Changing tires. Never again

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I gave up after 3 ATV tires; small rim (12"? 10"? forget now) and the tires were 25 years old. But hey, I tried. The guy at the auto shop looked at me funny when I admitted to doing the other three; I said it was to save a buck and he still looked at me sideways.

I've done a few small wheels (wheelbarrow) and those can be tricky; resorted to tubes more than once. Auto hasn't been bad but I don't own lower than a 60 aspect ratio. No idea how bad it is on a motorcycle.

Have to know what battles to pick. It did take a couple hours to figure out the tire irons the first time; there's always a learning curve (and youtube).
 
Tires suck, one of the loss leaders for us, especially on most european cars. We had 315/35/21 to install recently, 45$ per tire was not enough.
 
I'm cheap as the next guy but wouldn't think of changing a tire by hand even if I didn't have a tire machine. [censored], I don't even use the tire machine on lower than 45 profile tires and just take them to a tire store.
 
Originally Posted by Silk
I've done countless - take your time, if you are forcing it, you're doing something wrong.


If I can hand mount a 14" car tire anyone can.

I am slower than some of the muscleheads but it only take at most a half hour with a drink breakfast sandwich and pulling all the crap out to do a tire "leisurely"

That said I won't touch anything bigger than 14" unless I'm forced to by rules / laws as my little changer is a bear on large 17" + tires
 
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The video that got away:
Friend's neighbor's son asked me for help playing "Musical tires" (snows off, new tires on, set of tires given away, set of wheels given away)
4 sets of wheels and 4 sets of tires involved. All sets = 4 items
Harbor Freight tire mast was the tool.

DRAMA: Friend got plastered and DWIed while his wife was 2 states away at a girlfriend's ( classic "cat's away" scenario)
We two worked alone as my friend waited for wifey to return. He was out of jail by then.
Before we began the pain of the DWI was mentioned ONCE. Then we worked.
Shortly into the job, wifey came home.
We hunkered down and didn't even look at her.
We worked like a practiced machine.

Any monies he may have saved over the years with that HF tire mast were spent on the fine, guard rail repair and healthily increased insurance premiums.
 
Originally Posted by Rmay635703
That said I won't touch anything bigger than 14" unless I'm forced to by rules / laws as my little changer is a bear on large 17" + tires


How often do you change tires then? With 2 exceptions I know of, there hasn't been a car sold in the U.S. with smaller than 15 inch tires for over 20 years.
 
You usually wind up spending twice as much doing something yourself,,take it to a shop,,,usually no doctors visits needed..lol
 
You're going to get a wide range of opinions on this, because some tires are easier to work with than others, some wheels have deeper drop centers than others, and different people have different levels of patience for the process.

Be careful of Youtube videos, some of them can be misleading. Saw one where the guy was obviously working with a used soft carcass tire that'd been sitting out in the Arizona sun for the better part of a day and didn't give two poops about scratching his rims. So of course it looked easy peasy!

The dealers/shops in my area charge an arm and a leg for tire changes and I don't trust them to not damage my wheels so I change tires myself with hand tools. After spending a good amount of time and money trying different tools and methods I found a combination that works well for me.
 
Originally Posted by Olas
Chaning tyres by hand is all about technique. Even a little old lady can change a tyre by hand if she has the right technique -

Watch a little old lady change truck tyres by hand in this video here



EDIT; The action starts at 2:30

Truck tires are easier, then have no safety bead.
 
Originally Posted by atikovi
Originally Posted by Rmay635703
That said I won't touch anything bigger than 14" unless I'm forced to by rules / laws as my little changer is a bear on large 17" + tires


How often do you change tires then? With 2 exceptions I know of, there hasn't been a car sold in the U.S. with smaller than 15 inch tires for over 20 years.

Not true.
 
I used to have a homemade tire machine that worked pretty good. It was mounted in cement outside the garage, and I could do most of the wheels on the cars I owned at the time. When we moved, I never got around to mounting it again. I don't need to change or repair tires very often, and if I do, the main shop in town that I use for tires charges me (if I bring in the wheel) $5 to change or $10 to repair. I have a good balancer, so don't feel I need to mess with dismounting and mounting them myself. Of course if I buy a new or even used tire from them, the mounting is free.
 
$15-25/per wheel seems like a bargain if you understand what goes into a mount/balance.

I had a motorcycle shop install a new set of ATV tires on the wheels of my 1985 Yamaha 225dx trike back in the 80s. When I went to pick them up they were still working on the last one and I'm pretty sure it was the last ATV tire of that style they'd ever mount again. They had about 40 feet of air line attached to the wheel and were hunkered down several rooms away while they pumped way too much air into the tire to get it to pop over the bead.
 
Originally Posted by Kurtatron
I thought I could save some money by changing tires myself. I thought the task would be easy, considering the amount of car work I've done. I have changed 4 or so timing belts, swapped an engine, changed an axle, etc. A tire swap should be mince meat - I was wrong. I couldn't believe how much of a bullfight this was. Tire irons feel like Stone Age type tools, and to be honest, I don't have the artistic talent to use these things. I tried for 2 days to get the tire off the stupid rim. The first day I got the old tire off, the second day I got one side of the bead mounted and the other I just couldn't finish.

With a dinged up rim, I must shamefully shamble into the dealer to get my tires swapped. But never again am I going into the bullring. It is not worth the $30 savings. Do you do it yourself? Is there some magical tool that makes unmounting and mounting work? I tried lube, lots of it. Breaking the bead was easy in comparison.


I have free access to chinese shop equipment to do it right, and still pay to have it down.

So far I have bent some rims, blew foreign debris into my face trying to get a bead to set, and pinched a tool and it cut the sidewall. It is not worth it unless you are practiced up and do it regularly.

I used to do tires all the time with "Coats" brand eqipment and got good at it. the chinese stuff sucks, and I have also lost my touch.
 
Originally Posted by Jarlaxle
Originally Posted by atikovi
Originally Posted by Rmay635703
That said I won't touch anything bigger than 14" unless I'm forced to by rules / laws as my little changer is a bear on large 17" + tires


How often do you change tires then? With 2 exceptions I know of, there hasn't been a car sold in the U.S. with smaller than 15 inch tires for over 20 years.

Not true.


OK, name three.
 
I've changed my own motorcycle tires in the past, might in the future, but for now I buy my tires from friends who own or work at MC shops. They give me a price that's comparable with any price found online, and they'll mount and balance the tires off the bike for free.
 
Busy Little Shop no sweat and no dings method of tire changing...
[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]
 
Last 20 years eh?


Mitsubishi Mirage (both old and the 2020 model)

Think City (both new and old)

Honda Insight (and other random HonSubyuki like vehicles)

Hyundai Accent (new only, really old ones were 12")

Toyota Echo

Original Toyota Prius (re92's on any 14" equip'd Toyo dramatically improves MPGs, from past experience)


Honestly I could go on and on


That said 4 of the 6 vehicles in my shed take 10"-14" tires. The split rims with inner tubes are honestly the easiest of all.

And No I don't change other families tires.
 
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Originally Posted by Kurtatron
I tried for 2 days to get the tire off the stupid rim.


If you even break a sweat changing a MC tire then you don't know the technique...
 
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