Bud Zolman and his wife Diane were newly married in 1963 when he started with the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company as an office and credit manager in Bloomington, Indiana. He held that position for several years before transferring to his own store to manage in Crawfordsville, Indiana.

It wasn’t long before Bud Zolman had the opportunity to be transferred again, this time to Indianapolis, Indiana. At the same time, his district manager, Ray Monteith, decided to open a store of his own in Warsaw, Indiana, and made an offer to Zolman. Bud made the decision to work with Ray, and subsequently became a partner. The two entrepreneurs eventually expanded their operations into several other stores.

In 1978 Ray offered Bud the opportunity to sell out in Warsaw and open his own store in Mishawaka. Bud and Diane, with three grade school age children, thought that the “Michiana” area had more to offer their family. That first year was very tough for the Zolmans. The prime interest rate had skyrocketed to 21%. Worse yet, Firestone had just announced the recall of its Firestone 500 tire. Zolman couldn’t sell a single Firestone 500 in stock. All of Zolmans current customers received FREE tires because of the recall, so he would not be seeing them for a few years. Recovery from these disasters took several years.

Still, Zolman and his staff persevered and made the business work. Hard work, honest business practices, treating customers as friends (they are!), and quality products and services has built a strong foundation for the next chapter for Zolman Tire.

In 1992 Bud’s son Nate, graduated from college with a business degree and started to work in the family business. Nate was no stranger to hard work or the high demands of business, having grown up “with” the family business. Nate played hide and seek in the stacks of thousands of tires with his friends and sisters. Nate swept floors, cleaned bathrooms, changed tires, changed oil, and did every job that no one else wanted to do. It paid off.

May of 1995, Nate headed up Zolman Tires first expansion store in Granger, Indiana. It was an instant success. Nate Zolman ran that store for two years until in 1997 when a friendly competitor called and wanted to sell out his store. In August of 1997, a third location opened on Edison Road in Mishawaka. At the same time, another “friendly” negotiation for acquisition was in the works. In December of 1997, the fourth Zolman Tire opened on State Road 23 by the University of Notre Dame.

In 1999 Zolman Tire bought out a partner in Niles, Michigan upping the total store count to five. It was a very short and aggressive timeline that has paid off for our customers, employees, and organization.

Zolman Tire offers a full line of tire brands including Bridgestone, Firestone, Dayton, Goodyear, Dunlop, Michelin, BF Goodrich, Uniroyal, Yokohama, Mastercraft and has access to any brand available. Zolman Tire offers a Price Match Guarantee on any tire product.