Tires Season 2 Ending Explained: Is Valley Forge Automotive Going to Survive?

Season 2 of Netflix’s ‘Tires‘ ends in a place of uncertainty as our main characters look forward to better times even though bad things keep piling up around them. With the financial burdens mounting on Valley Forge Automotive Center, Will, Shane, and Phil are forced to make drastic decisions to save the auto-repair garage from a slow death. However, despite their best efforts, matters are left on shaky grounds owing to the complications facing their business model. As such, our three main characters have to dig deep and find resilience in a time of great need, even if the walls are crumbling around them. It leaves their fate on an ambiguous footing while also opening the door for further exploration in the future, inevitably setting things up for more drama, comedy, and mistakes down the road. SPOILERS AHEAD.

Tires Season 2 Recap

Six months after the end of season 1, Valley Forge Automotive Center is slowly regaining its poise and stabilizing as a business because of Will’s genius idea to sell tires at cheaper costs. The business model has a revolutionary effect on the company’s sales and also affects Will and his dad’s thinking. The former is fixated on the idea of expanding the auto-repair garage chain even further, something he believes is possible by taking a small loan from a local bank. While he is enthusiastic about their chances for growth, his father, Jon, is more ambivalent to the move and allows Will free reign to do what he wants for the moment. This rubs Dave the wrong way as he feels increasingly alienated by Will’s success, believing that it could lead to him being ousted from the organization as a general manager.

With his father taking a back step in the running of Valley Forge, Will steps up to the plate and manages to make a seemingly successful loan pitch to the bank by himself. Subsequently, Jon starts re-educating the company’s employees to behave professionally by hosting an HR session for all the managers and potential managerial candidates within the ranks. Even though the session ends disastrously because of the blatant insensitivity of the employees, Will is energized about the future because he believes the loan will be approved any day, allowing the company to move ahead with its expansion plans. However, things start to unravel when Will forms an unlikely friendship with a sales rep named Ryan from True Thread Tires, the main tire supplier for Valley Forge Automotive.

Although initially it seems like Will’s kindred bond with Ryan is hugely beneficial for Valley Forge’s future, it eventually comes back to bite him when he makes a deal prematurely with the sales rep, not knowing something pivotal about his father’s intentions. It turns out that Jon is hell-bent on retiring from the company and having some time to enjoy the last periods of his life. As such, he blocks the loan from going through because he is not up for overseeing Will’s expansion plans. This is enormously gutting for the protagonist, who ends up making an enemy out of Ryan while also realizing that his dreams might be going down the drain. However, a new solution appears over the horizon when Shane’s dad, Phil, enters the picture. He is a wealthy businessman with ambitions of his own and a fraught relationship with his son that he wants to rectify.

Tires Season 2 Ending: Will Valley Forge Automotive Survive? What Do Will and Shane Do Next?

By the end of the season, things go from bad to worse for Will, Shane, and the new owner of Valley Forge Automotive Center, Phil, as their sales figure plummets beneath the safe zone. The decline is down to True Thread Tires cutting their bond with the auto-repair garage, citing it as a measure to stop the top players in the industry, such as Tire World, from being displeased by Valley Forge Automotive’s tactic of selling tires at cost. As a result, Will, Shane, and Phil realize that their company is in massive trouble with estimates showcasing that things could be as bad as a pit full of lava for everyone. Things look so incredibly bleak that no one has any solutions to climb out of the hole, forcing Phil to hire some outside help in the shape of his consultant, Trish. Meanwhile, Will and Shane also start cooking some plans of their own.

Determined to save the company or try his best to curtail the downfall, Will goes on a sales calling spree as he dials up every known tire seller in the vicinity with the hopes that they might be willing to step in as Valley Forge’s new supplier. The effort largely goes down in vain, with most rejecting his plans to sell tires at cost. However, Will persists with his calls, eventually successfully landing a deal with a tire manufacturer who agrees to most of Valley Forge’s demands, albeit with slightly less beneficial terms than the previous one with True Thread Tires. Even though it is not a complete solution, it offers Will some reprieve and makes him believe that the decline can at least be slowed down if not turned around in the future.

Elsewhere, Shane also steps up his game as he makes some big sales moves of his own, getting some favorable deals in place with local car dealerships. He convinces Tommy, the less aggressive salesman at Andiamo Auto Sales, to give up one of his prized vintage cars in exchange for a cheaper servicing fee at Valley Forge Automotive for the entire fleet of cars in their inventory. Tommy dubs it “fleet accounts,” a term that Shane uses to iron out more like-minded business deals with other dealerships, thereby helping Valley Forge Automotive even further. In the end, he breaks the news to Will, who looks hopeful about the company’s future even though things are still nowhere near alright. We will learn the fate of the garage in concrete terms in a potential third season. However, given the show’s tag as a workplace comedy, it is unlikely the business will come to an end, at least not in the long term.

Why Does Will Save Dave’s Job?

While Will and Shane try saving Valley Forge Automotive one way, Phil takes a completely different approach because of the counsel provided to him by his financial consultant, Trish. She suggests that firing a bunch of highly paid workers who are less productive than others is the way to go with saving the company from a tragic and floundering demise. As such, Dave is the first person identified on the list of sackable people. The choice is a no-brainer, especially considering how poor the general manager’s image is in Phil’s eyes. Despite trying his best to impress Phil on numerous occasions, Dave only manages to make himself look even worse than before, which adds to Phil’s frustration with the man. Thus, upon hearing Trish float the idea of firing Dave, who also happens to be earning an exorbitant salary from the company, Phil jumps at the idea like a fish drawn to water.

After asking a few questions, Phil and Trish ascertain that Dave is living in a trailer parked in the backyard of the Belmont chain of Valley Forge Automotive. Dave has been reduced to such a pitiful state of living standard because his wife is deeply unhappy with him because of his lecherous attitude and his infidelity-fueled past. As such, she is going through the process of divorcing him, effectively kicking him out of his own place and leaving him to fend for himself in a makeshift trailer residence. Although this seemingly affects Phil’s feelings towards Dave, possibly making him more sympathetic towards his plight, even though he is still slovenly as usual, he breaks the news to him that he is planning on firing him. As expected, Dave is furious and frustrated that he is being let go. Yet, he also admits that deep down, he was expecting the firing.

Following the numerous encounters where Phil is disappointed by Dave, the latter states that he has been certain for a long time that his job at Valley Forge Automotive was on the verge of being lost anyway. Thus, he takes the whole situation quite positively, almost seeing it as a swift execution rather than a death by a thousand cuts. However, surprisingly, his job is saved at the last moment by a phone call from Will. The protagonist rings Phil up, telling him that even though the business is struggling, Dave deserves the chance to keep working because he is a good manager, in his opinion. This is a strangely generous gesture by Will, especially considering the rivalry between him and Dave. Even Dave himself is taken aback by Will’s backing, suspicious that something else might be attached to the offer.

As the second season progresses, Will’s enmity towards Dave becomes less and less prevalent as the protagonist starts to mellow his attitude towards his rival. In one scene, we even see Will defending Dave’s honor when Pete Seidel from True Thread Tires insults him by poking fun at his failing marriage. Dave is startled by Will’s staunch pushback against Pete for his sake, showcasing that perhaps the two enemies could be moving towards a more productive relationship in the future. Thus, the decision to save Dave’s job could be Will extending another olive branch towards Dave, illustrating his zeal to put their rivalry in the past and become friends working together. This is especially crucial now, with the fate of Valley Forge hanging in the balance at the end of season 2.

What is Phil’s Vow to Shane and Will? What Does it Mean?

In the final parts of ‘Tires’ season 2, we get another confirmation of our three main characters’ resolve to help Valley Forge Automotive survive the disastrous financial returns and move the company back to the path of prosperity through Phil’s solemn vow. He sits down with Will and Shane in the former’s office and informs them both that no matter what happens in the future, he will not sell Valley Forge to another businessman and wants to take part in the company’s future, whether it be good or bad. These words have a significant meaning behind them because Phil has a proven track record of selling companies whenever the going gets tough. In fact, this is a huge worry for Jon before he hands over the reins of the auto-repair garage to his brother.

Despite the considerable hurdles in their road, the trio seem determined to make the most out of their time at the company and find new ways of saving it, such as the individual deals completed by both Shane and Will. It showcases that their spirit is far from extinguished, and they are not willing to give up the fight without making an enormous effort first. From a simplistic point of view, this is a call to action. However, because ‘Tires’ is a subversive comedy that often plays with expectations, it should not be considered beyond possibility if Phil were to renege on his vow and sell the company at the first sign of a disturbance. It could be used as an amusing gag in season 3, although Shane’s relationship with his father could be at an all-time low if Phil stooped so low after giving his word so solemnly.