Barry Dunkin, automotive sales manager for Myers Brothers Equipment Distributors in Kansas City, Mo., said he will have a booth at Vision featuring everything from lifts to alignment machines.

Dunkin said his hot items at this year's show include nitrogen generators and the latest tire changers. 

"The benefit to nitrogen is that if you put 95 percent or better into your tire, it maintains the tire pressure because it doesn't expand and contract like air does," he said. "You maintain the proper footprint on the road, allowing you to keep better traction, better tire wear, and better gas mileage."

An Accu-turn tire changer will also be featured at the Myers Brothers booth, Dunkin said. The machine is equipped with extra hydraulic arms to make changing tires easier.

"It used to take three guys to stand around a tire machine to get a low-profile tire on, but now you have all these helper arms, so you can typically do it with one man," he said. "It is quicker, more efficient, and less damaging to the wheel."

Myers Brothers also carry Rotary lifts, Road Force tire balancers, Hunter Engineering alignment machines, Champion compressors, Balcrank and Grayco lubrication systems, RTI and Robinair A/C machines, and much more, Dunkin said.

A new Rotary lift has a two-year parts and one-year labor warranty, he said, adding that Hunter equipment typically carries a three-year warranty and that Accu-turn equipment is three to five years depending on the product.

Dunkin said Myers Brothers cover a 150-mile radius and not only sells equipment but also installs it, train shops on how to use it, and services the equipment as well.

"We are about the only guys in town that can offer a guy a turnkey-type product," he said.

For the 15th year, Heartland Automotive Equipment of Eudora, Kan., will have a booth at Vision. Owner Alan Heier said he plans to bring a lot of equipment to Vision including a Nussbaum lift so it can be seen in action, a set of 64,000-pound Nussbaum mobile columns, a Hofmann wheel aligner, and a Hofmann tire changer and balancer. 

 
"We are also going to have a Nussbaum hydraulic double-scissor lift that works well because it fits in a small space and lifts from the belly of the car and lifts fully up," Heier said. "It is perfect for a shop that doesn't have a lot of extra space."

Heier added that Nussbaum offers a seven-year warranty on the pump and motor on their lifts and said it is important to buy such equipment from a trusted manufacturer and vendor.

"You can buy $1,500 lifts from China, but you don't know who it is made by or where it actually comes from," he said. "It is about saving a dollar today and not worrying about tomorrow."

Heier said he covers Nebraska, western Missouri, and northern Kansas, providing his customers with service and technical support.

Some of the other lines that Heartland Automotive Equipment carries are Hotsy, Forward, Aircel, and Curtis, he said. 
The latest in scan tools will also be a hot item at Vision, said Stewart Peregrine, district sales manager for NAPA Tools and Equipment in Kansas City, Mo. Look for the Genisys 3.0 and Vetronix Bosch scan tools to make a big impact for shops in 2008, he said.

Peregrine said the Bosch Mastertech Vehicle Communication Interface (VCI) came out in October 2007 and is really something shops need to look into.

"I don't think they are aware of what it can do," he said. "It will reflash all domestic vehicles and has scan tool functions for GM, Ford, and Chrysler."

The tool also operates with a Windows PC through a wireless, Ethernet, or USB connection, he said.

"The VCI is where it is at if you want to spend the money," Peregrine said. "By the time you purchase everything that comes with it, including the tool and software packages, you are looking at spending over $5,000, but you are going to be able to do about anything that comes in the door."