GETTING A GRIP
There are are places in the Spokane Valley where you’re guaranteed to find a long line of people: Opening night at the ballpark; at the post office the night income tax forms are due; and at tire stores after the first big snow.
This year, the latter came Monday.
“Since the snow hit Sunday, it wasn’t as bad first thing this morning,” said Mike Davis, a longtime tire professional at Perfection Tire, 10721 E. Sprague Ave. “Some years we have a whole parking lot full of people waiting for us to get here in the morning. This morning there were three or four waiting for us first thing. But about 9 a.m. we were all of a sudden buried.”
It was the same story up and down East Sprague Avenue Monday. If you sold snow tires, you were swamped.
At Alton’s Tire, 11707 E. Sprague Ave., “Total Car Care,” the company motto, went on the back burner as they raced to keep up with the demand for snow and studded tires. Motorists asking for oil changes and other routine maintenance requests were asked to check back in a day or two.
“This happens every year,” Davis said. “People put it off and put it off. Most years, we get snow out here in the Valley later than everyone else anyway and still it catches people off-guard.”
Not everyone.
State law allows the use of studded tires beginning Nov. 1. Starting then, Davis said, business picks up – a trickle presaging the coming flood.
“People are always worried about them banning studded tires,” Davis said. “They haven’t – they just talk about it – but it gets people concerned. As soon as they’re legal to have on, we have people coming in to get them put on.”
The first snow in the surrounding foothills sent drivers scurrying to area tire stores earlier this month, too. The Les Schwab store at University City had a crowd by 7:30 a.m. was still mounting snow tires at 8 p.m. one Saturday night – well past the usual closing time.
By midafternoon Monday, the initial rush had begun to slow at Perfection Tire, although Davis and owner Mark Webb were kept busy answering a steady stream of phone calls and preparing for a late day getting every car handled.
“The way we’re set up here, we can pretty much get a car in and out of the bay in about 20 minutes,” Davis said.
Brand-new cars slow things down.
“The tire industry typically lags behind the automobile industry by about a year,” Davis said. “Sometimes, with brand-new cars, it can be a little tricky finding snow tires. Manufacturers like to wait and see what sells before they decide on what tires to make.”
In Spokane, Davis said, whatever the brand of snow tire, it should have metal studs.
“Studded tires are really popular,” he said. “We get a lot of compact snow and ice, especially in the outlying areas. That’s what studded tires are designed for.
“But it’s like we always tell people: If it’s made of rubber, it’s going to slip. So be careful.”