What Hunter Engineering makes

Hunter Engineering Company designs, manufactures, and sells automotive undercar service equipment, the machines that alignment shops, tire stores, dealerships, and fleet garages use to service wheels, tires, and brakes. The product line spans wheel alignment systems (HawkEye Elite, HawkEye XL, and the camera-based HawkEye family), computerized wheel balancers (Road Force Elite and the SmartWeight line), tire changers (the automated Revolution and the center-clamp Maverick), brake lathes (AutoComp Elite and bench lathes), and vehicle lifts and alignment racks in scissor, four-post, and pit configurations, including heavy-duty units rated to 35,000 pounds.

Two newer categories sit alongside the core machines. Hunter entered the ADAS (advanced driver-assistance systems) calibration market in 2021 with the ADASLink diagnostic scan tool, followed by the Ultimate ADAS system in 2023, which uses gimbal-mounted lasers to cut target-placement time on some procedures by 70 percent. Its inspection line, Quick Check Drive and Quick Tread, scans alignment and tire condition in the service drive in seconds. The HunterNet 2 portal connects that equipment so shop owners can track return on investment, manage machines, and order consumables in one place.

The company positions itself on engineering depth rather than price. Its innovation group runs more than 120 engineers, which the company describes as the largest wheel-service engineering staff in the world, and in October 2019 Hunter became the first company in the undercar equipment industry to be granted its 300th patent. By the company's own account it now holds well over 350 patented technologies and files roughly seven to ten new patents a year.

Ownership and history

Hunter Engineering traces to a discharged car battery. Lee Hunter Jr., a St. Louis architecture student, invented the Kwikurent rapid battery charger in 1936, then founded Hunter Engineering Company in 1946 in Ladue, Missouri after serving in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Ordnance Corps during World War II. Its debut product was the Tune-In on-the-car wheel balancer. The Lite-A-Line alignment system followed in 1955 and became an industry standard, and by 1953 General Motors was balancing every St. Louis-built Corvette on Hunter equipment.

The company remains private and family-controlled, and it has been veteran-owned for its entire history. It describes itself as among the largest veteran-owned businesses in the St. Louis area. Its chairman and chief executive is Stephen F. Brauer, a Vietnam War veteran who also served as U.S. Ambassador to Belgium in the early 2000s; Steve Brauer Jr. serves as Executive Vice President and Hunter Jones as Vice President of Operations, per company statements. In 2026 Hunter marked its 80th year in business.

Manufacturing footprint

Hunter builds its products in the United States, a point the company makes prominently across its materials. Corporate headquarters, research and development, and manufacturing are in Bridgeton, Missouri, in the St. Louis metro. Metal fabrication, powder coating, and assembly of lift racks and brake lathes run at a plant in Durant, Mississippi that opened in 1976 and has expanded six times; a 60,000-square-foot, self-funded addition opened in March 2026 at a cost of more than 10 million dollars, coinciding with the plant's 50th anniversary. A second Mississippi plant in Raymond handles electronics manufacturing and metal fabrication, and added a 66,000-square-foot electronics facility in 2014. A 106,000-square-foot distribution center in Madison, Mississippi opened in 2022 to consolidate shipping.

Outside the United States, Hunter runs a Canadian operation in Aurora, Ontario, a German office and logistics hub in Puchheim that opened in 2023 to support European original equipment manufacturers, and a wholly owned subsidiary in Beijing that opened in 2011. The mix of in-house electronics, metal fabrication, and printed-circuit-board assembly means much of a Hunter machine is made under its own roofs rather than outsourced.

Certifications and quality

Hunter presents itself as an ISO 9001:2015 certified manufacturer, with a quality program the company says covers product design, development, engineering, supply chain, and manufacturing. For its connected-equipment platform it holds a SOC 2 Type II attestation covering the HunterNet 2 customer portal, a security and operational-controls audit relevant to shops that connect equipment and share service data. The company runs what it describes as the largest quality-assurance team in its industry, with every new product going through months of testing before release and plant-level quality checks on finished units. These are the company's own representations, presented here as claims.

Known customers

Hunter sells into the automotive service channel: alignment shops, tire stores, franchised dealerships, collision-repair centers, and fleet operators, rather than supplying parts into vehicle assembly. The clearest public evidence of its standing is the roster of OEM approvals its alignment and calibration equipment has earned.

These are equipment approvals and channel relationships documented through the company's own press, not component supply contracts.

Sourcing evidence

Hunter's U.S. import record fits an equipment manufacturer that builds domestically and buys specialized sub-components and complementary lines abroad. Public bill-of-lading records show roughly 4,048 sea shipments to its Bridgeton headquarters, with the most recent logged on September 20, 2026. The named foreign suppliers are wheel-service specialists rather than commodity vendors: Nexion S.p.A. and Butler Engineering of Italy, both makers of tire changers and balancers; Haweka of Germany, a maker of wheel-clamping and adaptor hardware; and Asia Link Technology. That supplier profile is consistent with a company that imports component systems and select finished lines to round out a range it otherwise builds in the United States, a pattern worth understanding for buyers weighing nearshoring and tariff exposure across a supply base.

Coverage caveats apply. These are U.S. ocean-freight records only; air, truck, and rail movements do not appear, some entries name freight intermediaries rather than manufacturers, and product categories come from declared manifest codes that are noisy. Absence of a record is not evidence of absence.

Frequently asked questions

What does Hunter Engineering Company make?

Hunter Engineering makes automotive undercar service equipment: wheel alignment systems, wheel balancers, tire changers, brake lathes, vehicle lifts and alignment racks, vehicle inspection systems, and ADAS calibration tools. Its best-known lines include HawkEye Elite alignment, Road Force Elite balancing, the Revolution and Maverick tire changers, and the Ultimate ADAS calibration system. The equipment is used by alignment shops, tire stores, dealerships, and fleet garages.

Who owns Hunter Engineering Company?

Hunter Engineering is a private, family-controlled company and has been veteran-owned since it was founded in 1946 by World War II veteran Lee Hunter Jr. Its chairman and chief executive is Stephen F. Brauer, a Vietnam War veteran and former U.S. Ambassador to Belgium. The company is not publicly listed and reports no private-equity parent.

Where is Hunter Engineering headquartered?

Hunter Engineering is headquartered at 11250 Hunter Drive, Bridgeton, Missouri 63044, in the St. Louis metro area, where it also runs research and development and manufacturing. It operates additional plants in Durant and Raymond, Mississippi, a distribution center in Madison, Mississippi, and offices in Canada, Germany, and China.

How many employees does Hunter Engineering have?

Hunter Engineering employs roughly 1,800 people, including more than 1,300 in the United States, with over 280 at its Durant, Mississippi plant. The company is a Top 100 Mississippi employer and describes itself as one of the largest veteran-owned businesses in St. Louis.

Who are Hunter Engineering's customers?

Hunter sells to automotive service centers, tire shops, dealerships, collision-repair shops, and fleet operators rather than to vehicle assembly lines. Its equipment carries documented approvals from BMW, Mercedes-Benz, the Volkswagen Audi Group, General Motors, Kia, and Subaru, and heavy-duty buyers such as Love's Travel Stops have invested in its commercial aligners.

What certifications does Hunter Engineering hold?

Hunter Engineering presents itself as an ISO 9001:2015 certified manufacturer and holds a SOC 2 Type II attestation covering its HunterNet 2 connected-equipment platform. The company describes an internal quality program spanning design, engineering, supply chain, and manufacturing, with months of product testing before release.

Last verified September 27, 2026. Is this your company? Request a correction.