Tire shops on the front line of winter preperation

MAT-SU — As the termination dust creeps down the mountains and the wind blows away all of the yellow leaves, Alaskans know winter is on its way. Maybe no one knows this better than Bruce Hall of Alyeska Tires. Hall has worked for Alyeska since 2002 and has seen how Alaskan drivers use the pavement. While some may confuse the smell of winter with crisp, cool, morning air, at the tire shop, winter smells like rubber.

“This is the state of changeover. We get this back and forth, on and off, every year. It definitely adds a little unique quality to the driving around here, and changes the characteristics of people you’re driving with, and adds a whole other business to, not just doing tires but it’s seasonal as well,” Alyeska Tires Assistant Manager George Cooper said.

Over the coming weeks, tire shops around the Valley will be switching bald rubber for a newer model and putting studs on tires. There are two types of winter tire debates. Some opt for studded tires and some use all-weather models. Although the real defining question is when you get your tires changed. Hall said that even though drivers are rushing to tire shops to get theirs changed before the snow flies, even more wait until it’s already fallen to get theirs changed.

“Facts are facts, and studs do perform the best, especially around here where you get the real thick, wet ice and it freezes and thaws. It’s not like Fairbanks where it gets cold and stays cold,” Hall said.

Hall employs five tire techs year round, and boosts that number up to nine in October. The shop will change tires on between 60 and 70 cars a day, and changeover season is just getting started.

“It seems like people are getting more of a jump on it this year. Usually most people wait until it snows,” Hall said.

Hovering around an average of 2,000 changeovers for the month of October, the tire techs are in for their fair share of hard work.

“Sore muscles and tired. Everybody works a full day until we’re done, we don’t have another crew that comes in later,” Hall said.

For the month of October, Hall said that the shop is usually booked up with changeovers for drivers preparing to do battle with the icy Alaskan roads at around 2 p.m. The second the white stuff blankets the icy ground, the time it takes to book a full day of 70 changeovers drops dramatically. Hall said that Alyeska will likely book up just an hour after opening once the snow falls.

When that may be, no one knows. What is for certain is that auto shops around the Valley will be working hard through the final fallen leaf and into the winter helping to keep Alaskans safer on the road.