Talking about the future only gets you so far, but building the future, well that’s different. As we have for the past 75 years, Coats is focused on creating the toughest tools of the trade for shops across the country, developing cutting-edge machinery and tire changers for the modern shop to transform your business, right here in Nashville, Tennessee.

You need a durable machine that can go the extra mile and then some. A tire changer that’s quick and simple to use, taking the hassle out of the hustle. Introducing Coats totally redesigned Maxx Tire Changer series. This machine was designed from the ground up with you in mind. This is the tire changer you’ve always relied on, now like never before. Built on the best platform in the tire business, Maxx features an ultra-durable chassis to handle life in a high-volume shop.

We know how hard you work each day, so we put Maxx through over 250,000 test cycles to make sure it was up to the challenge. Experience the power of the toughest tire changer on the market, available with single speed and two-speed electric motors or an optional air motor. We make Maxx with enough power and speed to handle whatever you can throw at it. Versatility is key. You need a machine that doesn’t just change passenger tires. You need one that powers through even the toughest assemblies, when others just can’t hack it.

We made our new dual-nozzle bead sealer system standard on every Maxx model. With the press of a foot pedal, you have a completely hands-free way to seed even the toughest tires twice as fast. Our Maxx 90 and 80 also feature the most flexible and robust bead loosener in the industry, with both hand or foot operation, so you can choose how you work. The design also allows for better access to the bead on larger assemblies. Maxx uses our patented assist devices, like our robo arm and robo roller, to keep side walls and tough beads where they need to be and take the strain off technicians. Available exactly when and where you need them and completely out of the way when you don’t.

Maxx is the workhorse machine that you need to get the job done right the first time. And just like all our products, Maxx is backed by the same factory trained nationwide service team. Here to always keep you up and running. So what does this mean for you? It means you’ll be able to get all your jobs done faster and more efficiently than ever before. We believe in doing building something better and helping you do what you do best. So let the others keep talking, we’ll keep doing. Coats: ENGINEERED TO PERFORM. DESIGNED TO LAST.

Hey everyone, I’m Maddie Winer, Editor of Tire Review, and I’m joined by Rick Kennedy and Ben Pryor from Coats to talk about their new exciting launch of the Maxx Tire Changer series. Guys thanks for being here with us.

Thanks for having us. Absolutely.

So the Maxx Tire Changer Series has a very interesting story behind how it was developed. Can you kind of go into that a little bit?

Yeah, over the last few years, we’ve done a lot of engineering work at our facility in Nashville, and I think most importantly a lot of really great feedback from our customers. We’ve talked to hundreds of technicians, store managers and fleet operators all around the country and everywhere in between to get their feedback on what they like and what they don’t like. But I think most importantly, the problems that they have using the equipment. And all of that feedback is directly engineered into the product.

Yeah, so can you kind of go into that a little bit more? What were some of the issues or problems that tire dealers and technicians were bringing up in the field, as you were talking about this product and improvements that could be made.

People told us that they want better inflation. They want better clamps. They want more range. They want the ability to do wider wheels. And I think, kind of from a user experience standpoint, they wanted more flexibility in how they use the product. And so you know, we’ve got a lot of great different options on the Maxx that allows them to work the way they want to work.

Yeah, no and that’s great to hear. And, so what industry trends are you all hoping to address with this new launch? Ben, can you maybe point to that a little bit?

Yeah, certainly. So I think one of the things that’s most important, you know when you take a look at the Maxx versus our predecessor the X Series, is it’s very usable and easy to use. And it’s very similar from the look and feel, which addresses the technician shortage and retention problem that the industry faces every single year. So somebody that’s familiar with the X Series can step right into the Maxx. Now on top of that, I think Rick just highlighted several improvements that we still were able to build in, and still achieve that familiarity.

That is great for technicians that are familiar with the X Series, the series that precedes this. But you know, maybe you want something new, something to handle wheel assemblies that they’re seeing now and those in the future, that will come into the bays in the future. Correct?

Sure yeah. Maxx is really well equipped to do more or less anything that comes into your shop, anything from a 6-inch golf cart tire all the way up to a 30-inch show car, you know that you would see it at a trade show or something. So, you know stores don’t have to turn away business. You know, whereas previously, well that’s too big I can’t do that on my machine, or you know that’s really too small, I don’t want to deal with that. Really, I think with one machine, you can do like I said more or less anything that comes to the store.

And, I think another great benefit that’s built into the Maxx series is that this new series can build and grow with you as an owner of a shop. We like to say that it’s ‘and,’ so you get the 70 of the Maxx 70, AND if you need to upgrade for another capability, you can upgrade it to the 80, AND if you want to upgrade it to the 90 because there’s a new set of customers or fitments that you want to grow into it and really focus in the market, you just hand add to it. So, it’s modular. You can build to it. Yeah, so you know, from an ownership standpoint, you don’t have to worry about, you know, the next trend that you’re not either addressing or that you’re not aware of.

Right yeah, that makes sense. And kind of going off of what you’re saying, the upgrade ability of it, going from the 70 to the 80 to the 90. Can you give an example of something that can be upgraded to help with that shop productivity and efficiency?

Yeah, from the 70 to the 80 you can upgrade in the field. You know you can do this at your shop. It’s a very simple process. You can add the foot pedal control for the bead loosener. You can add the robo roller, which is really great for ultra-low profile, you know, kind of stiff side walls. Things like that, that are a little bit harder to manage. The Maxx is really flexible, and again like we’ve said, it will grow with your business as the work that you’re doing changes on into the future.

Yeah, that’s great. So this machine, this series of tire changers, launched at the beginning of April, is that right? So what’s been the reaction so far from the industry? Ben, can you maybe point to that?

Yeah certainly, it’s been exceptional and quite frankly, I think we were surprised at the reception, but not overly surprised, because a lot of the feedback and the changes that we made to it came directly from the technicians and the people that use it. So we’re very happy with and very proud of it, specifically being built in Nashville, Tennessee. If anyone would ever want to come by and actually take a tour, we’d welcome that, and you can see your machine being made.

Awesome, very cool. So Coats greater strategy, let’s talk about that a little bit. How does the Maxx series align with Coat’s greater strategy in the market, their go-to market strategy?

Yeah certainly, so we talked about the durability, we talked about the flexibility, and our kind of motto is ENGINEERED TO PERFORM. DESIGNED TO LAST. So, it’s commitment, and a promise from us, the Coats company, in order to grow with your business this platform will do it. Have a durable product. This product will do that. And then it sets the platform for the future on a lot of exciting things that we’re working on today in the engineering and our product department for the next generation as well.

That’s great. Well I’m excited to see it in action, and we’re going to hand it off to Kyle to see the equipment in action.

Thanks Maddie. We’re going to start at the top of our Maxx line, which is our Maxx 90. And if you guys have any questions as we’re going through, please feel free to drop those down on the chat box and someone will stand by to answer those questions for you.

We’re going to be changing a 40 ZR18. This is a fairly common high-performance assembly. This particular tire here has a pretty big rim guard on it. It’s very stiff, very non-compliant, and like a lot of these performance-oriented wheels, this wheel here has a fairly narrow and steep drop. So as we evaluate this wheel here, and make sure that it looks good to change, the first thing we’re going to do is wheel it over to our hand-operated power-in power-out bead breaker.

And I always start with the TPMS center at the 12 o’clock. This particular wheel does not have a TPMS sensor, but it’s always a good habit to get into to treat every wheel as if it has a TPMS sensor inside it. Now, you’re going to notice that I’m using our side-mounted bead breaker here with my hand. It is power in and power out. It’s incredibly precise, and that means that I am able to get around this rim guard here. Break this bead, and not damage the wheel in any way.

You can see how easy that is. We were able to break that bead. Our TPMS sensor is nice and safe, and this is a great time to get in there and lube that bead and lube the drop center of the wheel as well. That’s what I like so much about this power-in and power-out bead breaker is that not only is it precise, but it also stays exactly where you put it. So if you need to get in there and do something or lube the bead in the drop center, as I just did there, this is a great great way to do it.

Now we’ll go ahead and rotate the tire 180 degrees, and we’ll put our TPMS down at approximately the six o’clock position, where it’s nice and safe. So, many technicians still choose to use a foot-operated bead breaker. They like this because it’s fast and it’s easy, and they like to control the bead breaking action with their foot instead of their hand. With the Maxx 90 that is definitely an option. As you can see here, I’m simply going to use my foot, and now I can break the bead and have both of my hands free. And so for technicians that enjoy that feature, it is definitely there for them. And so it’s the technician’s choice.

Now we’ll go ahead and do the same for the inboard side of the wheel. Again, TPMS sensor at the 12 o’clock, and then 180 degrees to approximately the six o’clock. And now that our bead is broken, and we’ve got a little bit of lube inside there, I am going to remove our decorative center cap here. Anytime you have a delicate wheel such as this, it’s always a great idea to make sure that you’re using a soft gripping jaw, such as our grip Maxx 2. This is an excellent way to have a very durable rim clamping solution, while ensuring that you’re not damaging wheels, whether they’re black-powder coated wheels or a reverse-drop center wheel where you need to clamp on the cosmetic side. Having the right accessories and the right tools for the for the job really makes a huge difference. So now to get this wheel clamped in, I will go ahead and bring our robo arm in.

So next, I’m going to show you how to mount and dismount this 40 ZR18 using our leverless mount demount head here. So, we’ll go ahead and position our wheel and tire, and we’ll put our head down here. A leverless head is a great way to change tough assemblies like this without damaging the wheel and without having to work too hard. A leverless head really makes a technician’s job fast and very very simple when it comes to this dismounting, especially a top bead such as this. We’ll bring our robo roller in, and this is going to help us to lube this tire up here. And we’ll take our lube brush and add a little bit of lube to the sidewall and the bead of this tire here. And we’re going to put our TPMS sensor just underneath the tail of our leverless mount demount head head. And next, I’m going to use our robo roller here to create an opening for our leverless tool head to drop down into the bead of the tire there. Then I’m going to take our robo arm and have it here at the ready.

Okay, now we’re ready for the dismount phase of the top bead. And what I did there is called unfurling the bead. I simply reverse the tire changer probably two to three degrees to unfurl that bead and get it resting properly on top of the leverless mount demount head. And we’ll go ahead and rotate. And now for our bottom bead, I put the leverless tool head down. Simply pick the tire up and rotate. And that’s probably the easiest mount demount of a 40 ZR18 that you’re likely to see, and also very very quick. And we’ll take our tire off here, and we’ll go ahead and lube it up. Looping the bead with a good paste lubricant is always critical to prevent damage, and we always lube the inside and the outside of the of the bead. That really prevents problems and stops the tire from either binding against the wheel or binding against the mount demount head.

Okay, now to mount the top bead we’ll bring our robo roller in. This is going to stop the tire from climbing over the mount demount head. And then I’ll bring our robo arm in right beside it. I kind of like to preload a tough tire like this, and get all the extra tire kind of on this side of the wheel. It makes it a little bit easier for us to push this tire down into the drop center as we’re mounting this top bead. Okay, tire’s getting pulled into the drop center all the way around. Our TPMS is nice and safe, and I’m going to continue to rotate while I pick up our robo arm. And we just mounted the top bead on a 40 ZR18, absolutely easy as pie. TPMS is safe. And this is a great tire changer for super tough assemblies like this custom wheels, chrome cladded wheels, reverse drop center wheels. This is a great tire changer to have for any shop that needs to be able to change these delicate, highly expensive wheels without damage.

Next, we’re going to change a more common tire size. This is a 17-inch, which is a very typical on half-ton pickups. This is what most tire shops are going to see on a day-to-day basis. The changing process is the same. Of course, we’re still going to use our Maxx 90 with our leverless head. We’re going to go ahead and we’ll break our bead. And again, if a technician has a preference for a foot-operated bead breaker, you can always use that too. There’s a lot of guys out there that prefer that style of bead breaker, whether it’s for speed or for comfort. But that’s what’s so great about the Maxx 90 is that either one is available to the technician. Being able to thoroughly break down this bead, especially on the backside, makes a big difference when it comes time to change the tire and dismount the bottom bead.

Okay, and we’ll do just like we did before, we’ll bring our robo roller in. And I really like using the robo roller on the dismount of the top bead, because that really allows me to get in there with my lube brush and really lubricate the top bead of this tire really really well, which pays dividends when you’re trying to change a really tough wheel and tire. And then to dismount the bottom bead, put the head down, lift the tire up. You can see how easy it is to grab that bottom bead using the leverless head. You’re not struggling with a bar reaching across the tire or having someone else hold it up for you into the drop center on the opposite side. And now we just simply rotate and dismount that bottom bead.

Now to put this tire back on, we’ll go ahead and make sure it’s properly lubed. A lot of guys you’ll see will slam on this lower bead without using the mount demount head. When the mount demount head is a leverless style like this, that’s nice and slim, there’s really no reason for you to slam that bottom bead on. It literally goes on just that easy. Go ahead and get our robo arm in. And that’s how easy it is to change everyday tires, such as this 17-inch or more difficult assemblies like that 40 ZR18 is on our 90x leverless changer. So you saw how fast and easy changing either one of those assemblies is on our top-of-the-line Maxx 90 series tire changer here. We are using a two-speed motor, which means the technician gets to choose either the lower speed or the fast speed, wherever the technician is most comfortable.

Yeah, next we’ll go ahead and change tires on our new Maxx 80. This machine here is very very similar to the Maxx 90 that we just used, except it uses a traditional mount demount head, but it still has all the great Maxx features like the dual inflation blast heads here at the back that’s standard on all Maxx machines. And just like the 90, it also has the power-in and power-out bead breaker that is hand or foot operated. And we’re really going to concentrate on the differences between the standard mount demount head and the leverless head that was on the Maxx 90.

So go ahead and use our power-in power-out bead breaker here. This breaker is either hand operated or foot operated, so for technicians that prefer a more traditional foot-operated bead breaker, we do have that. So the great thing about the Maxx 80 is that just like the Maxx 90, it does include the robo roller. And the robo roller is a great addition for helping the technician not only mount the top bead, but also demount it as well. What I’m going to do is I’m going to use the robo roller to push down on the tire and create an opening for me to slip the tool into. Once I’ve used the robo roller to create the gap, I’m going to go ahead and put my tire tool in. And now I can simply remove the robo roller. I’m going to use my robo arm to push 180 degrees out from our tool head, and then I’m just going to go ahead and pull this bead over. Get our robo arm out of the way, and we’re ready to dismount the top bead. Now for our bottom bead, it’s the same operation.

Using our lube brush, we’ll put a good layer of lube on both sides of the tire, and we’ll go ahead and mount our bottom bead. And now we’ll use our robo roller again to mount the top bead. And I always like to pre-position the robo arm during this phase of the demounting of the top bead, and I like to push extra deep during this first part. This makes sure that the top bead of the tire sinks right into the drop center. And that’s how easy it is to change a 40 ZR18 on the new Coats Maxx 80.

Next, we’re going to change the 17-inch assembly on the Maxx 80 as well, and again this is a typical tire that you might see on an F-150 Ford Explorer. A lot of SUVs and smaller trucks are using this exact tire size. This is pretty typical for what’s out on the road and in shops today. Again hand- and foot-operated bead breaker. Alright, you can see with our standard mount demount head here, whether it’s the poly or the metal, having this set up properly makes the tire rod very quick to change and also ensures that there won’t be any damage. Now using the robo arm like that to lift up on the opposite side of a heavy tire and place it in the drop center is a great way to save your back and make sure that you’re able to dismount the bottom bead of heavy tires like this without hurting yourself or causing damage to the bottom bead of the tire. And again, these truck tires that have these thicker beads like this, they really do like lots of lube on the inner and the outer bead as well. So I always make sure that I get the inner on both sides. We can use the robo roller on this tire too, just to make sure that if the tire does decide to ride up on our mount demount head, that robo roller is going to keep the tire right down where it belongs. And then of course, we’ll always use our robo arm for tough tires to ensure everything stays in the drop center. That’s the Maxx 80.

This is our new Maxx 70 changer. Now the Maxx 70 is the most basic model in our new Maxx lineup. It still has all the great DNA and all the great structure robustness as the rest of the Maxx line, but you’ll notice that it does not have a robo roller standard. It does not have the grip Maxx 2 jaws, and of course it only has a hand-operated bead breaker. But any of those things can be added as your business grows in the future to make it either a Maxx 80 or a Maxx 90, again as your business grows. The powerful hand-operated bead breaker on the Coats Maxx 70 makes breaking down even tough tires fast and easy, and allows you to get through a set of four much much quicker than a lesser machine that might struggle or might cause you to have to take a few extra runs at each bead. At the end of the day, that’s a pretty big time savings.

Go ahead and bring in our standard mount demount head here. Just as before, we’ll mount both the bottom and top bead with lots of lube here. Lube makes even the toughest tires go on nice and easy. And again for those tough tires that never seem to want to cooperate and drop down into the drop center when you’re attempting to mount the top bead, the robo arm that’s standard on the Maxx 70 is a great addition. And that’s our Maxx 70.

And as you can see, our entire lineup of Coats Maxx series tire changers has a machine for everybody. Thanks Maddie.

Thanks Kyle. So guys, where if a tire dealer wants to see this in action, where can they go?

Yeah certainly, we’d like to extend an invitation to anyone that would want to come to Nashville and tour the factory. They could see it in person. We’ll also be attending AAPEX & SEMA. To get more information, you can contact your local Coats rep or go to our new website.

Awesome. Great. Well Rick, Ben, thanks so much for joining us today and telling us about the Maxx series of tire changers. Very exciting launch.

Thanks for having us. Thank you.