Every episode of Tires opens on the same battered garage sign, and fans keep asking the same question. Is Valley Forge Automotive Center a real business, or did Shane Gillis and his co-creators build it from scratch for Netflix?
The shop feels lived-in for a reason. Tires follows Will, the anxious heir to his father’s struggling auto repair chain, and his cousin Shane, whose idea of helping out usually makes things worse.
The two have spent three seasons trying to keep the Valley Forge location afloat, and the show has leaned hard into that specificity, from the Pennsylvania setting to the constant references to sister locations in Wayne, Springfield, and West Chester. That level of local detail is exactly what sends fans searching for the real place.
The Real Shop Sits in West Chester, Not Valley Forge
Despite the name, Valley Forge Automotive Center has never actually been located in Valley Forge. Every scene set inside the shop was filmed roughly thirty minutes away in West Chester, the Chester County borough where co-creator Steve Gerben grew up.
The production shoots at Tires Etc, a working full-service auto repair shop at 640 East Gay Street, and some interior scenes reportedly used Tires Plus, another nearby garage at 500 East Gay Street. Gerben has connections to the location beyond convenience, since the show films next to one of his own father’s real tire shops.
West Chester does more than lend its garages. Businesses that pop up around town in the background of episodes, including a TruMark Financial Credit Union, a Dunkin location, and Pete’s Express Car Wash, are all real West Chester spots sitting within a few blocks of each other on East Market and East Gay Streets. Keeping the production centered on a few real city blocks let the crew treat the town itself almost like another character.
Related: Who Is Bonnie in Tires Season 3? Rachel Blanchard’s Character Explained
A Small-Town Shop With a Growing Trophy Case
That hyper-local approach hasn’t stopped Tires from becoming one of Netflix’s more surprising success stories. The show earned a Primetime Emmy nomination this year for its sound mixing work on the episode The Tri-State Mid Market Tire Expo, a real recognition for a series that started as a scrappy six-episode workplace comedy.
Season 3 arrived with an even bigger cast around Gillis and Gerben, including returning names like Vince Vaughn, Thomas Haden Church, and Jon Lovitz, all funneled through the same modest West Chester storefront that has anchored the show since day one.
The real Tires Etc has effectively become a piece of Netflix production history, and it is a reminder that some of the most specific, hyper-regional comedy on streaming right now is filmed just a few blocks off a small-town Main Street. As long as Will keeps trying to save his father’s business, that unassuming Chester County garage will keep doubling as the heart of the show.
Season 3 of Tires is now streaming on Netflix, having premiered August 13, 2026.
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