefit of the board striving to look for excellence, I just wanted to give a review of my recent experience with a local tire installer.

Advanced Tire and Auto Center has been in business in Aberdeen, NJ for 16 years. They are an approved NJ Inspections facility and offers Factory Trained techs for auto service. Jason and Janet Bigelow own this facility and offered to give me a tour of their shop. It is a standalone building and has 5 service bays. Inside there is a small customer waiting room with coffee, water, soda and snacks.

The shop; inside and outside is pristine. It is very clean and very neat. Their techs are also very clean and neat as well. All dressed in the same uniform and they look very professional. Jason and Janet man the front desk, helping customers and are also very hands on with every vehicle that comes in. Making sure the shop is efficient. Their schedule is made up so that one tech is dedicated to one vehicle the entire time. So as soon as the vehicle enters the bay, it doesn't leave the hands of that tech until the customer picks it up. Jason then shows be the money!!! Factory computers and scanners for almost every make. It was awesome!!! He then explains that manufacturers have used his facility to Beta test equipment. Nissan has sent him a new system to test, and the dealers don't even have it yet. Merc and BMW do the same. It was nuts to see Merc and BMW logos on these scanners. He is also independent and not tied to any company, so he doesn't push products down customers throats.

Service:

So after calling a few shops, I was getting an average of $250 to mount balance and align the X. Add an additional $20 ea tire to road force them. A lot of the shops I called about RoadForce said it wasn't necessary if it was a quality tire. Finally after driving around, I found Advanced Tire. I went in and got a wealth of knowledge. Jason quoted me $175 for mount, balance, alignment, Roadforce, tire matching, and filled with Nitrogen. Whaaaa??? There has to be a catch. He said, "Don't worry, the price is the price, trust me." Ok, so I left the X with him for a few hours. The whole time I waited, I couldn't help but wonder, "Is he going to charge me extra for Roadforce, Nitrogen, etc? I dropped the X off at 10am and he called 3:30pm. I get over there and the X is still on the lift. Jason tell me it will be 10 more minutes. "Just cleaning the interior and doing the final inspection." He prints some stuff out and then puts it in front of me. "Ok, here we go. So we dismounted the tires and after they drained we services the TPMS sensors." Wait, huh? Drained what? So then he gives me a lesson. As air is added to the tire, so it water vapor. As temps change and and more air is added, more water is added. When customers come in complaining about vibration, sometimes, it is because of water accumulation in the tire. "After we serviced the TPMS sensors, we started the Roadforce and tire matching. The left front tire was out by 31. So we switched tires and got it to 11. Sometimes tires and wheels just don't like each other. All the other ones were 10, 11, and 10. He went into detail about it, but I forgot, So I looked it up and now I get it. After he got that all done, he filled the tires with Nitrogen, reset the TPMS, and off it went to the Alignment. He said the Rear right was out ALOT. So brought it back to spec. Front tires were a bit difficult, because of the sagging air bags. He said he disconnected the battery so the compressor wouldn't kick on all the time. I told him yea I was in the process of ordering new ones. He said, "Ok, when you do, bring it back and I'll get it perfect. The camber is going to be out when the bags inflate. So when you get it fixed, we will stick it back up on the rack and get it right." "Also, if you ever need a fill for the tires, come back here and I'll fill it up for you. If you can't make it here, go to a body shop and pay them $2.00 to use their Nitrogen. Most body shops will have cylinders brought it with food grade nitrogen because it is very pure. Some shops may have Nitrogen generators, which may be 75% to 80% pure. Which is fine, but will dilute the amount of nitrogen in the tire and put moisture back in. So ask if they have a Nitrogen generator or Nitro cylinders." "Ok, so your final total is $186.21." I paid and was on my way.

Final:
The amount of value that Jason and Janet showed be, the services were worth the $175. He presented the Best and I got the best. He explained thoroughly what was done and asked if I was satisfied. His extended services are also valuable. In all, I will send all my tire work to Jason and Janet. His biggest account in the area is Freehold BMW (Diagnostic and tire work) and second is BMW of Edison (Diagnostic and tire work). The breakdown of price was $25/tire and $80 for the alignment and tax. So if you in the need for tire work or diagnostic work, I recommend Advanced Tire and Auto in Aberdeen, NJ

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epdarks · #2 08-06-2012, 11:01 AM

Nice review. Finding a trusting shop to work on any car is always a challenge. This guy sounds like a keeper.

Ricky Bobby · #3 08-06-2012, 11:08 AM

Wow, sounds like an amazing value, roadforce balanced with alignment for 186 out the door? And nitrogen too! I'm impressed.

If I was buying tires and wheels separately I would definitely be going to see these guys! I wouldn't mind making a 45 min drive down the shore!

TwinTurboGTR · #4 08-06-2012, 11:09 AM

Oh yeah they are great! I like the fact how he says Vehicle will leave his lot done right the first time. He makes sure the tech checks the vehicle over before calling the customer.

Ricky Bobby · #5 08-06-2012, 11:22 AM

so now you're feeling better with the DWS on there right?

Did you order your struts from Arnott yet?

TwinTurboGTR · #6 08-06-2012, 11:28 AM

Oh man the DWS's are great. I have them on 255/55/18 and they are great. I thought with 20's, it would be different. NOPE! They feel great still. No road noise whatsoever and responsive.

Yeah I ordered the bags from Arnott. I also bought a used set of front air springs from a member over at Xbimmers.com, but I didn't realize he was in Canada. So what I was planning to do was, if the bags come first. I'll wait for the other struts to come and put them on there and install it. If the strut comes first, I'll install that and save the old ones for a core. Send those to Arnott and get the rebuilt strut. So I will have a second set lying around.

Ricky Bobby · #7 08-06-2012, 11:34 AM

good to hear,

I am probably going to replace my rear air bags in the coming months, just for preventative maintenance. When I had my system leak tested in December (when the struts were replaced) my indy said the rears weren't leaking at all and were fine. However, with age that rubber goes and since the rears are absolute cake to replace (more time to jack the car up and take the trunk pieces out to get to the banjo bolts) I will do it for peace of mind. The arnott struts are wonderful, the rubber looks so much more durable, and now with my "CPO" compressor, I think the rear bags need love too.

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