Manual Tyre Changers - Worth The Money..?

[barneys66 125 1 Cars]

I get through already part-worn tyres doing autosolos quite quickly, and was contemplating getting a tyre changer.

 

Whilst gravitating towards picking up an automatic one, I don't think I'll get much change out of £300 so the payback is going to be pretty long (but it's a nice tool to have, right ). Has anyone used the cheap £30 manual ones on eBay and such..?

 

I'm not overly concerned about the rims as they're my scruffy Speedlines, but don't want it to be a fight each time.

 

[welshpug 1,677]

I ordered one last week so I'll find out soon

[Tom Fenton 1,562]

They work ok as long as you aren't precious about your wheels. They take up quite a lot of room as you need about 4-5ft radius all the way around. Finally they have to be bolted to the floor, forget it without.

[Biggles 65]

I've had the Clarke one like the picture posted above for probably 7 or 8 years now. I've also got the expensive tyre iron with the plastic inserts so you don't chew up your alloy wheels. I regularly change 185-55-14, 195-55-15, 195-65-15 & 205-55-16 road tyres with it. I've also changed 195-50-15 A048's and 185-55-15 forest tyres with it without any problems. I don't even attempt to change my tarmac rally moulded slicks with it.

 

I've got M10 anchors in the middle of the garage floor to bolt it down when i need to use it, otherwise it lives in the corner of the garage out of the way. The bead breaker is not strong enough - it's ok until you get a stubborn one and then it'll bend. Brace it with something and it's fine - I welded some angle iron down the sides.

 

There's an art to changing tyres with it but once you get it, it's pretty straightforward. I find breaking the bead is the hard work.

 

Mine's paid for itself several time over.

[dobboy 231 2 Cars]

What do you do about balancing them when you change your own tyres?

[barneys66 125 1 Cars]

No real need for my purpose, though I was thinking about one of these should the need to be relatively accurate arise;

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/122171874227

 

[barneys66 125 1 Cars]

I ordered one last week so I'll find out soon

 

Looking forward to hearing how you get on !!

 

I've also got the expensive tyre iron with the plastic inserts so you don't chew up your alloy wheels.

 

Have you got a link to this please Biggles..?

[Biggles 65]

No real need for my purpose, though I was thinking about one of these should the need to be relatively accurate arise;

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/122171874227

 

Yes, got one of these too. Works well as long as you take your time with it. It's interesting that very few tyres I've changed actually need to be balanced - I've only had to do one or two road tyres (all good brands mind you - Dunlop, Michelin & Vredenstein) and I've yet to find a competition tyre that needed balancing. I'm of the opinion that any imbalance seems to be in the wheel itself and (good quality) tyres are sufficiently well balanced from the factory. Hence once the wheel is balanced, you can swap (good quality) tyres and 95% of the time not need to rebalance.

[Biggles 65]

 

Have you got a link to this please Biggles..?

 

https://www.bodyshop-tools-supplies.co.uk/product_view.php?id=10003 - come down in price a good bit since I got mine - pretty sure RRP was close to £200 when I got mine.

 

Changed the tyres on both mine and the wifes car several times with this without marking the wheels at all.

Edited December 28, 2016 by Biggles