Overview
Wheels and tires fit a vehicle based on size and specification, not on a part number. Instead of assigning vehicles to every wheel and tire by hand, you can let X-Cart do it. With Automatic fitment detection, X-Cart compares the attributes of a wheel or tire with the specifications of each vehicle in your store and links the product to every vehicle it fits.
This article explains how automatic fitment detection works, what it changes on the product’s Fitment tab, and how to switch it off for a product when you want to manage its fitment yourself.
Note: Automatic fitment detection is available in X-Cart 5.6.x. In X-Cart 5.5.1.x, you set the fitment type and vehicles of wheels and tires manually. See Managing fitment information of a specific product.
How automatic fitment detection works
When Automatic fitment detection is on for a product, X-Cart:
Sets the product’s fitment type to Vehicle Specific.
Compares the product’s attributes with the vehicle data in your store (usually imported from AutoSync).
Links the product to every vehicle that matches.
The matching runs in the background, so you can keep working in the Admin area while it runs. It starts automatically after you import wheels or tires. Each run appears in the task list at the top of the Admin area as Matching fitments for …. Click View details to see when the run started and finished, how many products were matched, and how many of them are wheels and tires.
The matches are updated with every following import. If a product didn’t have enough data to be matched the first time, and the missing data arrives with a later import, the product gets its vehicles then.
What is compared
Product | What X-Cart checks |
Wheels | Diameter, width, lug count, bolt circle, center bore, offset, vehicle type, and niche. If a wheel has a load rating, it is checked against the load the vehicle requires. |
Tires | Section width, aspect ratio, rim diameter, vehicle type (for example, a passenger tire isn’t matched to a truck), and load rating. |
The center bore of a wheel must not be smaller than the hub bore of the vehicle, and must not exceed it by more than a set difference. The default difference is 40 mm. This value isn’t an Admin area setting.
A wheel or tire is matched only if the attributes listed above are filled in for it. See the FAQ below.
Which products are affected
Automatic fitment detection applies only to wheels and tires. Products imported from automotive integrations that belong to the wheel and tire product classes get it turned on by default. Other products, such as accessories or lug nuts, don’t have the switch, and their Fitment tab looks as it did before.
X-Cart recognizes wheel and tire classes by the attributes they contain, not by the class name. For example, a product class is treated as a tire class if it has the Section Width [mm], Aspect Ratio, Rim Diameter [inch], and Load rating attributes. A wheel class needs the Diameter [inch], Width [inch], Lug Count, Bolt Circle [mm], Bore [mm], Niche, Vehicle Type, and Offset [mm] attributes. You can rename a class, and your store can have more than one wheel class and more than one tire class.
If you use the Wheel & Tire Packages add-on, its package builder shows customers only the wheels and tires that have matched vehicles. A wheel or tire with no matched vehicles doesn’t appear in the builder. See Wheel & Tire Packages add-on.
The Fitment tab of a wheel or tire
To open it, go to Catalog > Products, open a wheel or tire, and click the Fitment tab.
With Automatic fitment detection turned on, the tab shows:
The Automatic fitment detection switch, with an information icon. Point to the icon to see a short description.
Fitment: Vehicle Specific (Autodetection). This is plain text, not a choice you can change.
Vehicle combinations: a table of the vehicles X-Cart has matched, with the Combinations and Note columns (for example, AUDI / Q3 / 2024 / Komfort). The Note column stays empty for automatically matched vehicles.
While the switch is on, you can’t edit the fitment type or the list of vehicles: the form for adding a vehicle and the Delete all button aren’t shown, and rows have no delete icons. This keeps the fitment consistent with the product’s attributes.
If no vehicle matches the product, Vehicle combinations shows No vehicles matched. The product stays Vehicle Specific, so it isn’t shown for any selected vehicle until it gets a fitment.
When you turn the switch on for a product that already has a manual fitment and save, the tab shows the message “Vehicles are being matched, the list may change” until the background matching finishes.
Managing fitment manually
If you want to assign vehicles to a wheel or tire yourself, turn Automatic fitment detection off for that product:
On the product’s Fitment tab, turn the Automatic fitment detection switch off.
In the Switch to manual fitment management? window, click Confirm. The message says that X-Cart will stop matching this product automatically, even when supplier data changes, that the vehicles already matched won’t change, and that you can turn the feature back on at any time. Click Cancel to keep automatic matching.
The switch is now off, and the fitment type options (Vehicle Specific, Regular Product, Universal Fit) and the vehicle selectors are available. The vehicles that were matched stay in the list. Edit them as usual and click Save changes.
If the product had no matched vehicles, the tab shows the hint “Add at least one vehicle to make this product vehicle specific”, and Save changes stays unavailable until you add a vehicle or choose another fitment type.
After you turn the switch off, you can also edit the fitment of this product with a CSV import.
To return the product to automatic matching, turn the switch on and click Save changes. X-Cart never turns Automatic fitment detection back on by itself.
Note: While the switch is on, fitment changes made through CSV import are ignored for this product. If a fitmentvalues.csv file contains vehicles for such a product, the import report shows a warning, and you can download the import log to see its text: “Fitments skipped — the product is managed by Automatic fitment detection.” If products.csv sets the fitment type of such a product to Regular, the product stays Vehicle Specific (Autodetection). To change the fitment of the product by import, turn the switch off first.
Finding wheels and tires with no matched vehicles
Go to Catalog > Products.
In the filter, set Fitment type to Vehicle Specific.
Select the No vehicles matched check box that appears under Fitment type, and click Search.
The list shows Vehicle Specific products that have no vehicles. For each of them, check that the wheel or tire has the attributes needed for matching, or turn Automatic fitment detection off and assign vehicles manually.
Changing automatic fitment detection for several products
Go to Catalog > Products.
Select the products, then click Bulk edit selected (or Bulk edit all) and choose Fitments.
On the Bulk edit fitments page, click Click to specify next to Automatic fitment detection. The switch is on by default. Turn it off if you want to switch the selected products to manual fitment management. Click Cancel next to it if you don’t want to change this setting.
Click Save changes.
The table at the bottom shows each selected product with its current Automatic fitment detection value, fitment type, and number of vehicle combinations, so you can check the result before saving.
If a wheel or tire is managed by Automatic fitment detection, changes to its fitment type or vehicles made on this page are skipped. After you save, the bulk edit report shows the message “Fitment skipped — managed by Automatic fitment detection” with the number of such products. To change their fitment in bulk, turn Automatic fitment detection off for them first. See also Editing fitment data in bulk.
What customers see
When a customer selects a vehicle in the vehicle selector:
On category pages: if the category’s Wheel & Tire Size filter is set to Wheel Size filter or Tire Size filter, the list shows only wheels or tires that fit the selected vehicle, and each product card has the Fits your vehicle label. If nothing fits, the customer sees “Sorry, no products found for [vehicle]” and the Show all link, for example Show all tires. See Wheel & Tire fitment (Vehicles and fitments guide, Part 4) for the category setting.
On the product page: the customer sees how the wheel or tire fits the selected vehicle, for example Fits your vehicle — Original size, Fits your vehicle — Optional size, or Fits your vehicle — Plus size, followed by the vehicle name. If the product doesn’t fit the selected vehicle, the page shows Does not fit your vehicle and the vehicle name.
Without a selected vehicle: the product page shows the Vehicle Specific label and the link Check if this part fits your vehicle, which lets the customer choose a vehicle.
On category pages, customers can also narrow the list by choosing a wheel or tire size for their vehicle. See Wheel & Tire fitment (Vehicles and fitments guide, Part 4).
FAQ
Q: Why didn’t a wheel or tire get any vehicles?
A: Matching is based on the product’s attributes. If an attribute used for matching is empty, or has a value that no vehicle in your store uses, the product isn’t matched. Check the product’s attributes, or turn Automatic fitment detection off and add vehicles manually.
Q: Can I edit a few automatically matched vehicles?
A: No. Turn Automatic fitment detection off for the product first. The vehicles already matched stay in place, and you can edit them.
Q: Does it work with the Wheel & Tire Size filter setting of a category?
A: Yes. The category setting controls whether the category list is filtered by the selected vehicle. Automatic fitment detection supplies the vehicles each product fits.
Can't find answers you're looking for?
Email us at support@x-cart.com. We will be happy to help!