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Mounting Tires via DIY?

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  • hasteranger
    replied
    tires as small as the aspire ones are pretty easy to change. I started changing my own motorcycle tires years ago because the shops around here wanted to bend you over really badly... like $30-70 per tire. Ridiculous!

    Over the years I've got some tire irons and stuff that make the job a lot easier. I use a high lift jack to break the beads, normally thats the easiest way. I work on lifted 4wd trucks and stuff a lot too, and those aren't even worth balancing. I mounted a set of 44's by hand once, on alloy wheels. I even seated some beads using ether, though that didn't work once and I lost some of my eyebrows which lead me to buy a cheetah bead seater, which is nice... not just for seating beads (it will do a 38" tire on a rusty wheel with 140 psi in it) but also for shooting golf balls (replace the pinch pipe with straight pipe and it will shoot one a couple hundred yards).

    Generally, the smaller the tire the easier it is to get leverage... with a small enough tire I can hold one spoon down with my knee while I work another one and it makes it fast and less effort. My trailer has 12" tires on steel wheels and I can do them in a couple minutes, so it would probably be similar with the festiva tires.

    its very hard to do without scratching the rims if they are aluminum. I have some rubber guards that are suppose to help but they tend just to get in the way. realistically most of the time on used rims the lip gets scratched and etc just from normal use and even from machine mounting so I don't sweat it much... the 44's I mounted were on a brand new $1200 set of mickey thompson 20x10's and I managed to get them on without scratching them up just by being very careful with tool positioning. Getting them off without scratching the outside lip is a little more challenging.

    Oh, and for what its worth I have a set of 35" tall x 16.5" wide mud tires for my 78 F150 and I cannot get them on myself. I can dismount them and I can get one sidewall one, but due to the tire being nearly a foot and a half wide its just too hard to get that second sidewall on. fortunately the local place only charges me $5 to mount them when I get them like that cause he says I "did half the job for him." He is a good guy... always gives me very fair prices.

    as far as balancing the motorcycle tires I've done haven't had any issues, I leave the weigh on there when I take off the old tire because usually it just balances out the valvestem and sport bike tires are built to such demanding specs that they are usually very close to true (only so much balancing helps when you top out at 180 mph). And the rest have been trailer and truck tires, which I don't balance and haven't had any issues, though none of them are in a passenger vehicle that I ride in down the highway at 70mph.
    Last edited by hasteranger; 01-22-2013, 10:21 PM.

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  • Woolleybully
    replied
    I can change a tire on my aluminum festiva rims in about 15 minutes with two tire spoons. To take a tire off, I get the tire "half on/half off", then stand the whole assembly up and push down on the tire, kinda folding it off the rim.

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  • nitrofarm
    replied
    " Originally Posted by econoaddict:
    I got tired of paying the tire shops myself.
    Around here it is $80-$130 to mount and balance 4 wheels/tires, crazy.
    I started watching auctions and estate sales, I purchased an older style euro tire machine for $300 at an estate sale and picked up a brand new Ranger electronic spin balancer for $1800, this one: http://www.amazon.com/Ranger-Wheel-B.../dp/B004HL02TM . I paid for both in less than 6 months balancing tires for friends and neighbors at 1/2 of what tire shops charge.
    I took a 5 gallon bucket and a pair of weight pliers to the local wreckers and spent about 1/2 a day collecting wheel weights, paid $20 for a bucket full of weights.
    Originally posted by nitrofarm View Post
    Thats a lot of tire work you got in 6 months huh? How much do you charge for a D/M/R/I with a balance & disposal? Jus curious.
    Last edited by nitrofarm; 01-10-2013, 01:59 AM.

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  • Twistiva
    replied
    Originally posted by festyfreak39 View Post
    That was what i used before i bought my machine and balancer,

    and yes. you can. Just need alot of muscle, 2 people helps
    Originally posted by sketchman View Post
    Right now on harbor freight's site the changer is $39.00 shipped with the usual 20% off coupon code - "39415001".
    Hey, guys, thanks for the info! :-)

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  • sketchman
    replied
    Right now on harbor freight's site the changer is $39.00 shipped with the usual 20% off coupon code - "39415001".

    Leave a comment:


  • festyfreak39
    replied
    Originally posted by Twistiva View Post
    Do you think you could do a 195-15-45 tire?......and, if so, what did the tire changer cost you?
    That was what i used before i bought my machine and balancer,

    and yes. you can. Just need alot of muscle, 2 people helps

    Leave a comment:


  • Twistiva
    replied
    Originally posted by jemartin144 View Post
    I just decided to tackle this same problem. I went a bit less DIY, but with good results so far. Mounted and demounted a 13" a few times now and that went ok. Two things I've learned are: make sure the changer is really well secured and lots of lube.

    Harbor freight tire changer with a no mar mount/demount bar.

    Do you think you could do a 195-15-45 tire?......and, if so, what did the tire changer cost you?

    Leave a comment:


  • econoaddict
    replied
    Originally posted by Safety Guy View Post
    I forgot to mention I bought and tried the HF bubble balancer, but couldn't ever figure out how to use it, or if it was defective or not. Just didn't work for me. I should put it up for sale. Maybe someone else could get it to work.

    Karl
    I used one of those for a couple of years, the biggest problem is that it has to stiff of springs on it for our small tires, take off a couple of springs and it works much better, make sure you get one from each opposing side of course.

    Leave a comment:


  • jemartin144
    replied
    I just decided to tackle this same problem. I went a bit less DIY, but with good results so far. Mounted and demounted a 13" a few times now and that went ok. Two things I've learned are: make sure the changer is really well secured and lots of lube.

    Harbor freight tire changer with a no mar mount/demount bar.

    Leave a comment:


  • jmye1524
    replied
    Mounting Tires via DIY?

    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1357168547.341923.jpg
    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1357168563.112471.jpg

    Leave a comment:


  • jmye1524
    replied
    Mounting Tires via DIY?

    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1357168463.576828.jpg
    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1357168502.943205.jpg

    Leave a comment:


  • jmye1524
    replied
    Mounting Tires via DIY?

    Funny I just found this thread..........I just made this stuff up the other day.
    Did 4 14" and one 31/10.50/15....,piece of cake.
    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1357168347.022281.jpg
    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1357168387.821966.jpg

    Leave a comment:


  • Twistiva
    replied
    All -

    I appreciate everyone's comments on here. It appears the consensus is, essentially....'tough, but do-able, and may not be worth the sweat and aggravation'.

    If I were to mount/balance tires often I would definitely buy a tire machine and balancer, but I don't see me having to mount a lot of tires; at most 2 sets of four over the next year or so and that would be about it. Plus, I'm eyeball deep in remodeling my home with a garage full of stuff for the home and no real room to store a tire machine and balancer. Both add up to my wife would be torqued. :nono: That's the kind of reaction a wife gives when you're still undergoing a multi-year remodeling project.

    So.....guess I'll try one myself and if it sucks I'll take the rest in to be done by a tire shop.

    Thanks for your help, everyone.
    Last edited by Twistiva; 12-30-2012, 05:57 PM.

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  • nitrofarm
    replied
    Originally posted by econoaddict View Post
    I got tired of paying the tire shops myself.
    Around here it is $80-$130 to mount and balance 4 wheels/tires, crazy.
    I started watching auctions and estate sales, I purchased an older style euro tire machine for $300 at an estate sale and picked up a brand new Ranger electronic spin balancer for $1800, this one: http://www.amazon.com/Ranger-Wheel-B.../dp/B004HL02TM . I paid for both in less than 6 months balancing tires for friends and neighbors at 1/2 of what tire shops charge.
    I took a 5 gallon bucket and a pair of weight pliers to the local wreckers and spent about 1/2 a day collecting wheel weights, paid $20 for a bucket full of weights.
    Thats a lot of tire work you got in 6 months huh? How much do you charge for a D/M/R/I with a balance & disposal? Jus curious.

    Leave a comment:


  • nitrofarm
    replied
    Originally posted by festyfreak39 View Post
    this is going to probably come off the wrong way:

    why not just buy a tire machine and balancer? im into my stuff for less than 1100$ and ive paid it off doing stuff on the side during winter seasons. I've made money on it and i've had it less then a year.

    even go half'sees with a friend or buddy makes things really affordable.
    Thats not a bad idea Im going to start trolling craigslist for one.But you can get a pretty nice car for $1100...

    Leave a comment:

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