Total Shop Solutions brands offer a unique breadth of solutions, including wheel balancers, wheel aligners, diagnostics, brake lathes, automotive lifts and collision repair.
In 1920, an engineer from Milwaukee named Joseph Johnson and his co-worker, William Seidemann, designed a ratcheting attachment to help make work easier for professional mechanics. That development led to the creation of the Snap-on Wrench Company. Over the years, the business’s name was shortened to Snap-on and the product line grew. Today, the brand includes a variety of tools, equipment, diagnostics, repair information and systems solutions.
During the 2023 SEMA Show in November in Las Vegas, Snap-on showcased its new, advanced version of the award-winning John Bean® Tru-Point™ Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) calibration tool, as well as additional Snap-on Total Shop Solutions (TSS™) products. These included equipment from Car-O-Liner®, Challenger Lifts, Ecotechnics, Hofmann®, Mitchell 1®, Sun®, Pro-Cut and JOSAM®.
“We work closely with our customers to show them how TSS can help them improve and grow their businesses,” said Mariana Montovaneli, director of marketing for Snap-on Equipment. “From wheel balancers, wheel aligners and diagnostics, to brake lathes, automotive lifts and collision repair, Total Shop Solutions brands offer a unique breadth of solutions to outfit any shop from floor to ceiling.”
As a company that prides itself on being one of the top solutions for target placement, Montovaneli said Tru-Point was designed to guarantee targets are placed in the exact position they need to be to perform a correct ADAS calibration.
Over the past year, the company incorporated advancements to the John Bean Tru-Point tool, including up to 360-degree increased coverage.
Montovaneli said the Tru-Point unique camera technology compensates for having an unlevel floor. With OEM specifications requiring the calibration target be perfectly aligned with the vehicle’s camera, Snap-on Product Manager Jordan Krebs said this is critical.
“If the floor is not level, the vehicle’s position and orientation can be affected, resulting in errors in the calibration process,” said Krebs. “Tru-Point cameras automatically calculate target height requirements and inform the user when to adjust the height of the target to be in the perfect field of view of the camera while moving the equipment and target stands around the vehicle.”
Other John Bean equipment displayed during the event included the V3300 diagnostic wheel alignment system, B2000P wheel balancer, T7800 PROspeed™ tire changer and the 14k short locked and lighted scissor alignment lift.
This is the first year Snap-on has introduced a heavy-duty section with products designed for wheel alignment and calibrations.
Hofmann displayed its service equipment, which included the 2400P Armored Series wheel balancer, a new product release at SEMA, as well as the geoliner® 609 and 678 wheel alignment systems, monty® 8200 smartSpeed™ and 3850 tire changers, geodyna® 980L wheel balancer, TreadReader™ and 15k four-post alignment lift.
JOSAM wheel alignment and collision repair products were launched during the show for shops that perform heavy-duty repair work. The JOSAM Cam-aligner, designed to be robust and flexible, allows users to measure heavy-duty trucks in any environment. With the ability to compensate for road inclination, it can be used on non-flat surfaces. The JOSAM Frame Press was created to straighten heavy and light trailers and buses. It anchors or attaches to existing floor systems, enabling horizontal and vertical repairs.
Snap-on also participated in Joe’s Garage, a real-world shop set up, at the AAPEX Show the same week as SEMA. In addition to Joe’s Garage, Tru-Point was one of several products featured at the TSS and SEMA garage booths, South Hall Upper and the SEMA FutureTech Studio in Central Hall.
To learn more about Snap-on and the Total Shop Solutions family of brands, call 800-225-5786.
Abby Andrews