Why does the Year-Make-Model search for wheels and tires require a third-party data provider?
Convermax offers two ways to search wheels and tires. The standard version shown below is "Search by attributes". It is based on the product data available in the store – product attributes, meta fields, or custom attributes depending on the platform.
Wheel search usually has size, offset, and bolt pattern dropdowns.
The tire search panel has size, aspect, and rim filters.
Usually, it is built on the data that is already in the store. Below is an example of what a good setup looks like on a product details page.
Unfortunately, not everyone has products loaded with all the attributes. Often products will only have basic information: title, brand, description and that's it. No diameter, no width, nor bolt pattern. This can be due to historical reasons or due to limitations of the software that loads products. In this case, Convermax can extract attributes from the product title. We know how to parse the most commonly used patterns for wheels and tires. It is less reliable than working with structured product data, but it’s an option. And it doesn't require any manual labor.
An improvement on top of the standard version looks like this:
Adding the "Shop by Vehicle" tab next to the "Shop by Wheel Size" isn't that easy. The majority of distributors and data providers we've worked with so far do not provide YMM fitment applications for wheels and tires. They will offer product attributes data, but not the list of vehicles in which a particular wheel or tire will fit into.
To get the YMM fitment search working with wheels and tires we need a list of wheel and tire packages compatible with a selected vehicle. This database goes through every possible vehicle configuration and specifies what are the standard OE size options, minus size, and plus size packages. Below is an example of what the data for the 2022 Audi A4 Quattro looks like:
Note, that this data isn't about specific product SKUs but rather compatible size options. It's quite extensive and hard to build and maintain manually, especially if we are speaking about a reasonably complete vehicle list.
Fortunately, there are companies that specialize just in this. We recommend contacting DriveRightData or Fitment Group. Both companies provide accurate and comprehensive fitment data for tires and wheels. They use the same AutoCare VCdb vehicle IDs compatible with ACES, SEMA Data, Turn14, DCi, and others. So wheel and tire YMM search integrate seamlessly with the regular product YMM search. This data is provided on a subscription basis. DriveRightData offers a special deal to Convermax customers. Get in touch with us if you want to learn more about it.
Wheel and tire Year Make Model search is a complicated beast. Setting it up requires both the right software and comprehensive data. Convermax has all the software pieces built already but does not have the data we can license to our merchants. Though we have partners that can.
Here are a few examples of what the end result feels like: