FIFO Tyre Fitter Jobs

Can you get a FIFO tyre fitter job with no experience?

The traineeships in October's ads were town jobs. Kal Tire's trainee tyre service person ad was for Kalgoorlie, Monday to Friday, with the certificate done through the company, and it said plainly that the job was not FIFO. Bridgestone's trainee ads for Port Hedland were the same: live in town, "Earn While You Learn", and qualify as an OTR tyre fitter in about twelve months.

Otraco's ad for KCGM, the Kalgoorlie gold mine, took trainees too, from a mechanical or trade assistant background, with full training to the certificate. Time on mine tyres in town gives you the experience the FIFO ads ask for.

Tyre fitter mining jobs and the city version

The city job is passenger, truck and bus tyres with a bead breaker and a jack. The mining tyre fitter jobs are earthmover tyres on trucks and loaders the size of houses, handled with a hydraulic tyre handler, on rims that come apart in pieces.

Bridgestone's October ad for fleet tyre fitters in Kewdale, headed "ESCAPE FIFO!", said "No Experience? No problem." and offered help with the certificate. It's the same certificate the mine ads want, with the earthmover tyre units added.

How do you become a FIFO tyre fitter, step by step?

From no experience, in WA

1. Get your forklift licence and, if you can, a rigid truck licence, which many ads want; WA residents can do the HR course fee-free at TAFE in Perth (where to do them). Every course asks for your USI (Unique Student Identifier), a free number you make online.
2. Apply for a trainee tyre job in Kalgoorlie, Port Hedland or a Perth depot, where you're paid while you learn (the traineeships).
3. Finish the Certificate II on the job, with the off-the-road units for earthmover tyres (the certificate).
4. Then fit earthmover tyres for a year or longer, which most FIFO ads require (what the ads ask for).
5. Base yourself in Perth, or in Kalgoorlie for the jobs that bus crews in (where they fly from).
6. Try the tyre companies first, since they run many mines' tyre bays, then the contractors and agencies (who hires).
7. Once you're offered the job, the employer books the medical and drug test, then the inductions and flights.
8. On your first swing, expect the prestart, call-outs to flats in the pit, tyre changes in the bay and pressure rounds (a typical day).

Outside WA

In Queensland, the jobs fly from Brisbane or the northern coast, or bus in from Mackay (where they fly from). A coal mine also wants Standard 11 and the coal board's own medical, which the employer pays for. In the NT, the October 2026 job flew from Darwin, with Darwin residents preferred.

How do FIFO tyre fitter jobs work, and who hires?

Many mines don't run their own tyre bay. They contract it to a tyre company, which supplies the fitters, keeps the tyre records and names the mine in its ads. In October, Otraco advertised for BHP and Rio Tinto mines in the Pilbara, and Kal Tire for mines from Boddington to Mount Isa.

The mining contractors hire tyre fitters into their own maintenance crews, and the agencies fill the permanent and casual gaps. Some ads, NRW's among them, wanted a mechanical trade instead of the certificate.

What mining tyre fitter jobs ask for

Most ads ask for:

• The Certificate II in Automotive Tyre Servicing Technology (AUR21920), with the OTR units; some ads name it Tyre Fitting (Heavy)
• At least a year of earthmover tyre fitting, two on many ads, most often on mine sites
• A forklift licence (LF), the high-risk work licence for forklifts
• A driver's licence, and on many ads a truck licence, HR or MR

After the offer, the employer arranges:

• A medical with a drug and alcohol screen, the site induction and the flights

Nice to have, and what each one gets you:

• The tyre handler unit, AURKTJ016: the Queensland coal ads count it as a bonus
• FIFO or open pit mining experience: some contractors' ads rate it highly

FIFO tyre fitting jobs WA and Queensland: rosters, and where they fly from

The tyre companies' ads mostly ran 7:7, seven days on and seven off, or 8:6, eight on and six off. The mining contractors in WA ran 2:1, two weeks on and one off, and a few jobs ran 2:2, two on and two off. FIFO tyre fitter jobs Australia-wide follow the haul truck fleets, and some bus or drive people in from the mining towns instead, from Kalgoorlie in WA or Mackay in Queensland.

The Queensland coal mines also ask for a Standard 11 induction and a Coal Board medical, the coal mines' own health check. Otraco's new McArthur River job in the Northern Territory flew from Darwin and preferred people living there: anyone else might pay their own airfare to Darwin. The rosters page has what each roster gives back.

How much do FIFO tyre fitter jobs pay?

Only ads that stated a figure are in the table. Most don't.

FIFO tyre fitter salary: hourly or on the payroll

The FIFO ads with a figure all paid by the hour, and several paid super on every hour worked. The tyre companies' permanent jobs mostly gave no figure: Otraco's paid the same wages every fortnight, averaged over the roster, and Kal Tire's offered bonuses, including a $5,000 sign-on bonus on several ads. The pay calculator turns any rate and roster into a year, and the salary page has the trades for comparison.

What is FIFO tyre fitter work, day to day?

A typical day for a FIFO tyre fitter

The shift starts with the prestart meeting, then moves to the tyre bay and the changes booked on the trucks that came in overnight. Each tyre is lifted off with the handler, the rim stripped and inspected, the new tyre mounted, the lock ring seated to hold the rim together, the assembly inflated in a cage and the pressure logged. Between changes there are pressure rounds on the fleet, tread and damage checks on the go-line, where the trucks park between shifts, and the records that tell the tyre company how long each tyre lasts. Then the radio goes: a flat in the pit, a truck that can't move, and the handler truck heads out to it.

Is tyre fitting dangerous?

A mine tyre holds enough air to kill, and so does a multi-piece rim that lets go under pressure. That's why the tyre is inflated inside a steel cage, with the fitter behind a line, and why the job runs on procedures. Macmahon's ad asked for a "commitment to safe work practices", and in this job that means keeping to them when it's forty degrees and the truck is waiting.

What is a FIFO tyre fitter job really like?

Otraco's ads described small teams, "a small, but busy team" at South Flank among them. You get to know the crew fast, and there's nowhere to hide on a bad day. The work is physical even with the handler doing the lifting, because the rims, lock rings and tools are heavy and the weather isn't kind.

The relief jobs are a different life. Kal Tire's relief fitters move between mines to cover peak workloads, shutdowns and breakdowns, and its Queensland ad promised that no two swings are the same. If a swing gets dark, Lifeline is 13 11 14, and the mental health page has the signs to watch for and where else to turn.

Where does a FIFO tyre fitter job lead?

Tyre Response Group's October ad set out the road up: fitters who have held the certificate for more than five years, with solid OTR experience, could apply for leadership training towards leading hand or supervisor. Kal Tire's leading hands run the crew on site and stand in for the site team leader.

A year of tyre bay swings is also the site experience and reference the mine owners ask for, whatever the next job is. The operator, trade assistant and apprenticeship pages cover the moves onto the trucks and into the workshop.

Is a FIFO tyre fitter job right for you?

Three honest questions

1. Can you follow a procedure every time? The cage and the lock ring don't care that it's the fortieth tyre of the swing. If you cut corners when you're tired, this is the wrong job.
2. Do you want a small crew? You'll see the same few faces every shift. A good crew makes the swing; a bad one makes it long.
3. Will you do a year in a town job first? The traineeships were in mining towns and city depots, and the FIFO tyre bays want that year on your resume. Decide that before you apply, not during.