Haven't posted in a while and thought I'd put this here for reference.
Prior to getting my well used nomar, I really tried to find information regarding how practical it was to change car or light suv tires with it. I put a ton of miles on my cage and thought it would be worth it if the changer could do double duty for my bikes and car. I found out that runflats are a no-go but there is a video of them changing a car tire on nomar's youtube channel.
I've had the changer for about 2 years and finally got around to changing out my rav4 tires for a set of winter tires last week. The first tire took 1 1/2hrs and a lot of exertion and swearing. It reminds me of why not a few people end up upgrading to a power unit.
Taking what I learned from the first tire, the second tire took about 40 minutes.
For reference, I think my last set of motorcycle tires took 15 minutes maybe...
I won't go into the entire process but just highlight the differences I noted from mounting motorcycle tires...
Car tires and wheels are a helluva lot heavier than motorcycle wheels/tires.
Breaking the bead requires a lot more effort, but it's doable. wetting everything helps.
Demounting the first side of the tire is a piece of cake with enough soapy water. I had a hell of a time getting the bar under the second side of the tire though. It was a combination of the tire being so much heavier and thus harder to keep up in the shallow drop center.
Some wheels have a nice deep drop center. Others not so much. These are going to be a struggle... Lubing the tire and the wheel in the proper places becomes even more important when when mounting.
Just like for motorcycle tires, the yellow thingie keeps the bead from popping out and the second hand spring loaded tools, keeps the tire down in the drop center. They helped I think...
Heating the tire with a hair dryer under a tarp becomes vitally important. I don't know if it is the rubber or the steel in the bead but most of the difficulty with the first tire was pulling that bead over the edge of the rim. After heating it with a lamp I managed to manhandle it on. Literally, manhandle. I was bending and shaking the whole unit and hitting the mount/demount bar with all my weight like a tackle dummy. I still have a bruise on my hip. The second tire I warmed under a tarp and it was at least 75% easier.
Seating the bead was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I was dreading this after my difficulties with aftermarket wheels for my gixxer. They wouldn't seat worth a damn.
If I knew how hard changing a car tire would have been on the first tire, I would have gladly paid the fee to mount and balance them.
The second tire was much less effort and I think it's at a break even point for me.
I'm hoping the last two will be even easier and I find this worth doing myself...
Pics to follow...
Prior to getting my well used nomar, I really tried to find information regarding how practical it was to change car or light suv tires with it. I put a ton of miles on my cage and thought it would be worth it if the changer could do double duty for my bikes and car. I found out that runflats are a no-go but there is a video of them changing a car tire on nomar's youtube channel.
I've had the changer for about 2 years and finally got around to changing out my rav4 tires for a set of winter tires last week. The first tire took 1 1/2hrs and a lot of exertion and swearing. It reminds me of why not a few people end up upgrading to a power unit.
Taking what I learned from the first tire, the second tire took about 40 minutes.
For reference, I think my last set of motorcycle tires took 15 minutes maybe...
I won't go into the entire process but just highlight the differences I noted from mounting motorcycle tires...
Car tires and wheels are a helluva lot heavier than motorcycle wheels/tires.
Breaking the bead requires a lot more effort, but it's doable. wetting everything helps.
Demounting the first side of the tire is a piece of cake with enough soapy water. I had a hell of a time getting the bar under the second side of the tire though. It was a combination of the tire being so much heavier and thus harder to keep up in the shallow drop center.
Some wheels have a nice deep drop center. Others not so much. These are going to be a struggle... Lubing the tire and the wheel in the proper places becomes even more important when when mounting.
Just like for motorcycle tires, the yellow thingie keeps the bead from popping out and the second hand spring loaded tools, keeps the tire down in the drop center. They helped I think...
Heating the tire with a hair dryer under a tarp becomes vitally important. I don't know if it is the rubber or the steel in the bead but most of the difficulty with the first tire was pulling that bead over the edge of the rim. After heating it with a lamp I managed to manhandle it on. Literally, manhandle. I was bending and shaking the whole unit and hitting the mount/demount bar with all my weight like a tackle dummy. I still have a bruise on my hip. The second tire I warmed under a tarp and it was at least 75% easier.
Seating the bead was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I was dreading this after my difficulties with aftermarket wheels for my gixxer. They wouldn't seat worth a damn.
If I knew how hard changing a car tire would have been on the first tire, I would have gladly paid the fee to mount and balance them.
The second tire was much less effort and I think it's at a break even point for me.
I'm hoping the last two will be even easier and I find this worth doing myself...
Pics to follow...
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