Owning a tyre changing machine

[Iain]

Is it feasible to own and run your own tyre machine? I need tyres swapping/fitting/removing etc every few months, going rate is £10 a tyre round here so swapping tyres between rims can cost £80 a pop.

I begrudge spending money on services when I can buy tools and break even or be quids in at the end of it (e.g. alignment and tracking stuff)

Full automated tyre changers look quite bulky, so would a manual tool, with pneumatic bead breaker and a fancy balancing machine be a decent compromise?

[colnerov]

Hi, I notice you don't mention the time element. I do all my own tyre changing using a pair of levers, once you perfect the technique it's almost as quick as a machine. the biggest problem I had was breaking the beads on rims with safety beads with a commercial slide hammer type bead breaker, then I welded up a lever type and that was a lot easier. Other stuff like valve keys for removing the valve core, Valve pullers for fitting tubeless valves are not very dear. A pair of levers will be from about £20. Balancing is a bit different but depends what you want I don't bother unless it's really bad which so far it hasn't been. You can get static balancers if you want.

Colin

[Battles]

I think it would be the balancing machine that would break the bank to buy and that seems to me to be the key to doing a professional job. As above, there are well known ways of swapping tyres with hand tools.

They look to be about six hundred quid for a cheapy, brand new one tyre balancing rig. If it's eighty quid a time for you to get the tyres swapped and balanced it's easy to work out how many times you'd need to use it before it's paid for.

Maybe when you've got one you could do other people's to get the cost down?

[VIP]

You don't need a balancing machine. We have a tyre changing machine and never balanced any of the dozens of tyres we've changed. Wheels wobbles? None. You'll only get it if the wheel or tyre is really farmed.

[vitesseefi]

Static bubble balancers work fine and are much more reasonably priced.

Nick

[Iain]

To be fair my mate with a manual tyre machine says he never balances either but he's a traveller drifter!

A manual rig, with nylon bar and one of those fancy bubble balancers looks a decent home setup! Not seen those before, cheers.

[dodgerover]

Just bought a cheapy off ebay about £36 delivered, bead breaker works fine but it really needs bolting down somewhere to be able to make full use of it.

[colnerov]

Hi, I second it needing to be bolted down, securing it to a pallet with you standing on it to use it is a good compromise.

Colin

[dodgerover]

Thats a cunning plan, I was thinking a thick sheet of ply that I could secure down by parking a vehicle on one side of it, a pallet would be easier!

[Dez]

i have what must be one of the hardest working ebay cheapy manual jobbies in existence. its had a few 'improvements' over the years as it broke, i.e. more bits welded to it to make it stronger and improve the bead breaker on stubborn/rusted on tyres.

i originally got it as the local morons couldnt manage to fit a tubed tyre on an electric fed machine without snagging it up, and was fed up of having to pay for more tubes. a manual machine gives you some 'feel' for when a tyre is tight or going to snag up so you damage a lot less things.

and as with VIP, ive never balanced a single wheel ive done, and never had an issue with vibration ever- ranging from tubed 7.50-16 crossplies on pre-war wire wheels to super low-pro modern tyres on big inch alloys.

[Iain]

Sounds like I need a manual machine in my life! Nylon bar won't damage most alloys?

[Dez]

i don't even have nylon bar, but have always meant to get one- even though they cost more than the manual machine did!

a couple of layers of masking tape will stop it scraping alloys or marking the paint on steels. as with lots of things in life though, making sure you use enough lube is quite important...

[dodgerover]

Does Fairy liquid rot alloys or is that another urban myth?

[Dez]

It has quite a high salt content, which proper tyre soap doesn't have.

Whether an corrosion to an alloy could be attributable to using fairy liquid to fit a tyre rather than road salt is highly questionable though.

Anyway tyre soap is massively cheaper by quantity, it's about 8 quid for a 5 kilo tub, so you're far better off buying it.

[ChasR]

Nov 13, 2015 16:23:23 GMT Battles said:

I think it would be the balancing machine that would break the bank to buy and that seems to me to be the key to doing a professional job. As above, there are well known ways of swapping tyres with hand tools.

They look to be about six hundred quid for a cheapy, brand new one tyre balancing rig. If it's eighty quid a time for you to get the tyres swapped and balanced it's easy to work out how many times you'd need to use it before it's paid for.

Maybe when you've got one you could do other people's to get the cost down?

Agreed

Nov 13, 2015 16:26:47 GMT VIP said:

You don't need a balancing machine. We have a tyre changing machine and never balanced any of the dozens of tyres we've changed. Wheels wobbles? None. You'll only get it if the wheel or tyre is really farmed.

Nov 13, 2015 20:41:23 GMT Dez said:

i have what must be one of the hardest working ebay cheapy manual jobbies in existence. its had a few 'improvements' over the years as it broke, i.e. more bits welded to it to make it stronger and improve the bead breaker on stubborn/rusted on tyres.

i originally got it as the local morons couldnt manage to fit a tubed tyre on an electric fed machine without snagging it up, and was fed up of having to pay for more tubes. a manual machine gives you some 'feel' for when a tyre is tight or going to snag up so you damage a lot less things.

and as with VIP, ive never balanced a single wheel ive done, and never had an issue with vibration ever- ranging from tubed 7.50-16 crossplies on pre-war wire wheels to super low-pro modern tyres on big inch alloys.

The balancing bit I disagree with. With larger profile wheels I agree there is some leeway. Even on my BMW 15" wheels when I had to lob all of the the weights from the front straight set of wheels I gained a vibration at 70mph and that was on a straight set of rims, albeit not a horrific one. Christ, it was the difference between my old 106 GTI feeling like a driveshaft was gone (I am not kidding there!) to being as smooth as silk down the road.

Back on topic for the OP I would ask how often you plan to change the tyres. If it really is quite a few times a year then I would consider getting the machine and loaning the use of it to friends for beer money. I know a chap near me does the same thing with his ramp .

[colnerov]

Nov 13, 2015 20:41:23 GMT Dez said:

i have what must be one of the hardest working ebay cheapy manual jobbies in existence. its had a few 'improvements' over the years as it broke, i.e. more bits welded to it to make it stronger and improve the bead breaker on stubborn/rusted on tyres.

i originally got it as the local morons couldnt manage to fit a tubed tyre on an electric fed machine without snagging it up, and was fed up of having to pay for more tubes. a manual machine gives you some 'feel' for when a tyre is tight or going to snag up so you damage a lot less things.

Hi, I'm not surprised. They shouldn't be trying to remove or fit tyres with a tube still in it. As you say something you soon learn doing it by hand or on a manual machine.

Colin

[igor]

Definitely balance your wheels. My wife's Ford BG Laser (Mazda 323 clone) was vibrating like a curse word through the steering at one time and after I got some new tyres on it and got them balanced it was sweet as a nut up to 100mph. The worst part is that she doesn't even notice stuff like that. Another time she complained of a weird noise that it had and when I drove it I found that it was bouncing along the road like a drunken kangaroo cos the back shocks were knackered.

[VIP]

I guess we must just be really, really lucky, eh HARDCORE, Colonelk, mantaphil

[Rich]

Nov 13, 2015 16:26:47 GMT VIP said:

You don't need a balancing machine. We have a tyre changing machine and never balanced any of the dozens of tyres we've changed. Wheels wobbles? None. You'll only get it if the wheel or tyre is really farmed.

Funny you mention this, I've now barred on and off a few sets of tyres on my landrover, never balanced them, all good, paid (not a lot) to have the set that's on it now fitted by my tame tyre fitters under the instruction 'don't balance', came back balanced, worst wheel vibration I've ever had on anything. And that's saying something coming from someone who dabbles in ww2 military vehicles.
Also never bothered with the Hyundai, no wobbles there either.

[roccoguy]

I've fitted quite a few tyres with a manual setup, never balanced any and never had wheel wobble. My cousin deals in part warn tyres as a side line for his scrap car business and doesn't balance the tyres he fits either, again I've never had wheel wobble when he's fitted tyres for me.