Learn Me Tire Machines

I have a lot of wheels, buy a lot of tires, and have space for a piece of equipment.  What I don't have is any real knowledge of tire machines, the compressors required to run them, or the difference between an old Coats tire machine that I might find for $250 and a modern whatever for like $1500.  Which do I want?  Do I want one at all?  Most of my wheels are 15-17", and I'd love to be able to do down to 13"s if needed.  Lots of truck tires and rally tires, so the ability to deal with stiff sidewalls is a must.

So yeah, tell me about tire machines please.

I have the basic 4 pedal ebay machines.  Sunrise brand.  Pretty foolproof.  I have done so many tires I don't know a count anymore.  I have done 13" fiero wheels to 22" rubber bands to 15x12 with giant hoosiers.  The only stuff that makes me wish i had an assist arm is stiff 17"+ low profile.  For most everything you're doing it's likely great.  The balancer has done up to the stupidly heavy 10 ply 295 18's on steel wheels for my truck without issue except when it came the set screws for the motor shaft were loose.  I paid around $1800 shipped for the pair about 6 years ago and have no regrets.  I broke even around year 4 versus paying a shop and my machines are open after work and on weekends 

In reply to Patrick (Forum Supporter) :

How big of a compressor do you need in order to run that?  All I have is a little pancake compressor so I'll need to upgrade that too.

Do it!  I have had mine since 2012.

I have the Atlas® TC229 from greg smith equipment.  https://www.gregsmithequipment.com/Atlas-TC229-Tire-Changer

I wish the arm was stiffer but I have been able to get on all the rally tires that I have tried you just have to be a bit careful if you care about the wheels.

Until last year I was running this with the $99 harbor freight 8 gallon air compressor .  Yeah I had to wait a bit when breaking the bead but the big reason I upgraded is I got a little bigger air compressor for free.

I got the cheap chinese set from ebay. I think its xinkong brand. Been great so far. I got mine when ebay had the site wide discounts so the balancer and machine delivered were under 1000$.  It says it can go down to 10" rims and i dont know the ceiling for how big. Probably 20" at least. 
 

i have a good 220v stand up compressor, prob 5.5' tall. The tire machine does not tax it at all i think a larger 110v compressor would be fine. Max inlet pressure for the tire machine is 90 psi i think. 

Someone on here just bought a Chinese set.  

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/e-bay-tire-machines/128843/page1/

I just ordered a vibratory bowl feeder and inline from the place we import our non made in the usa product.  I've been thinking about asking if he can put some tire machines on the next ship.

Avoid the old Coates machines that anchor the wheel by the center hole and use a pin in a lug hole to anti rotate. They are far more likely to do wheel damage than any other.

If anyone needs a tire changer for semis I have a used Coats HIT6000 that needs a little work for sale. It'll do 17.5 to 24.5 truck tires and it is a sweet machine.

back to your regularly scheduled programming 

I picked up a used Ranger for $400. It paid for itself within the first few months. I did not get a balancer however, as I was space limited. I have gotten away with just aligning the low spot on the tire with the valve stem and no problems so far. But the other day I did pick up a HF bubble balancer, so well see how that goes. 

Use lube. Also I dont have an assist arm, but have two of these on hand and havent really felt I need an assist arm yet. 

https://www.amazon.com/Changer-Clamp-Center-Changing-Helper/dp/B01MYFP2FN/ref=pd_lpo_263_t_1/147-6464917-5073416?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B01MYFP2FN&pd_rd_r=68f83753-87be-46c6-8a05-2f5bd53cd8b6&pd_rd_w=JSygy&pd_rd_wg=ulFIk&pf_rd_p=7b36d496-f366-4631-94d3-61b87b52511b&pf_rd_r=69FF5RF68M8K988K3V3R&psc=1&refRID=69FF5RF68M8K988K3V3R

TurnerX19 said:

Avoid the old Coates machines that anchor the wheel by the center hole and use a pin in a lug hole to anti rotate. They are far more likely to do wheel damage than any other.

This.

You want a rim clamp style. An assist arm is worth paying extra for. I've never needed one except for the occasional less than 50 ratio sidewalls, but if I had one, I wouldn't have given up on those tires. Buy an extra plastic duck head, you never know when you're going to need a spare, and it will inevitably be while you're in the middle of changing a set.

Like anything fun, liberal application of lube makes everything better.

Also buy bead sealer and bulk valve stems.

Also also, my air compressor is a 3hp 60 gallon unit. I could get by with less.

Found this on craigslist: rim clamp machine and balancer

Good deal?  Good idea?  What should I be looking for if I go check these out?

From what I have seen locally that is a good deal if they are both included for that price. No idea what to look for on them. 

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/at-home-tire-machines-my-experience-with-derek-weaver/170332/page1/

I really like my Derek Weaver machines. Awesome customer support, someone always picks up the phone, and I've had no real issues with them. I mount at least one to two sets of tires a week. I've done as many as 10 sets in a single week.

cheap atlas machine here.  done countless sets of tires on it.  anything from small ATV tires, Motorcycle tires up to 42" off road tires.

no assist arm, never really felt like i needed one.  built in bead blaster is a nice option however for some tires.    

-Tyler

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

Found this on craigslist: rim clamp machine and balancer

Good deal?  Good idea?  What should I be looking for if I go check these out?

I'd be concerned if that machine would have the power to flex the stiff rally tires you will probably be mounting. That also looks like a air-operated unit and might need a sizable compressor to run it.

I have used a machine identical to that one. It had enough rotational torque to damage a stiff side wall if it didn't slide well on the guide. That one does not appear to have the "bead blaster" lower air jet ring that is tremendously helpful. 

moxnix said:

Do it!  I have had mine since 2012.

I have the Atlas® TC229 from greg smith equipment.  https://www.gregsmithequipment.com/Atlas-TC229-Tire-Changer

I wish the arm was stiffer but I have been able to get on all the rally tires that I have tried you just have to be a bit careful if you care about the wheels.

Until last year I was running this with the $99 harbor freight 8 gallon air compressor .  Yeah I had to wait a bit when breaking the bead but the big reason I upgraded is I got a little bigger air compressor for free.

I was about to suggest you as a person to talk to.

Chris, Shawn has mounted about a dozen sets of rally tires for me over the years (I traded him some sweet used mud rally tires as payment lol). His setup seems to work really well. 

I have the Ebay machines in the above link. They are branded Mayflower, but all the Chinese machines are pretty much the same. Just different paint and decals. Mine are 3 years old and last count I've mounted and balanced a couple of hundred sets of tires on them. I had one air fitting fail a month after purchase and Mayflower sent me a new one no questions asked. I've also ordered some wearable parts and their service has been pretty decent. 

If you are planning to mount lots of race tires, get the arms. They are well worth the extra expense. A set of 275 RE71s or Hoosiers go from being a pain in the ass to simple with the flick of a switch. 90% of the tires I do are low profile sticky tires for the local autocross crowd. I can't imagine mounting all of those without the arms. 

That last CL link still has the balancer but the rim clamp machine is gone- how about this accu-turn one?

In reply to Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) :

Any experience with older machines to compare?  I'm not sure how to make the value comparison between older name brand vs. newer eBay stuff.  I don't tend to have a ton of low profile stuff, although lots of stiff sidewalls with rally tires.  It would be a huge bonus to have something that works decently on motorcycle wheels too.

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

I don't personally but at a guess the Chinese machines are exact copies of older first line machines. That Accuturn looks like it works the same way as mine. 

Off the top of my head, someone makes a motorcycle adapter for the Chinese machines. Like this. I don't know if they do for name brand machines but I would assume so. 

Edit to add.

Stiff sidewalls are where the assist arms help. When mounting, the tire bead has to be pushed down into the barrel of wheel far enough to slip into narrow part of the barrel. Then you have to hold it there while you rotate the tire and keep working the rest of the bead into the same narrow section. With the assist arm, it holds the bead where it needs to be. It's pretty easy to tear a bead if you do it wrong. There are some clamps that also help, but the arms are the easy button. 

Atlas TC289LH + WB41 owner here. Bought used with a balancer 4 or so years ago for ~$2500. Balancer came with extra kit for doing larger truck wheels.

Machine hadn't been used much and had all the features I wanted (electric table, accommodates larger wheels/tires, assist arm, etc), so I didn't mind that it wasn't a screaming bargain.

Initially I used it with a ~20gal oilless craftsman compressor. It had to run non-stop, even with the electric table. 4 presses of the bead breaker would nearly deplete it, causing it to run the entire time you had the wheel on the table. Would shut off just before you started on the 2nd wheel + tire. A couple weeks later decided to get a 50gal 220v 3.x hp oiled NorthStar (rebranded Puma) from Northern tool. Much better. Quieter (although I should build a box around it). Runs ~25% of the time vs 100%. Enough volume to not lose force after breaking the bead on one side.

Tried the built in bead blaster a few times without much luck on floppy sidewall truck tires. Picked up a 5 gal cheetah-type bead seater that works better.

My philosophy was that I wanted to do nearly any wheel/tire combo (other than motorcycles), so assist arm, larger table, plastic covers, etc were important. You also find quite a few tire punctures that may or may not be leaking air yet (especially if you do tires for friends and family), so picking up a patching system (ex: Xtra Seal) with the supplies and tools needed followed not long after buying the machines.

Other handy tire machine related tool is an angled die grinder + roloc discs for cleaning off corroded bead seat areas. It was surprising to me how nasty the bead seat area can get, especially on aluminum wheels. I don't like gambling on whether or not the wheel will allow the tire to seal.

OK, I still haven't pulled the trigger on anything- my current plan is to get a Mayflower changer new and pick up a used balancer since those seem to go pretty cheap when they're not the latest and greatest.  Should I wait and hope for some sort of sale, or are the Mayflower machines unlikely to get any cheaper?