tire changer

[milesmiles]

Has anyone ever used, or know much about a tire changer? I'm just wondering if that would help cut down cost for me. Then all i'd have to do is get it balanced!

[Firewa11]

If you're going to get a changer you might as well get a balancer.

[fixxervi6]

Has anyone ever used, or know much about a tire changer? I'm just wondering if that would help cut down cost for me. Then all i'd have to do is get it balanced!

I looked into it, extra set of wheels was what I decided to go with.

Takes up less room, less pain in the ass, and I can flip flop between tires not just change the tire out, so in theory I should be going through less tires this year.

[milesmiles]

i don't know much about it, but with the high speeds we sometimes do(on a closed track of course!) is that something i want to take a chance on

[fixxervi6]

i don't know much about it, but with the high speeds we sometimes do(on a closed track of course!) is that something i want to take a chance on

What, ebay wheels?

When we were out on ECR I was on my ebay wheels, I'm not dead.

[DarcShadow]

From what I've read and looked at, it's not that big of a deal and you can easily do it in the garage with a static balancer. Which is what several shops use anyway. As for the tire changer, if you want to go cheap, all you really need is a way to break the bead, and a set of tire irons. There are serval youtube videos of changing tires with a homemade bead breaker (large piece of wood and some leverage) and tire irons. Would take some pratice and care not to skuff up the rim, but that's going to be the case with any tire changing setup.

[milesmiles]

nah nah i was talking about doing wheel balancing myself haha. Also i've looked into two sets of tires. kind of expensive to find 675 wheels. The tire changer only cost 100 bucks

[DarcShadow]

This guy has an even cheaper way to breake the bead

and here is how to balance the wheel.

[milesmiles]

wow that didn't look too horrible actually. hmmm... might have to look into it more

[milesmiles]

also it looks like i could take a garden hose and cut it up to make sure i don't hurt the rim

[milesmiles]

this also brings up the question of dyna beads. what is your talk on them(they do say not to be used for race)

[DarcShadow]

For a sport bike, no, tourer, probably ok. For a large off road tire on a jeep, small ball bearings do the same thing.

[milesmiles]

interesting

[shilka99]

I change my tires at home. It takes me 5 minutes to get the tool out of the closet and bolt it to the floor, 5 minutes to change each tire, 5 minutes to remove the tool and put it back in the closet. 5 -10 minutes to balance each one.

Heres a similar tool:

http://fwmr.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1 ... re+changer

Heres mine in use:
Before -


Almost done -


Miles, if you ever want a demo or to change a tire let me know and I can show you how easy it is.

[Firewa11]

Are those rain tires?

[milesmiles]

That's what i wanted to hear! for that price i'm thinking that's what i'm going to do for my next set! When the time comes shaun i may be hitting you up for some advice! Thanks

[shilka99]

Are those rain tires?

Thats the rear I fitted to the KTM to practise some low traction corner exits. I'll fit the front when the wheel arrives for full SuMo action on the grass track.

And yes, the practise really helps. I had a massive rear slide in turn 8 at ECR this weekend on cold tires. I was lucky to save it. I then had a big slide at turn 2 and left a 6 foot black line on the track with my front tire, then again in turn 10.
Lucky for me Ryan W. saw the turn 2 incident while waiting for a student. He said he thought for sure I would go down but I managed to save it. Unlike Thomas who had a slide bad enough to clip the curb and run off outside 2 with a student right behind him.

Just ask mahart how helpful it can be to slide the front end on the grass track!

[DarcShadow]

Same reason I "practice" endos, never know when that skill will come in handy.