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Can anyone recommend a decent tire changer for the weekend warrior?  Use will be pretty light.  Probably mount/dismount between 10-20 sets per year.

I don't mind sacrificing a little elbow grease for price, but I want something that is going to be pretty reliable and be able to mount low profile race rubber on expensive wheels without scratching them.

Anybody have any suggestions?  Any brands to stay away from?

Thanks for any input,

Corey #89 STU



 

I've used the "World famous RKR Hand Tire machine" for 5 years or so:  http://www.rogerkrausracing.com/RKR/tiremachine.shtml

 Mostly, I used it for Formula Ford slicks, and now I use it for my 15" MR2 wheels.  I've also done Hoosiers on 17" S2000 (Honda, not sports racer) wheels, a few other race tire applications, and lots of street tires.  The FF slicks and the street tires are trivial.  The Hoosiers are a bit more challenging, but not particularly hard once you get used to using the machine.  A couple extra spoons help.  You'll probably feel like "monkeys and footballs....." for a little while, but it's easy after a little practice.  With a little care, you won't scratch your wheels, but if you're really picky you might not want to go with a manual machine because there's more potential for scratches if your not cautious..... and there's nobody to blame but yourself    It's been perfectly reliable and easily paid for itself.  It doesn't need any electricity or air, so its a lot more "portable" than powered machines.  I've had a couple guys around here try my machine and then go buy there own.  I like mine!  I'm not thrilled with static balancers so I didn't get the one Roger sells with this machine.  I bought a computer balancer for a steal on eBay (but I had to be really patient to find the right situation)

 Good luck,

Barry Ott, ES MR2

Howdy,

Corey Ridgick:

Can anyone recommend a decent tire changer for the weekend warrior?  Use will be pretty light.  Probably mount/dismount between 10-20 sets per year.

I don't mind sacrificing a little elbow grease for price, but I want something that is going to be pretty reliable and be able to mount low profile race rubber on expensive wheels without scratching them.

Anybody have any suggestions?  Any brands to stay away from?

Thanks for any input,

Corey #89 STU

I have a fairly ancient Coats RC-1 machine that's I've modified a little to handle wider rims (originally it was designed for motorcycle rim & occasional car use).

I don't think you need anything particularly special... Not scratching stuff is more about care than technology, at least to me.

If I were in the market, I'd just go with any basic rim clamp machine that would handle wide rims (which is most of them these days, but check the specs) that included a bead seating air blaster (you won't need this for race tires, but its really useful at times for street tires, particularly if they're a little narrow for the rim you're putting them on).  You should be able to find something for $1k or so new (chinese, obviously).  Just check the specs and make sure you have the proper air/electrical requirements.

If you're going to be working on really soft or easily bent rims, that's when you need to look at some of the machines that do a little more in terms of squeezing the bead for you, etc.  I don't have much experience with these types of machines, so I don't know much of anything other than "I don't want to pay that much".  :-)

I've also never used the type of machine that spins a post inside the wheel rather than the wheel itself (i.e. the powered version of the machine above).  Seems like they might be a little faster since you don't need to reposition the wheel after you break the bead, but I dunno what else they'd be better or worse than.

Mark

I have one I purchased used from Discount Tire in Texas back in '04.  It is a commercial model and has worked very well on Corvette sized wheels, as well as smaller stuff.  I don't us it a whole lot anymore since street touring doesn't require tire changes that often.  The only time I ever had an issue with it was when trying to put 225 50 15 Hoosiers on a set of stock 99 Miata wheels...Discount Tire ended up finishing that job...

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OzCop

"It's never too late to have a happy childhood."