missingsid Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Hi, My local tyre shop who used to change a set of SATs for the price of a beer has closed. No not for that reason, the land was worth too much for developers. As I don't want to be charged £10 a tyre just to put a set of manky tyres on old rims in order to move my project around the garage, I am thinking about putting the tyres on myself. I will be using LR steel wheels and old semi road tyres with tubes. If it is not to bad I will also be changing tyres for myself at a later date. So far the only ones that I have heard of are by either Matt Lee or Matt Savage, however as both of their websites are not functioning I cannot find out which. This my not actually be sensible task to undertake (the changing tyres bit, not the asking for advise) but with so much experience available on this Forum your advise is required please. What tyre irons do you use, how many used for a tyre (2,3 or more!!) and how difficult easy? Cheers in advance, Marc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BogMonster Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Two tyre levers is enough most of the time, the main thing (applies to changing any tyre) is that a bit of lubrication on the bead makes life a whole lot easier. Proper bead lube is best, but a solution of fairy liquid is OK. Don't use anything oily i.e. oil, grease, WD40 etc. A couple of 24 inch tyre levers from here would be my suggestion http://www.tyrebaydirect.com/56-Tyre_Fitting_Tools.html obviously you also need a valve key but that is about all assuming you have a high lift jack or something similar that you can break the bead with. Get one of the valve keys that you can screw onto the valve stem if you are fitting tubes, so you don't lose the stem inside the wheel when you are putting the bead back over the rim. Land Rover steel rims are dead easy to do, as the bead will break quite easily, but tubeless rims with the inner bead retaining hump are harder and some of the bling alloys on later vehicles have very shallow wells in the wheel and are nigh on impossible to do without a proper tyre machine. Like most things practice makes perfect and I have probably had too much practice over the years Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missingsid Posted April 25, 2009 Author Share Posted April 25, 2009 Cheers BogMonster, I found them but did not know what size. I also found a couple of other sites where a Tyre Iron cost £30 each So, next question as an unfit mature?? adult will the effort kill me? I am guessing that the key is to get bead on the far side into the well without pinching the inner tube? Marc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinny Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Cheers BogMonster,I found them but did not know what size. I also found a couple of other sites where a Tyre Iron cost £30 each So, next question as an unfit mature?? adult will the effort kill me? I am guessing that the key is to get bead on the far side into the well without pinching the inner tube? Marc. sometimes its hard work but as bm said lube makes it easier also a pair of mole grips to clamp on the rim to stop the tyre coming off the rim as you reseat it at work if we get a bead thats tight especially jcb front tyres we use the jcb to push the bead off also a ratchet strap if your mounting tubeless tyres will save a lot of swearing .chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BogMonster Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 18 to 24 inches is fine (ooer) I think the levers I have are 18" but I only use them for motorbike tyres, for anything else I use the semi auto tyre changer at work which lets you do a full set in about 10 min, but bike wheels won't go onto the machine. It will make you sweat, one at a time and a tea break in between is usually the best idea, its a long time since I did a full set by hand The other thing I forgot to say is that if you are doing a smart set of alloys with tyre levers you have to be very very careful or you will take the paint off around the bead and/or bend the bead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave W Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Technique is more important than effort, putting a tyre on the rim should take minimum work with the tyre irons if you get the technique right - as you say get the first half of the bead pushed into the well and it's easy. If you want a set as an investment for the future I'd strongly recommend getting a full Tyrepliers kit which gives you everything you need to break the bead, remove and/or repair the tyre and put it back on. Since buying mine I've not used a tyre shop for anything other than balancing. I carry my set in the Land Rover with me all the time and use it to repair my own and other people's tyres when we're out and about. http://www.tyrepliers.com.au/ Not sure who's stocking them in the UK at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithjh Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Technique is more important than effort, putting a tyre on the rim should take minimum work with the tyre irons if you get the technique right - as you say get the first half of the bead pushed into the well and it's easy.If you want a set as an investment for the future I'd strongly recommend getting a full Tyrepliers kit which gives you everything you need to break the bead, remove and/or repair the tyre and put it back on. Since buying mine I've not used a tyre shop for anything other than balancing. I carry my set in the Land Rover with me all the time and use it to repair my own and other people's tyres when we're out and about. http://www.tyrepliers.com.au/ Not sure who's stocking them in the UK at the moment. BOAB, them who sell Oztents do the kit or at least they did when i got mine a couple of years ago. Agree with the above never use tyre shop do my own, it gets easy after a couple of attempts at learning the "technique" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missingsid Posted April 25, 2009 Author Share Posted April 25, 2009 Thanks Guy's. I knew I could count on you for help Had a look at the Tyrepliers website. Your comments sound hopeful. Cheers, Marc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave W Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 The full Tyrepliers kit contains the bead breaker, two tyre irons and a puncture repair kit - the repair kit is very good as well, it includes a full sticky string kit as discussed here... http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=41626&hl= Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missingsid Posted May 3, 2009 Author Share Posted May 3, 2009 HI, After all your assistance I could not find a price for the Aussie Tyre Changer equipment so I decided to buy one of these for £48 with delivery insurance and VAT off Ebay Link I ordered it Saturday Night and it arrived Tuesday. They even taped bin bags around the top and bottom in case the courier stood it in a puddle. Tried it out and the first tyre I virtually changed using the tyre lever only as Seeley aren't good on instructions. The second tyre I changed the proper way and it was a doddle, even though I had not bolted it to the floor yet! It really needs to be bolted to work and be safe. No more Tyre rip off shops for me. Marc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 IIRC got my tyre levers [set of 2] from Halfords. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henry Webster Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 HI,After all your assistance I could not find a price for the Aussie Tyre Changer equipment so I decided to buy one of these for £48 with delivery insurance and VAT off Ebay Link I've got one of these and it does a reasonable job, although we've had to beef it up after some sustained use and some stubborn old beads. I've also bolted an old LR hub to the top as the mount and clamp is a bit poor and runs the risk of damaging alloys. Now I can bolt LR wheels on securely and if I need to change anything else it unbolts from the top. Interested in the tyre-pliers, they look like they would be a useful thing to take in the service van. Anyone know how much the set weighs? H Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 these show it in use http://www.boab.biz/Pages/BOAB%20BEADBREAK...0LRO%20TYRE.htm bottom of this page http://www.boab.biz/Pages/Tyre%20Repair%20Equipment.htm but no weight given Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missingsid Posted May 3, 2009 Author Share Posted May 3, 2009 I've got one of these and it does a reasonable job, although we've had to beef it up after some sustained use and some stubborn old beads. I've also bolted an old LR hub to the top as the mount and clamp is a bit poor and runs the risk of damaging alloys. Now I can bolt LR wheels on securely and if I need to change anything else it unbolts from the top.H Ah, What a good idea, I will have a hub set free soon so I will look at this. For now I have ground a step into the clamp to match the LR centre hole. Marc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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