Major tire companies abandon huge formerly bankrupt distributor

The automobile tires and wheels aftermarket segment has faced economic challenges over the last year, resulting in product dealers closing store locations, filing for bankruptcy, selling businesses, and sometimes shutting down operations.

Decline in consumer demand, supply chain disruption, and increased operating costs driven by inflation, such as labor and products, have been cited as reasons for financial distress.

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Companies, such as Wheel Pros, which operates as auto parts distributor and retailer Hoonigan, and Accuride Corp, a leading manufacturer of wheels and wheel end products for commercial trucks and trailers, both filed for bankruptcy in late 2024.

Tire services and auto repair chain Monro Inc. revealed it will close 145 underperforming stores as part of its company improvement plan, after reporting a 4.9% decrease in sales in the 2025 fiscal year ended March 29, 2025.

Monro did not file for bankruptcy.

Giant tire and wheel replacement company American Tire Distributors Inc., on Oct. 22, 2024, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, seeking a sale of its assets, facing over $1.9 billion in funded debt.

The Huntersville, N.C., tire distributor, with 15 distribution centers and over 80,000 retail customers in North America, filed its petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware in Wilmington, seeking to sell its assets to its prepetition lenders

The debtor blamed soaring inflation after the Covid-19 pandemic and a decline in demand for auto products beginning in 2022 for its financial distress, following a tire boom in 2019-2021, according to a declaration from the company's chief restructuring officer, Ronald J. Bienias.

The tire boom prompted the company to expand its business, but profits started declining in 2022 and 2023 because of new market headwinds that included customers adjusting to less expensive tires, depression of consumer demand, increased operating costs, and a contraction of sales channels.

American Tire Distributors filed for bankruptcy

American Tire Distributors in May 2024 sought a sale of its assets and received a nonbinding letter of intent in June 2024, but it was terminated on Oct. 9, 2024, and the company filed for bankruptcy 13 days later.

The debtor emerged from bankruptcy on Dec. 21, 2025, after agreeing to sell its assets to its prepetition lenders in a Section 363 bankruptcy auction, which closed on March 5, 2025.

The company sold and delivered a variety of tire brands to retailers, including General, Uniroyal, BF Goodrich, Continental, Michelin, Cooper, Pirelli, Yokohama, Hankook, Kumho, Nexen, and Toyo-Nitto.

The company announced in 2018 that Goodyear Tire & Rubber was no longer one of its distributors.

And now, American Tire Distributors' inventory will be further reduced as major tire companies continue to abandon the tire distributor.

American Tire Distributors loses a big tire maker deal.

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Michelin drops American Tire Distributors

Michelin North America Inc. told tire dealers in a June 16 letter that American Tire Distributors would no longer be an authorized distributor and dealer of its brands, including Michelin, BFGoodrich, and Uniroyal, Modern Tire Dealer reported.

Camso and Tweel products were included in the cancellation of the distributorship agreement.

More bankruptcy:

The termination of the distributorship agreement covers all passenger, light truck, and commercial segments of Michelin's tire business.

Purchases of Michelin-branded products from American Tire Distributors will not qualify for Michelin's Alliance Associate Dealer program and will not earn dealer benefits under the program, the tire company said.

“Michelin will monitor the transition process and will reassess as needed,” the company said in a letter to Michelin, BFGoodrich, and Uniroyal dealers.

The tiremaker said that it would also help dealers identify replacement distributors if necessary.

Two weeks before Michelin's announcement, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company reportedly revealed that American Tire Distributors was no longer a distributor of its Cooper and Mastercraft brands.