Left Lane Auto Acquires J&L Tire & Service, Retaining All 42 Employees

What happened

Left Lane Auto LLC has acquired J&L Tire & Service, a tire and auto service dealer with two shops in Watertown and Johnson Creek, Wisconsin. Modern Tire Dealer reported the deal on October 13, 2026. All 42 of J&L's employees will be retained. Lyle Wuestenberg, J&L's former owner, called Left Lane "great people to work with" and described the change in ownership as a "very smooth transition."

The seller

Brothers Jim and Lyle Wuestenberg, who had worked at the Red Eagle truck stop in Johnson Creek, formed J&L Tire Inc. with Tami Wuestenberg on June 1, 1990, according to a 2015 profile in the Daily Union newspaper. The business trades as J & L Tire & Service Center and serves Watertown, Johnson Creek, and nearby communities including Ixonia, Lake Mills, and Jefferson.

It is a Goodyear dealer selling Goodyear, Dunlop, and Kelly tires, and it pairs tire sales with comprehensive auto repair, from brakes, alignments, and quick lube to heavy-duty service and trailer work. It also sells commercial tires to fleets. In 2015, the year J&L marked 25 years in business, the Wuestenberg family gave $100,000 toward athletic fields at Johnson Creek's new middle and high school and took naming rights to its baseball and softball diamonds.

The buyer

Left Lane Auto is a tire retail and automotive-service company based in Champaign, Illinois. It was founded in 2021 and is led by its chief executive and founder, Parham Parastaran, and it does business under a wide variety of local names, including University Tire and Big G Tire & Auto. Bertram Capital, a private equity firm, invested in Left Lane in November 2025 for an ownership stake, when the company had more than 75 tire store locations.

Its first acquisition after the Bertram deal was Don Foshay's Discount Tire & Alignment, a six-store chain in Portland, Maine, in February 2026, which brought it to more than 80 locations across 19 states. With J&L, Left Lane now operates 105 locations, according to its announcement of the deal. In Wisconsin, J&L joins Performance Tire & Auto Service, which has served Burlington since 1989 and which Left Lane added in 2025.

Parastaran said Left Lane "is honored to have the opportunity to continue building and growing Lyle's and the J&L brand's legacy. We take this mission very seriously and promise to be good stewards of this longtime family brand." When it announced the Foshay deal, Parastaran said Left Lane planned "to retain all upper management and employees across all locations."

What this means for tire and auto service owners

For an owner whose technicians and counter staff are the business, this buyer settles what happens to the people in public, when the deal is announced, rather than leaving it to be learned after closing. It has done so for a six-store chain and a two-shop dealer alike. Owners weighing a sale can see who is buying across the trade on our tire and auto service industry page.

OffDeal is an advisory firm that helps lower-middle-market business owners sell with confidence. Reach out to learn more about our expertise with tire and auto service businesses in Wisconsin.

Own a tire and auto service business with $5M–$100M in revenue? We’re glad to give you an honest read on what it’s worth and who would buy it — no pitch, no pressure. Get a free valuation.

Source: Modern Tire Dealer - https://www.moderntiredealer.com/retail/news/55411499/left-lane-auto-acquires-jl-tire