Latest / In Wheel Time Podcast / Tier 4 Tires: Budget-Friendly and Safe Options, Plus 2024 Chevy Trax Review and Car Event Roundup

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Tier 4 Tires: Budget-Friendly and Safe Options, Plus 2024 Chevy Trax Review and Car Event Roundup · In Wheel Time Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to another In Wheel Time podcast, a 30 minute mini version of the In Wheel Time car show that airs live every Saturday morning 8 to 11am, central Live on the I Heart Radio Network and the Smoke and Mirrors Network every network known to man.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: It's the In Wheel Time car talk show Coming up.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: We talk with Tim Eisenman, ceo of Torkata Tier 4 Tires.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: I'm going to find out what Tier 4 Tires are.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: I drove the 2024 Chevy Trax and I'll give you my impression of it.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: It's all new.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: But also here the cruise in calendar.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Conrad has that and Conrad also has this week in auto history And I'll bring in the stories making automotive news headlines this week.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Just ahead on the In Wheel Time car talk show Howdy, along with Mike out of this world, mars.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: We need more Jeff Zeek and King Conrad along.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: I just kind of throw you for a loop there, just a little bit Loopy.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Well, that's it.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: I'm Don Armstrong, glad you could join us on this Saturday for our live version of the In Wheel Time car talk show.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: It's always on 8 to 11am every Saturday, and then we of course podcast and you know, do all sorts of re-broadcast.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: We'll do all that as well throughout the week, so if you happen to miss a segment of the show that you wanted to catch, then you can always do the podcast thing, If you mustered, if you mustered.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: Now let's go to Tim Eisenman.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: He's the CEO of Torkata Tier 4 tires.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: Tim, good morning Good morning.
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: How are you doing?
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Well, we're doing very well.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: Thank you, and it's good to have you with us on the In-Wheel Time Talk Show.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: Torkata, tier 4 tires.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Now I have a tire guy here, jeff Seekin, who's been in the tire industry for most of his professional career.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: So then I asked him.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: I said, what is Tier 4 tires?
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: He says beats me.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: So it's going to be up to you to explain to us what Tier 4 tires are.
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: Oh for sure.
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: Well, first of all, we work in the entire tire space.
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: Tier 4 tires are really interesting.
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: Basically, it's a way to classify the price points of tires.
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: Tier 1 tires are the ones that you've probably all heard of the Michelins and Quaranties of the world.
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: Tier 2, maybe the more enthusiast brand than in Tier 4 tires are the lower end brands, the ones that you might get at a big box shop, maybe the private label tires, the ones that you know if you're on a budget you'll probably go for And they've actually been doing really well in the market, given the economy and so on.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: Well, you know that's one of those things that I've always steered clear of is the non-brand named tires.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: when I go to buy tires And when I was shopping for Leslie's Jaguar, oh my gosh, those things in, you know, on a Michelin or a Pirelli or whatever, those things are stupidly priced.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: And I thought, no, they wouldn't be offering these tires.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: It's a discount brand, discount tire store brand, and I thought, why not?
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: Okay, so it doesn't have, you know, a 75,000 mile warranty on it.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: it's got like 35 or 50,000.
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: Fine, And what he's described is basically a good, better best.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's all it is Yeah, and so so I'm with you.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: I mean why not Well, and tires have to meet a federal rating standard.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: So those rating standards talk about the tire, not necessarily the name brand.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: The name brand brings price.
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: Well, you also have to consider the application, because a tow trailer tire is going to be different than an off-road tire, different than an all-season tire, sure than a mud tire.
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: So that's where you have a good, better best in each one of those categories.
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: But so far is what the DOT does is based on that application, what you're trying to put it on.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and so these tires matched up to the Jaguar F-Pace and they look good and they're getting great wear out of them, and Why not There?
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: you go Well, and a lot of consumers are basically having exactly the same thought process because why spend 250 bucks on the wheel?
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: I mean, ultimately you're spending more than $1,000 and that's just tricky.
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: So what we've seen is that overall, store visits are down.
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: people are trying to save money, but what we see growth is the kind of lower end, lower price tire, more affordable, a little more budget.
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: Interesting fact also, a lot of people aren't replacing four tires anymore.
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: If they've got a blowout, they replace one.
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: So we've seen a drop of more than 20% of consumers actually just buying a tire or two in order to not have to replace all four wheels in the vehicle.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: Well, i mean, in fact, I was faced with that because she had one oddball tire that didn't match the rest of them as far as brands are concerned, and I thought, okay, well, that one oddball, i'm going to get rid of it, and they also get rid of the one that had the flat, and I'll just buy two.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: And then I started looking at it and I thought no, because the other ones are going to need to be replaced here in the next six, nine months.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: Do it all at once.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: I said, just do it all at once.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: So that's what I did, because of the affordability of this lower price tire, which one did you go for?
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: I'm going to ask.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: You know, I don't know what the name of it is.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: I actually looked at it the other day Some name on the side of the tire that I've never even heard of before.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: But it's a discount tire house brand, it's a discount tire house brand.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: I don't know, I'll whatever it is.
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: Yeah, probably private label brand which, honestly, if you're looking for good bang for your buck, makes a lot of sense.
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: Usually those tires are made by the name brand manufacturers the Contis and the Nidows and the Nexons.
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: They just have a different name on them, So they use X capacity in the factories to make it for.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: Okay, now let's talk about this company called Torcata.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: Yes, tell me, talk about it.
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: Well, it's a great company And what we do is we track 15,000 shops daily, so that means we know what they're selling, what they're keeping in stock, what they're pricing all their products.
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: We aggregate all that data using fancy stuff that's beyond what I do, but I've got people that know.
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: We aggregate all that data and identify which sizes which tires are trending in the market And, for shop owners, what should they actually stock on their shelves right So that they can satisfy consumer demand.
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: Because with the last 20 years we've seen size proliferation.
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: So many different tire types have entered the market It is really difficult to know what to keep in stock to satisfy customers, and so what we do is we help the individual shop owners do better at that and get more out of their inventory investments.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: So you do more of a retail inventory management program for shops.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: So it's, yeah, it's.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: You know, if you have these in stock, best bet these are what are going to sell, versus having some odd size tire that you may only sell one of every three years.
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: Well, to that point, when working with General Motors and Ford and things in the past, they had an application called OE Connection where you could actually put inventories in.
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: You could actually set minimums, maximums.
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: If you got set of four tires in there, you set it to two.
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: So every time you sell two you get two replenished.
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: So that's the way we dealt with, not overstock but supplying inventory for the main dealerships And of course there's brands that are strictly for Ford, brands that are strictly for General Motors and things of that nature.
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: So you kind of have to have that balance on what they're they're stocking for their customers.
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: Another good way is just the demographics in the area.
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: You can get reports and zip codes and who through the DMV find out Conrad's got, you know, a Cadillac, you got a Corvette, mike's got a Ugo, all of those things.
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: You could kind of find out what kind of tires they have to stock.
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: That's exactly it.
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: For folks that know the industry, oe Connection and the dealer space is the perfect analog for what we do in the in the aftermarket.
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: For the independence Inventory management is a big one.
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: We also help around pricing right.
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: We aggregate and get to a zip code level pricing indices because a lot of retailers don't have their prices online, right, and so we're able to, you know, pull brick and mortar prices.
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: You know, say that a certain whatever Michelin Pilot Sport goes for 125 within that specific zip code, you're selling it for 145 and you're wondering why are people not buying from me?
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: Well, it might be because you're overpriced.
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: So pricing intelligence, inventory intelligence.
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: And then we take all of that and package it up for the tire distributors and manufacturers because, given the market being so fragmented, it is really hard for Michelin or the large distributors to figure out which tires to make, how many of which and where to place it.
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: And as a result and that's what a shop owners are counting today it is really hard to get tires because usually they are not enough, they're not in the right place and they're hard to come by.
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: And so you know that if a consumer walks into my door and I tell them.
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you know I can get you that tire in three or four days.
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: I might lose that sale.
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: So we're trying to help shop owners to not have that happen, right.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: So yeah, because I think they say you know, 80% of the time when people are asked to buy tires, they're going to buy from the first person.
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: That asks them Right, yes, 75 to 80%.
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: The first time you're offered to buy it, they will.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: So you need to have them in stock to do that.
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: Also, 75% of those people that buy from you at the first go are return shoppers and return buyers to you as well.
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: So that kind of trickles down.
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: But you said something about the OE connection and things.
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: It's a matter of what they're selling.
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: You know they may be an oddball size every now and then or somebody that blows through town.
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: You have to be prepared for those as well.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: So your product is primarily available to the independent repair facilities, or is it publicly available?
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: Now it's independent repair facilities First and foremost.
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: We put a couple of things out there just to educate the public, but it's independent repair shops, smaller chains.
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: We've got a couple of larger chain customers.
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: They're not really buying our software product but more data.
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: They've got their own forecasting engines and their own inventory management systems.
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: But they benefit from kind of knowing what the market around them looks like, And so we provide them that data.
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: And then, as I said, we're also servicing that kind of upstream part of the supply chain distributors and manufacturers with that market intelligence to make sure that they can optimize their production cycles and their inventory management practices, Because ultimately, as a distributor, you want to stock what your customers are going to sell.
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: If you don't know what your customers are selling, it's really hard to stock.
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: You'd also mentioned things about the internet back in the day when you wanted to price match.
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: Okay, you've got a buyer for $100 on sale, don may have it for $120.
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: Well, i'm going to price match this.
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: It used to be the old school rule was it had to have been a brick and mortar store.
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: You could not price match to an internet, because internet you just blow the market out for everybody.
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: So it was only within a certain radius of that dealership And also it had to be where the price was going to sell.
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah Well, that issue happened already.
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: Right, because if you've got a price match it takes a couple of minutes.
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: You probably have to make a couple of phone calls to validate that.
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: We're trying to help independent shops to not be out of whack on pricing.
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: Sure, plus minus 5% makes sense, but in a lot of cases it is really hard to price given that there's so many different tires out there.
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: They change over time, especially over the last couple of years.
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: With raw material prices increasing, logistics costs increasing.
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: We've seen price increases across all tiers of tires.
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: Just recently, in Q1, you look at the tier one, the Michelin's and the Conti tires the average tire has gone up by $30.
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: So for a set of four you're looking at $100 more you're spending now versus a year ago and of course, decreases for the lower end and tires.
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: But so pricing is really a margin enhancer for a lot of shops and ultimately something that consumers are of course.
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: That's very hot.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: And then the OEs changing their tire requirements as well.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: You know, you got to think back in the 90s.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: A 15 inch wheel, 15 inch tire was kind of the norm.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: And the 16s were plus one and the 17s were plus two.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: They were considered exotic in a way.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: And now 16, 17s, 18, 19s, 20, 22s are OEM production tires, so that that range of inventory has to match that range of tire sizes that are being offered through the OEs.
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: Totally.
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: I mean, i have so many conversations with shop owners that, like you know what Tim like back in the day.
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: there's 20, 30 sizes and types.
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: you know that's really easy to keep track of.
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: And now there's like a thousand different ones I just literally thousands.
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: It's heard that every year more than a hundred different size type combinations enter the market.
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: It's just really difficult if you're running a shop taking care of customers, have a hard time to, you know, have have your store fully staffed, to then also be an expert in like pricing and inventory management Like it's just asking a lot.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So your product is purely informational and predictive selling.
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: Not that you have a warehouse of tires that you're selling out of, No we don't.
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: We don't win to any of that.
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: We integrate with, i would say, the predominant shop management systems, the Mitchell ones, and our writers and ASAs and whatnot.
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: So we've got, you know, a 40, 40 different integration so that we can pull data without having to ask the retailer to do any manual extracts, And then a lot of ways to also push that data back into the shop management system.
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: Right, so that if they're using our rider on Mitchell one for inventory management, we basically provide the recommendations and the stocking levels back into Mitchell one, so that the shop owner doesn't have to operate two different systems.
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: Have you heard of a new DMS system called Tech Metric?
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: Absolutely Yeah.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: Tech Metric is based here at Houston.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: that was developed and is sold out of the Houston market.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: Pretty amazing RMS or DMS system for the independent shops.
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: Great, great piece of software.
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: I would say the big ones right now Tech Metric and Shop Monkey is another one out of Silicon Valley.
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: They got a lot of venture capital funding and are really investing in the product.
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: But we're still seeing high degrees of fragmentation, As you know.
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: I mean there's 200,000 plus different repair shops, A lot of them, you know, family businesses that have operated for, you know, 50, 60, 70 years, and changing kind of the behavior of these shop owners to change the shop management system is really cumbersome.
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: So I think that degree of fragmentation will continue to see that over time.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: I can see a Tech.
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: Metric and a Shop Monkey probably roll out the market a little bit.
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: Interesting So far.
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: there's price differences and things on that.
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: If you can sell to the consumer a piece of mine, that you've got the tire and you're there to service them throughout the duration of that tire, that's a selling point as well.
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: So the money doesn't really it contributes to the buy or not buy, but then you have to sell yourself on what it is for your customer.
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: Totally And ultimately.
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: You know it's actually a really interesting value proposition to the manufacturers as well.
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: When I look at the average tire shop owner, the amount of money they make on the back end, right for the rewards programs and incentive programs, can be up to 30, 40% of the overall profitability.
• 15:03
  Speaker 4: Wow, managing that is really tricky.
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: So when I go to Michelin my value proposition to them is hey, i can help the retailers that on the Michelin program have the right product in their stocking screen, always have it in stock, always be priced well and make sure that they sell that Michelin product to the end consumer.
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: And so manufacturers really like a platform and a program because it gives them a little more influence over what actually happens at retail, because good retail for Michelin aligned dealers means more volume for Michelin, and so we're seeing the manufacturers really promote our software in order to help their retailers that are selling their brands.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: And then also integrate the retail portion of that, because so many of these manufacturers on and off over time offer rebates back to the customer by four get $100 off, $100 gift card or something And all of the retail locations aren't actively aware of those changes in the retail rebate programs that tire manufacturers offer.
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: In many cases the consumer has the responsibility to research that rebate that's available on the tires because most of the retailers really don't pay much attention.
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: Tim, do you sell your service to these dealers Or how do you get?
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: paid.
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: Are you a subscription service?
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we've got a free version that we give to our retailers because ultimately they also pay us in their data.
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: We take good care of the data, anonymize it and so on, of course.
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: So we've got a free version.
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: We've got a subscription service which is relatively cheap $25 a month for retailers And then we make most of our money upstream with the manufacturers and the distributors.
• 16:44
  Speaker 4: They've got deeper pockets and for them you know, $100,000 software or data buys a little easier to come by than from a retailer.
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: So it's a combination, i would say, and I'd also tell you there's a lot of entities that you might not necessarily think of that are very interested in understanding demand for tires at the daily level.
• 17:03
  Speaker 4: Think about companies that produce, like that, operate rubber plantations or that bet on tire stocks in the financial segment.
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: They really want to know how many consumers walked into the store yesterday and how many tires did they buy, and so is good year stock good or bad, and so we help them with making that determination.
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: Well, there's also the other side of that.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: for instance, like fleets, Well, Amazon trucks, my God, how many tires do they go through a day nationwide?
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: Oh, thousands, it's a ton, and I mean then you look at major tailwinds like electric vehicles going through tires significantly faster given the size of the vehicle, and so the tire industry, i think is relatively future proof given the change in the car park overall.
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: And so that's why we focused on that segment of the market, because we believe it's here to stay.
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: So you focus primarily on the automotive and the light truck tire.
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: Do you also do the class eight over the road tractor trailer?
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: stuff, predominantly passenger and light truck tires.
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: We do a little bit of commercial work, but here's the hard thing and all of what we do.
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: Sure, the algorithms are fancy and whatnot, but ultimately the fragmentation is the hard thing to overcome 200,000 repair shops, 200 different shop management systems, probably a million shop associates, and everyone enters data slightly differently.
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: And every shop management system asks you to enter data slightly differently.
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: So the good year assurance tire is probably good year assurance.
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: In one shop management system It's GY assurance, in another one It's just assurance.
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: In another one It's good year manufacturer or tire number in the next one.
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: And so what we do is you take all these different data feeds, match them against a product master so that we can standardize them and work with the data.
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: That's a secret sauce, and so we started with the biggest chunk of the market, which is passenger and medium truck tires.
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: Well, to that point too, we begin back to the dealerships.
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: When you fulfill inventory, there is a part number of the tire, and then General Motors has their own specific part number for that tire as well, And in order for the replenish to work, you have to put it under the General Motors or for OEM part number because it won't accept it.
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: And then there's a SKU number which is internal to the tire industry.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: That's different from the OE part number.
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: But to keep that replenishment going you use the OEM's number.
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: And I tell you the dealer space is probably 10 years ahead of the aftermarket And in a lot of these ways right be technology and data and so on.
• 19:33
  Speaker 4: So we aspire to be that for the aftermarket, but I can't really force thousands of repair shops to enter data a certain way, so I need to fill the machine that's able to just turn it and ultimately put it into the same format.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: So do you have a website people can go look at.
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: For katacom.
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: Sign up, get a demo.
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: We sent out a really cool newsletter for repair shops and anyone that's interested in tires.
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: So a bunch of the stats that I shared with you today.
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: Around what's the foot traffic in the stores?
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: tire increases and decreases by size, price increases.
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: We make that available to the public.
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: Torquetacom sign up for a demo or a trends and trends newsletter And you'll always be in the know.
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: Torqueta T-O-R-Q-A-T-A.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: That's it.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: Very good, tim, it's great to talk to you.
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: You know, i have a really insightful information that I had no clue about.
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: Really, Mars is sitting over there with his mouth open going.
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: I know I'm trying to take notes, He's taking notes.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: Okay, i'll buy that, tim.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: We really appreciate it.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: Good luck to you.
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: Stay in touch with us.
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: Thanks for having us.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: Thank you, sir, i love that.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: Where was he from?
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: Who was he calling?
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: in from.
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: We didn't ask him.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: We didn't ask him, but it's certainly not Georgia.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: No, I may be, you know Germany.
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: He's in.
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: Germany.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: Actually, you know what I kind of thought Wales.
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: Wales.
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: He lives in.
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: LA, but it's, he's got a German background.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: Right, okay, all right.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: Suburb of Orca.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: Time now for the cruise in calendar.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: And I don't know how you separate the cruise in calendar from the event calendar, but you don't.
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: They're all interrelated?
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: No, they're not.
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: This isn't Tennessee, So steak and shake car show this afternoon.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: I like steak and shakes At 4490 Crow Road in Beaumont, Texas.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: You're going to go to Crow this afternoon.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: I know where that is, do you?
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: Yes, i do, okay.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: And and did you know there's a steak and shake there?
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, does he not you?
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: You don't know that right there by the mall, isn't it?
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: Hey, and you know, for a long time before the crowbar was invented, crows used to drink alone.
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: Oh my gosh.
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: The 2023 Corvette car show at St Luke Missionary Baptist Church.
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: Didn't realize the Baptist were missionary.
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: Just go on, never mind.
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: Keep going, keep going.
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: Stop now, and that's 11am tomorrow as well.
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: The Toyo X at NRG Center off of Fanon is JDM only show which is Jewish, not Jewish.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: Jewish domestic market, japanese domestic market, cars, jewish domestic Oh my God.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: Watch a little short Shalom Very frugal.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: Michael Garfield, where are you?
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: So if you're into the JDM cars tomorrow at noon at NRG Center should be a lot of fun.
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: Shalom, The Hot City Automotive Car Meet, 2214 North Frazier in Conroe is tomorrow starting at noon.
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: And the Caesar Fire at VFW Post 3892 off of Harker Heights, Texas, starts at noon tomorrow.
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: And then Rods and Lincoln Rods on Lincoln at the Courtyard Cafe off of Lincoln Avenue in Groves, Texas.
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: You've got to get another shot out there for the Golden Triangle.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: Thank you, sir.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: Time now for this hour's car review.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: Had a chance to drive the 2024 Chevy Trax.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: Here are the trim levels.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: They start with the LS, go to 1RS, then LT, then 2RS and then active.
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: I reviewed the 2024 active trim level for the Chevy Trax.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: This is a small station wagon.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: That's an understatement.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: I cannot believe that the government calls it a station wagon.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: Does anybody even make?
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: a station wagon.
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: I can't believe they call it small, because I would call this micro.
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: No, it's not.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: It's not.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: It's got more room than that.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: It's a small SUV is what it really is.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: That's the one Kylie sat in at the auto show And she liked it.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: Five people it will hold, including the driver.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: complete redesign for 2024 Sharp Grill, nicely proportioned body, nice grooves and nice little special on the side of it.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: Black wheel opening moldings on it gives it that off-road appeal.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: Fastback tailgate with a sunshade wrap around headlights.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: Wheels change with the trim level.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: We could use improvement.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: Nothing Interior highlights.
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: The dash is eye catching, with separate pods for gauges and infotainment.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: Well placed controls, bright metal accents on the upper trim levels.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: Get it, it looks really good.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: Comfortable seating with cool cloth.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: Upscale features for entry level SUV cargo and trunk room.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: Second row folded down room for golf clubs back there, believe it or not.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: So there you go.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: Not as tiny as you think it may be.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: What I liked about it?
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: the handiness of the controls on the interior.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: What could use improvement.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: All I can say about that is more stuff, more money And this is a cost conscious vehicle.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: Okay, here's for you, conrad.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: A 1.2 liter, three cylinder engine, one turbo.
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: It cranks out a whopping 137 horsepower and 162 pound feet of torque.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: Whapping Miles per gallon, 28 city, 32, highway for combined to 30.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: And that's where the money lies, right there.
• 25:37
  Speaker 4: What'd you?
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: get, i got 29.5 over 308.1 miles.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: What I liked about it?
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: the mileage.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: What could use improvement?
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: It needs a little goose at the power department.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: Just saying It's a turbo supercharger?
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, do something.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, i'm okay with the three cylinder.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: It acts like a four cylinder and, yeah, ride and handling Choppy due to its short wheelbase, but that's the nature of the size of the car.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: Base trim price Yeah, $239.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: Price is tested $26935.
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: Wow, base entry level price $20,400.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: Get some today Yeah, it's a first time buyer.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: Competitors The Mazda CX30 starts at $23225.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: The Buick Encore which was kind of surprising when I did the research here it starts at $246.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: And the Hyundai Kona, which is probably the closest to it, starts at $21685.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: That's the review of the 2024 Chevy Trax, all new from the ground up.
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: This is not the old model That didn't go over too well And I think that this one will, and it's a lot of.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: It has to do with the price point on it, the price point in the look And the look and that interior, that dashboard, spot on Loved it All right.
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: The Inwheel Time car talk show is available 24 seven through the iHeart radio app.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: Just look for Inwheel Time car talk.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: We also video stream on Facebook, youtube and InwheelTimecom, and podcasts are also now on YouTube, but they're also at your fingertips on over a dozen of the most popular podcast outlets.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: The Inwheel Time car talk show continues right after this quick break.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: Everyone at the tailpipes and tacos cruise in at the loopy tortilla Tex-Max and Katie.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: Thank you for participating in the best cruise in around and look forward to seeing you again.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: You'll hear about the next cruise in date right here on Inwheel Time.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: Next time you're in the West Houston Energy Corridor area, be sure and stop in at the original loopy tortilla Tex-Max at I-10 and Highway 6 or the Katie location on the Grand Parkway at Kingsland Boulevard When passing through Beaumont or College Station.
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: Stop in and have loopies, award-winning beef fajitas and frozen margaritas.
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: There's always a celebration at loopy tortilla.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: Loopy tortilla founder Stan Holt and his wife Sheila are winning racers on the NHRA drag racing circuit and have a collection of hot rods and classics that everyone appreciates.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: Look for them at the next tailpipes and tacos cruise in.
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: The date will be announced soon and will once again be held at the loopy tortilla Tex-Max on 99 in Kingsland Boulevard, just south of I-10 and Katie.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: We'll give you all the details right here on the Inwheel Time car talk show and online Donations.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: Benefit God's Garage.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: We'll see you then.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: You own a car you love.
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: Why not let Gulf Coast Auto Shield protect it?
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: Houstonian John Gray invites you to his state-of-the-art facility to introduce you to his specialist team of auto enthusiasts.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: We promise you'll be impressed.
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: Whether you're looking to massage your original paint to a like-new appearance, apply a ceramic coating, install a paint protection film, nanosuramic window tint or new windshield protection called ExoShield, gulf Coast AutoShield is where Houston's car people go.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: Curb your wheels Instead of buying new one.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: I'd have them repaired.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: How about a professionally installed radar detector?
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: Gulf Coast AutoShield does that too.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: Get a peek inside the shop and look at the services offered by getting online and heading to gcautoshieldcom.
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: Better yet, stop by their facility at 11275 South Sam Houston Toulway, just south of the Southwest Freeway, and get a personal tour.
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: Gulf Coast AutoShield is your place to go for all things exterior.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: Call them today 832-930-5655 or gcautoshieldcom.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: The award-winning In Wheel Time car talk show is available on The Most Popular Podcast channels out there in 30-minute episodes.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: We realize our three-hour live show can be difficult to catch in its entirety, so now you can listen every day to a convenient, fresh 30-minute episode.
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: Check us out on Apple Podcasts, spotify, google Podcasts, amazon Music and Audible, along with a dozen more.
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: In Wheel Time has the most informative automotive guest interviews and new car reviews, along with popular features, including Conrad's car clinic, and This Week in Auto History, along with automotive news headlines.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: Our live broadcast airs every Saturday, 8 to 11, central on InWheelTimecom, the iHeart app and on YouTube.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: Be sure to say hello when we're broadcasting from the tailpipes and tacos' cruise in AutoRama and the Houston Auto Show, among others.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: Now it's easier than ever to hear about all things automotive all week long.
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: You're invited to join fellow car enthusiasts in becoming part of the ever-growing In Wheel Time car talk family.
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: Don't forget those 30-minute podcast episodes on your favorite podcast channel.
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: That's it for this podcast episode of the In Wheel Time car show.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: I'm Don Armstrong, inviting you to join us for our live show every Saturday morning 8 to 11 am central on Facebook, youtube, twitch and our InWheelTimecom website.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: Podcasts are available on Apple Podcasts, spotify, stitcher, iheart Podcast, podcast, addict Tune In Pandora and Amazon Music.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: Keep listening and we'll see you soon.