Discussion Forum - Northstar Chevelle Club

Lost in the 60s · President

Ready for winter ?

dashboard · 2K+ Club

Nice setup Mitch. When and where did you pickup the balance machine.

Lost in the 60s · President

I bought both the tire machine and balancer from a guy who was going out of business about 2 years ago. They take up a lot of floor space but I wouldn't be without them. I got tired of being told my tires were too old to mount/dismount at the stores, per OSHA rules. Wal-Mart wouldn't even remove 4 old tires for me because they were weather cracked and had the "potential to explode" *** !!! There's NO AIR in them to explode and you're removing them to scrap...NOPE can't touch 'em.

Back in Black · Active Member

Lost in the 60s wrote:
I got tired of being told my tires were too old to mount/dismount at the stores, per OSHA rules. Wal-Mart wouldn't even remove 4 old tires for me because they were weather cracked and had the "potential to explode" *** !!! There's NO AIR in them to explode and you're removing them to scrap...NOPE can't touch 'em.

This and getting quoted $200 to mount four tires because they are "low profile". My machines have paid for themselves at least twice.

Lost in the 60s · President

Back in Black wrote:
Lost in the 60s wrote:
I got tired of being told my tires were too old to mount/dismount at the stores, per OSHA rules. Wal-Mart wouldn't even remove 4 old tires for me because they were weather cracked and had the "potential to explode" *** !!! There's NO AIR in them to explode and you're removing them to scrap...NOPE can't touch 'em.
This and getting quoted $200 to mount four tires because they are "low profile". My machines have paid for themselves at least twice.

Oh yeah, I'm pretty sure I've recovered my purchase cost by now...

OscarZ · Treasurer

Mitch I'm sure it is very cost effective for you considering you have a fleet and not just a few cars!

Lost in the 60s · President

OscarZ wrote:
Mitch I'm sure it is very cost effective for you considering you have a fleet and not just a few cars!

That got me thinking, Mike. With 10 vehicles and 2 trailers, I am maintaining 52 tires...

That doesn't include the Harley or yard equipment...another 12 in that group.

Don't get me started on batteries...

more ambition than brains · 1K+ Club

Still, I bet you don't miss dealing and paying for Semi
truck tires.

Just put new shoes on the Winnebago.
WOW!
$99.00 per to mount, plus balance.
We updated our Shop Tire changer two tears ago.
Wish we could have just kept using old reliable, however, the 20" and 22" need special care.
Gave the old one away for $400.00

Karl

SShink · 3K+ Club

Since tire mounting machines seem to be a hot topic... these were just put up for sale on the local FB swap meet page here in KS:

(2) rim clamp tire machines

$2,000 — Paola, Kansas

1 coats 5060 $2000 , 1 coats 7060 $2500 , both work great no leaks, easily hooked up for you to test, cross posted

Not sure if that's a good price or not since I'm not interested. Sounds like you guys will know.

Lost in the 60s · President

more ambition than brains wrote:
Still, I bet you don't miss dealing and paying for Semi
truck tires.

Just put new shoes on the Winnebago.
WOW!
$99.00 per to mount, plus balance.
We updated our Shop Tire changer two tears ago.
Wish we could have just kept using old reliable, however, the 20" and 22" need special care.
Gave the old one away for $400.00

Karl

$2500 a year for tires on the Pete and that is with 8 recaps on the rear.

I would spend an entire Saturday changing the rears. I did that all by hand. I ran Equal balancing compound for 17 years and never had a tire wear un-evenly. Loved that stuff...no spin balance expense.

KARL, don't be giving away shop equipment like that. Next time post it on here. People are always looking for stuff like that. I would have bought it in a heartbeat for that price. It was probably newer than the John Bean I have.

Bungy L-76 · Active Member

I am sooo jealous of your tire balancer. I have a cheapo Harbor Freight manual tire changer and between me, my brother and my dad, that thing has mounted or unmounted no less then 1000 tires over the years. Payed for itself many times over. Not the best for fancy/nice aluminum rims but ok for a DD with aluminum.

As for Wal-Mart, don't get me started. I also was told low profile tires would cost more to balance. They also would not balance the tires on my Suburban because I have different size tires on the front and back (2WD mudders on back). I've never gone back and never will.

Chris R · 2K+ Club

more ambition than brains wrote:

We updated our Shop Tire changer two tears ago.

What a nice machine that is too. Worked very smooth to mount the new tires for my Honda back at the meeting last March.

Those machines that you have shown there Stan are pretty much the common standard model that 90% of the all the shops I have worked at in the 20+ years in the field. Including several Firestone and Tires Plus tire shops. Nice machines but that price they list is about typical for the secondary market so your not really getting any sort of a good deal for those perticular models of equipment. Also, if you are working with nice stock wheels or custom wheels, that isnt the tire mounting machine you want. Especially if you have low profile 45 or under tires. They clamp hard onto the wheel and you kind of flex the bead the tire to go around the bead of the wheel and lower profile tires are very stiff in that area so you risk further damage to the tire or rim or both. Larger profile tires or truck tires are not a problem yet still clamps right onto the rim via metal jaws that spread apart or can clamp on the outside by squeezing together, commonly leaving divits. Not a big deal for typical run of the mill stock wheels where cosmetics that you cant see arent a problem. Mounting low profile tires can be a real PITA.

The ideal tire machines out there are the ones that have all sorts of arms attached to it like some robotic Transformer type machine. Makes mounting low profile tires a real breeze. But the cost is no where near the realm of being worth it in the typical home shop.

Back in Black · Active Member

Chris R wrote:

The ideal tire machines out there are the ones that have all sorts of arms attached to it like some robotic Transformer type machine. Makes mounting low profile tires a real breeze. But the cost is no where near the realm of being worth it in the typical home shop.

My bargain basement rim clamp machine has one assist arm. I couldn't mount my Hoosier road race slicks without it. And I still have to use the pry bar at the same time to keep the bead in the drop zone because the sidewalls are so freaking stiff.

For the price of those used Coats machines you can get a brand new rim clamp machine with assist arm and a nice balancer delivered to your door. And they'll handle low profile tires just fine.

Chris S · Active Member

What brand do you use Keith? I have thought about getting my own machine several times.

I thought I was the only one frustrated with tire shops!

Last time I took all 4 tires in to have the beads ground and resealed on my daily driver. I watched him grind the first one and skip the other 3! I asked the salesman about it, his response was "not every rim needs to be ground". That is what I brought them in for! I asked to have them dunked in the tank to check for leaks after they were done. When I got home, they never even put air in 1 of the tires!

Back in Black · Active Member

http://www.nationalautotools.com/tire-equipment/combo-pricing