Facebook Ads for Tire Shops: What Works and What Burns Money
Almost every tire shop owner we talk to has tried Facebook ads. Most say the same thing: "We got a bunch of leads and none of them bought." The platform works. The setup is usually the problem.
What burns money
Boosting posts. The boost button optimizes for likes and comments, not buyers. You get engagement from people who will never visit your shop.
Leading with the lowest price. "Cheapest tires in town" attracts the customer who will drive across town to save $20. They are hard to close and rarely come back.
Wide-open targeting with no filter. A broad audience is fine, but only if the form behind it separates buyers from browsers. Without that filter, your counter staff spend all day calling tire-kickers.
One ad, forever. Creative fatigues. An ad that worked in March is often dead by May.
No follow-up. Paying for a lead and then calling it the next afternoon throws away a big share of what you paid for.
What works
1. Optimize for leads, then filter hard
Run lead or conversion campaigns, not boosts. Use an instant form or a landing page with a few qualifying questions: vehicle, what they want, and whether they are paying cash or want financing. The questions cost you a few cheap leads. They save you hours of wasted calls.
2. Sell the build, not the tire
People do not get excited about a tire. They get excited about how their truck looks and drives on it. Show the finished vehicle. Show the stance. Put the package and the monthly payment in the copy.
3. Make creative that stops the scroll
The best performers for our clients are vertical videos under 30 seconds:
- A before and after reveal in the first two seconds
- Slow, close walkarounds of fresh builds
- Quick install clips
- A customer picking up their truck
Our client ads have pulled over 23.9 million views. The ones that go furthest look like content, not commercials.
4. Target the people who can afford the build
Start broad within a reasonable drive time of the shop and let the algorithm learn from your qualified leads. Feeding conversion data back to Meta, such as which leads booked or bought, helps it find more people like them over time.
5. Test constantly
Run several creatives at once. Kill the losers weekly, iterate on the winners. Expect your best ad to change every few weeks.
6. Follow up within minutes
A lead contacted within minutes is far more likely to respond than one contacted the next day. Automate the first text so it goes out instantly, then have a person or an AI assistant continue the conversation and book the visit.
What results look like when it is set up right
- Xclusive Wheels dropped cost per lead from $37 to $2 across four locations, with 50+ leads a day.
- Mod Squad turned a first $3K with us into $50K closed in 60 days, with leads as low as $2.
- 5 Star Wheels & Tires generated 376 leads in 60 days.
- One campaign returned $114,575.87 in revenue from $3.3K in ad spend.
Quick checklist
- [ ] Lead or conversion objective, never boost
- [ ] Qualification questions on every form, including cash or financing
- [ ] 5 to 10 vertical video creatives live at once
- [ ] Packages and monthly payments in the copy
- [ ] Instant automated text follow-up
- [ ] Weekly review of cost per qualified lead and revenue
Want us to set this up for your shop? Start your 21-day trial and we will build the ads, the filter and the follow-up for you.