Mounting/dismounting tires at home?

[bobc455]

If you can make it to Seabrook, NH, some saturday, I'll kinda throw them on when nobody's looking (including a real balance). But I'm guessing the cost of driving to NH will be just about the same as paying $12 each...

-BC

[theholycow]

Maybe I can work it into a trip I take for some other purpose.

[GasSavers_Erik]

I mount/dismount tubed motorcycle, trailer, and hay wagon (low speed) tires. But never balanced any of them. Sometimes I mess up the sealing edges- which is no problem with a tube, but it would ruin a tubeless.

I use one of these $50 tire changers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LAABOgXU1s

The tire shop I use for tubeless tires charges $9 to mount and balance. Maybe you could shop around and find a bored gas station mechanic to cut you a deal on doing the whole set.

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by Erik

I use one of these $50 tire changers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LAABOgXU1s

Thank you. I had thought of that and then forgot it. That would cost as much as getting the job done, and I could mount/dismount all day with that.

The video makes it look easy. Why didn't the dude blow his nose first instead of sniffling through the whole video, though?

Edit: Well, as expected, getting the last part of the bead past the rim looks like a minor struggle.

[JanGeo]

The get them off you start by letting the air out and then if you can connected up a vacuum pump and really cave them in. Then apply some good soapy water to the bead area or really break down and buy some tire mounting lube - bubble blowing soap works good too. Anything that is really slippery just not Dawn as it removes the oils. Once you have the air out start walking around on the bead with a old pair of boots with a nice heal and you should be able to pop the bead and then just walk it around - flip it over and do the other side. Then you need some nice tire irons or flat bar stock with smooth edges to work the tire off the rim making sure you get the far side into the center of the rim so it can slip over the bead on the opposite side where you are working the tire iron.

Putting them on is a little bit different - once you get the tire on - walking on the bead with your boots and prying the last few inches over the rim with the tire iron. You bounce the tire on the ground and that gets the bead to seat on the rim a little and once it seats a little you can inflate it wil air to pop the bead. You can bounce it with the air compressor adding air at he same time. What also helps is tying a strap or rope around the center of the tread and then tighten the rope to force the beads outwards.

[theholycow]

I figured out the strap trick on an uncooperative lawn tractor tire once. A ratchet belt works best. You can really crank it down.

[Ford Man]

Hopefully I can save you the headache of changing the tires. On my '88 I went up from a 165-80-13 to a 185-80-13 and would say on average improved FE by 3-5%. The amount it will help you will probably depend on how tall the gearing is in the car from the factory. My '88 has a 4 speed with tall gearing anyway. I think it would be to your advantage to go with tires a size or two larger than the originals if you don't mind losing the power during take off. I currently have 185-75-14's on the front of it experimenting with them, but for some reason my last tank mileage plummetted to about 38.5 MPG so I am going to have to figure out what's going on with the car then see what the 14's do for it.

[theholycow]

Yeah, my car is geared very short. In fact, for 2009 they changed the final drive, probably because of complaints from people like me. I'm sure that taller tires will help but I'm not sure how much.

I'm also very worried that too-tall tires will rub. There's not a whole lot of space for bigger tires like in a truck.

[GasSavers_maximilian]

Are these the 205-70-15 tires from your visualization thread?

[theholycow]

No, I ended up with 215-70-15 tires, slightly taller. I got 3 for $5/each and 2 more for free, so I can do all 4 and the spare (since with these old beat-up tires I better be prepared to change them raodside).

I've since compared the tires lined up next to eachother, and next to the car...and I'm a bit worried. I need to get at least one mounted and turn the steering wheel back and forth while bouncing the car to see how close it gets.