Bay-Throughput Math: Cut Labor Cost and Raise Shop Profit

Tire shops don’t make money by standing still. Whether you’re running a high-volume dealership service department or overseeing multiple outlets across a region, your shop’s profitability is often decided by what happens in each bay—and how fast you can do it again. 

That’s where bay-throughput math comes in. It’s not just about tracking how many cars you push through per day. It’s about understanding how long each job actually takes, how much that labor is costing you per unit, and where the profit margins live. Once you’ve got that math dialed in, you can start turning the dial on productivity and profit. 

Let’s break it down. 

 

Understand the Core Metric: Labor Cost Per Tire 

Every tire service bay eats up labor time. And that time adds up fast. 

Whether your techs are doing mount and balance, tire repairs, or full replacements, their time in the bay needs to be producing dollars. But too often, shop owners and service managers just look at total payroll or monthly revenue without getting into unit economics. 

Here’s a practical way to calculate labor cost per tire: 

Labor Cost Per Tire = (Technician Hourly Rate × Time Spent Per Tire) + Equipment Impact 

• Technician Rate: What are you really paying per hour with benefits, taxes, etc.? Let’s say $28/hr. 

• Time Spent Per Tire: Are you tracking it? If not, start. A shop using modern equipment might average 8 minutes. Older gear? Maybe 15. 

• Equipment Impact: Older machines increase time per tire, and breakdowns mean lost hours. That cost adds up and drags throughput. 

Example: 

• $28/hr tech × 0.13 hours per tire (8 minutes) = $3.64 labor 

• Add $0.50 for equipment maintenance cost per tire 

• Total: $4.14 labor cost per tire 

If that job is billed at $20 in labor, you’re netting $15.86 in labor margin per tire. 

Now multiply that by 150 tires a day across multiple bays or locations… the difference between 8-minute tires and 15-minute tires is massive. 

 

Where Tire Shop Productivity Gains Live 

If you’re managing a dealership service lane or a network of independent shops, productivity isn’t about working harder—it’s about working faster, cleaner, and more consistently. That comes down to three areas: 

1. Equipment Speed and Reliability

The fastest way to cut labor cost per tire? Cut the time it takes. 

Modern equipment like the Coats® Maxx™ Tire Changer is designed to handle every tire the same way—no fighting stiff sidewalls, no wasted motions, no guessing. That kind of predictability matters when you’ve got 6 or 12 bays in motion. 

Plus, Coats Direct Drive wheel balancers eliminate re-spins with pinpoint accuracy and intuitive setups. Less time tweaking, more time producing. 

Faster cycles = lower labor cost per tire. 

 

2. Technician Workflow and Training

High throughput doesn’t come from techs running around—it comes from tight, repeatable processes and tools that are easy to master. If your teams are bouncing between machines that feel and function differently, you’re burning time. 

Multi-location owners: standardize equipment across shops. When every machine feels the same, training gets faster, errors drop, and float techs can hit the ground running. 

Coats’ equipment is built with tech-friendly interfaces, reducing the time it takes to get new techs up to speed. And with the Coats Connect™ Service Network, you’ve got coast-to-coast support and training at install and beyond. 

 

3. Downtime and Maintenance

Here’s the hidden killer of bay throughput: unplanned downtime. 

Every hour a machine is down, your revenue potential flatlines. Multiply that across locations, and you’re in the thousands fast. 

That’s why uptime is just as critical as speed. At Coats, our tire changers and lifts are built to exceed duty cycle promises and stand up to rugged shop conditions. Reinforced structures, corrosion-resistant finishes, and top-tier power units are the difference between an investment and a recurring headache. 

And if service is needed, Coats Connect™ delivers factory-trained techs—not third-party subcontractors—who live and work in your communities. 

 

Use Tire Shop Productivity Metrics to Make Smarter Decisions 

Once you’ve calculated your labor cost per tire, here’s how to apply that math to drive profitability: 

• Run the Numbers Weekly: Don’t wait for quarterly reports. Track average time-per-tire per bay and per technician. 

• Rank Tech Efficiency: Some techs crush 7-minute tires all day long. Others take 12. Identify where training or equipment is holding them back. 

• Invest Where It Pays Off: If a machine upgrade saves you 5 minutes per tire—and your shop does 100 tires a day, you just saved over 8 labor hours daily. That’s $224 a day in saved labor. That pays off fast. 

And don’t forget to factor in your customer experience. Faster service equals better CSI scores at the dealership and higher return rates at the local shop. 

 

The Coats Edge: Tools Built for High-Throughput Shops 

At Coats, we engineer equipment that makes your shop money—not excuses. 

• Maxx Series Tire Changers: Built for nonstop cycles, with repeatable processes that cut time and prevent wheel damage. 

• Direct Drive Wheel Balancers: Speed meets precision—our direct drive models practically eliminate rebalancing and come with a 10-year warranty. 

• Inspection Lane Systems: Fully automate inspection at the service lane and boost alignment revenue without adding time. 

• Coats Connect™ Service: Preventative maintenance, annual inspections, and scheduled service that boosts uptime by up to 20%. 

 

Final Takeaway: Small Math, Big Profits 

Calculating labor cost per tire isn’t flashy—but it’s how smart operators build more profitable shops. 

If your shop’s throughput is stuck, it’s probably not your people—it’s your process and equipment. Coats helps you upgrade both with durable, technician-friendly tools and the service to keep them running. 

Faster tires. Lower cost per job. Higher revenue per bay. That’s tire shop productivity that pays off. 

 

Need help finding the right equipment for your shop’s throughput goals? 

 Talk to a Coats rep and find out how to equip your bays for speed, uptime, and profit. One call. Full shop.