Who changes their own tires?

[11GT50]

Looking for thoughts and opinions. I am considering purchasing equipment over the winter to mount and balance my own wheels and tires and am looking for feedback. I have been looking at some manual equipment - No-Mar specifically- that claim to have the capability to change automotive tires.

What about balancing? Does anybody static balance their own stuff with good results?

I seem to have a hard time finding a decent shop that won't damage the finish on nice wheels or I don't have to request remounting because they used an excessive amount of wheel weights.

 

[Big Black]

I am in a gang of bays and the next door neighbor is a car dealer who just got new equipment in...I saw it, but have no idea what it is exactly. He has a spin balancing machine and a tire machine, and I have access to it. I'm at an event this weekend, (and I'm tired of paying $115 to mount and balance 4). When I get back to town, I'll try the stuff out, get prices and give you my opinion. I have used tire mounting equipment in high school at a gas station job, so take my response with a big grain of salt.

 

[racer47]

I have an old Coats 20/20 tire machine. I've mounted lots of tires. You will not be happy with any manual tire mounting machine. It will be really hard and you will scratch your wheels. The newest tire machines don't even touch the wheel, only the tire, and they can mount 20 series tires without scratching the wheel.

As far as balancing, static balance is sufficient on narrow wheels but usually not good enough for anything wider than say 7". And just like tire machines, a good spin balancer is pricey.

I'd look around for a new tire guy unless you want $5k in tire equipment and fill up your garage.

What do you consider a lot of wt? 4 oz is not that unusual. It can be minimized though. Mount and spin balance it. Mark the weight locations on both the tire and wheel but don't add wt. Spin the tire 180 deg on the wheel. See where it wants the weights now. With that info you can spin the tire on the wheel to achieve the min balance wt. Most places won't do that because they don't know how. But it can be done.

 

[thehueypilot]

I gave up last year and invested in my own equipment and stuck it in the corner of the shop. I bought Rotory's new line of tire equipment. I got tired of getting gouge marks on the rims and too much weight and/or even opposing weights. The tire machine is "lever-less" so nothing touches the rim. I have a manual machine but it is not easy to use without scratching the rim. Most tire shops won't take the time to rotate the tire around the rim to get the least amount of weight because time is money in their eyes. I want it done right so I am now doing it myself. I estimate the ROI to be about 100 years from now.....

Tim

 

[racer47]

Thats nice equipment. If you don't mind, what did it cost?

 

[302BOB]

I recently bought a Sears tire inflator to put out the low tire pressure lite on the wife's Juke. Does that count? I could also use it to keep air in Tom Brady's football.....

 

[thehueypilot]

Thats nice equipment. If you don't mind, what did it cost?

About 8k for the tire machine and 2k for the balancer.

Tim

 

[racer47]

About 8k for the tire machine and 2k for the balancer.

Tim

Thanks, as per usual my cost estimate is half of reality

 

[thehueypilot]

Center post and "lever less" is a lot higher $$.

Tim

 

[antman450]

I gave up last year and invested in my own equipment and stuck it in the corner of the shop. I bought Rotory's new line of tire equipment. I got tired of getting gouge marks on the rims and too much weight and/or even opposing weights. The tire machine is "lever-less" so nothing touches the rim. I have a manual machine but it is not easy to use without scratching the rim. Most tire shops won't take the time to rotate the tire around the rim to get the least amount of weight because time is money in their eyes. I want it done right so I am now doing it myself. I estimate the ROI to be about 100 years from now.....

Tim

View attachment 5032

My estimates of ROI on anything race car related is negative. Or at least 350 years.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[11GT50]

Thank you very much for the insight. I'll probably start keeping an eye on Craigslist for some used equipment because I certainly don't have the budget for $5000+ work of equipment. I can swing something in the neighborhood of $3500 for mounting and balancing equipment but beyond that it's gets out of my comfort range pretty quickly. It's just frustrating to pay somebody else to do the work only to have damaged parts or a rushed job given back to you. I don't care as much about return on investment as I do just having the job done right the first time.

This is the manual changer I had been considering:
https://www.nomartirechanger.com/Professional_Model_Tire_Changer_p/tc-pro.htm

It it a pretty stout piece of equipment and even though it's labeled as a motorcycle tire changer it is actually very capable of changing car tires. However, I'm not as confident it'll change a large tire from a Heavy Duty pickup that's been mounted for several years and if I'm going to buy something it needs to be capable of changing tires on anything I own.

 

[TymeSlayer]

To help your ROI - tell everyone you know you have the equipment. I know if you were in my area, I'd give you some work.

 

[Fabman]

I had a Coats 20/20 and balancer when I had my first race shop.
Now I am in the same boat as most of you, paying too much for crappy work and having to wait for my wheels and frustrated because I can't do it myself anymore.
Tire machines are way different than they were back in the day too so I am looking around but not sure exactly what I'm looking for. There are some cheapies on eBay...but I'm a little apprehensive about buying an off brand like that. I'm definitely in for any updates on this thread.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-1-5-HP...984446&hash=item3ae58aebd7:g:vlkAAOSweRlazTuD

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-5-HP-Aut...653904?hash=item3ad1d75750:g:Q4sAAOSww1hazo6S

 

[thehueypilot]

I looked at Coats, Hunter and Ranger tire equipment and could not get the first two companies to even call me back or return my emails. I was looking for "lever-less" first and "Made in the USA" second and a "quick clamp" (center post) third. I guess the big three in tire equipment do not want to sell only one piece of equipment to a small job shop? I found out that Rotary wanted to get into the tire equipment business so I checked into their new lineup. I thought Rotary was all "Made in the USA" but that was not true for their new tire equipment. Their tire equipment is actually "made in Italy" so I thought maybe the exotic car companies used this equipment so I gave them a chance. The equipment works very well but a bit pricey. I did not want to scratch/mark up my new rims (or any future rims) so "lever-less" and "center post" is the only way to go on the hard to change low profile tires. It took me over a year to research and decide what I wanted as this was a big investment for me.

Tim

 

[ArizonaBOSS]

Having your own tire changing setup has been regarded as one of the "Holy Grail"s of Club Racing for some time.
Nearly impossible to justify the expense, and not sure if the ability to DIY outweighs the time spent DIYing it vs. just dropping it off at the tire guy's place.
But if you can and want to afford it, that is really cool

 

[Fabman]

Having your own tire changing setup has been regarded as one of the "Holy Grail"s of Club Racing for some time.
Nearly impossible to justify the expense, and not sure if the ability to DIY outweighs the time spent DIYing it vs. just dropping it off at the tire guy's place.
But if you can and want to afford it, that is really cool

If you like to flip your tires to prolong their life then you pay to mount/balance them twice per tire life cycle. Its gets expensive fast.

 

[ArizonaBOSS]

Oh believe me...I know.

 

[DaveW]

This is a totally biased opinion since I am a "tire guy"....

Changing your own isn't always as easy as the guy who does it at the track (me)makes it look. And equipment matters.

I get people all the time who talk about how they usually change their own at home with a $400 machine who then watch me do them and say "That took me 3 hours!" And their wheels look like a drunk maniac attacked them with a hatchet.

And being in the performance only tire business, we clean up a lot of messes that other shops make. At the Solo nationals, the Bridgestone guys were bringing me tires they couldn't get seated.

All that said, I don't want to overstate too much as obviously I am not the only person on the planet who can mount tires without messing them up and you can learn too. It just takes some practice and don't expect the first set to get knocked out in 15 minutes. Also, IMO, any machine without the Hunter style floating arm, and/or with metal wheel clamps, is going to take a lot of care to not damage wheels.

DaveW