I've got a pile of free RA1's with a weekend or two worth of life in them. They'd be "free" if I didn't have to pay to get them put onto a set of rims.
Anybody mount and balance your own tires? My internet searches tend to bring up motorcycle guys who do it a lot, but I don't see why it wouldn't work for car wheels/tires too. For example: http://www.clarity.net/~adam/tire-changing.html
There's a hardcore guy I know that does slicks, r's, street tires etc all the time with tire irons. Never seen him do it but I've heard him talk about it enough. I'll repeat though, he's hardcore. From his stories, it sounds like more work/effort than I usually am willing to put out.
Using tire spoons on a stiff-walled performance tire make you more hardcore than I plan to be.
I've had long and hard risk/benefit analysis sessions over spending the money on a second-hand tire machine for the garage. Thankfully, right now I don't have the space. Operating a tire machine is pretty easy, but you need to be attentive because you could seriously break an arm (ask me how.) It also takes a good bit of space.
Balancing is a bit easier. A bubble balancer can be sufficiently accurate.
I've been doing it a while, I will now only do it with high profile tires (65-70 series or so) lots of soapy water and only on steel rims (ie. the daily grinder).
I bought the cheapo HF mounter about 10 years ago. I have bent the "spoon" in half, its 5' long, and ruined some Al wheels. Once you get the hang of it its not too bad. I have ruined some sidewalls of cheap tires in the beginning. Trying to dismount a 215 35 16 on an alloy rim about killed me. I ended up just cutting it off with a saw.
The balancing part can be fun. Bubble balancers work fine and you can get anywhere. I also got a snap-on balancer that balances vertically (the way the wheel runs) off ebay a while ago. Recently I got a Hunter strobe wheel balancer that will balance the tire mounted to the rim on the vehicle using light. I haven't figured it out quite yet but it was a deal.
So, I would balance anything, but am willing to pay someone to use their fancy equipment for the tough stuff. I don't own anything that requires road force balancing however.
I learned to do it years ago at an 'old school' Amoco station in Miami. The local racers would bring their racing tires and magnesium wheels in for us to do by hand. (Think 10" Minilites for a Mini) Not too hard once you learn the trick of it. You need some real tire irons. Not the bent rod, chisel on one end, lugnut wrench on the other that come in the trunk of a car. Real tire irons are steel rods about 1/2", tapered and flattened on one end into broad, flat spatulas, with all the edges smooth. But you can alter a couple of big flat balde screwdrivers by grinding and smoothing all the edges. There should be no sharp points anywhere to catch or cut a tire, or mark a rim. You also need some tire lube. (Yes, KY will work) You can buy it, or make a weak soapy solution of liquid detergent.
Disclaimer: This is the way I've done it for 40 years. YMMV. Please take all appropriate safety measures, and work safely.
Every normal wheel is designed with a depression or valley around the center of the rim. This allows the tires to mounted, by providing a place for the bead that allows the opposite side to slide over the edge of the rim. Start by placing the rim on a flat clean work surface, on the side that places the valley closest to the top of the rim. Slap some tire lube onto the tire beads. Lay the tire onto the rim, and push one side of the bead down and over the edge of the rim, and into the valley.Push the bead down and around as far as it will go. Hold the tire down onto the rim with your knees, and slip a tire iron between the rim and bead on each side, about 1" in from the point where the bead is past the rim. Hold one iron in place with a knee (you have 3 knees, right?), and then lever the bead up and over with the other iron. You shouldn't have to use a lot of force. If you sense that the tire is being cut or gouged, stop. The bead may have slipped out of the valey, or you may need to take smaller bites. Use the 4th knee to hold what you just gained, and move about 1" in, slide in the iron, lever it up and over, ...Continue until you get to the other iron, and lever it up and over. Repeat with the second bead. You may have to crush the tire down to get the bead into the valley, that's OK, it's made of rubber.
Wipe off the excess tire lube and inspect the beads for damage and debris that may have stuck.
Now, to seat the beads and inflate the tire. CAUTION Compressed air is like a spring, it can store a tremendous amount of energy, and release it suddenly and unexpectedly. Never put your fingers (or any other appendage) into the bead area when inflating. As much as possible, keep your distance (use an airchuck clip), and wear eye protection. When a lower bead suddenly seats and pops into place, the tire and rim can leap into the air and hurt someone.
Try to seat the beads and inflate the tire. If that works, cool. Otherwise, you have to mess with it some. You want the greatest inrush of air you can get. Remove the valve stem core. Slather some tire lube onto the beads. Use the shortest/fattest hose you can get. Start with the highest pressure you can. If that doesn't work, wrap a ratchet tie-down strap around the center of the tread, and cinch it down, that will help to hold the beads apart. It can help to raise the rim, to allow the tire sidewall to fully extend, another rim of equal or smaller diameter helps here. Once the beads do seat, stop, remove any devices, re-install the valvestem core, and then inflate to the correct pressure.
I hope this helps, video would probably be a big help ( 1 pix = 1K words ).
Now, breaking the beads loose to remove a tire can be really challenging. But that's another thread.
Carter shore
I am with the original poster on this one. I have several cars and multiple sets of tires..........winter, summer, autocross and it sure would be nice not to have to pay someone to mount and un-mount them or have multiple sets of rims, which is my current solution.
Easier answer:
Make friends with someone with access to said machines through work.
See him/her late on a slow day.
I'm kind of glad I do have easy access to such machines. I forget what a pain it would be without them.
I am planning on buying a tire remover once my new garage is finished
Iaz...maybe try seeing if a local high school auto shop could do it for you for practice? My uncle teaches shop class and he's got a nice tire mounting/dismounting and balancing machines...we just call him up and schedule a time to go in and he lets the students practice their skills on em. As a plus, we get to learn too and get a lil shop class too!
I have a tire shop that is about 3/4 of a mile from my house that I prefer to do business with. In turn I get mounts, swaps, balances done for cheaper ( sometimes free)
Maybe there is an auto club near you that has equipment? A local defense contractor has one at the plant that I have wrangled a membership to. they have old school dismounting/mouting equipment, new school non contact dismount/mount equipment, computer balancing, an indoor lift, 4 bay shop space, out door lube rack, tire shaver
(I'm the only one who knows how to use it) and 24/7 access. Just look around and ask questions at car shows. These places often dont advertise.
I've done it with irons, don't like it. I do use the harborfreight manual changer, works just fine. Big 17" truck tires, little Spitfire wheels. High profile, low profile, etc. Does fine.
Bubble balancer does perfectly adequate job as well. Not able to handle the diagonal imbalances, but I've almost never run into this being significant.
You have one item in your cart.
