Tire mounting machines

Wow, think Melissa is going to notice it in the basement when she gets back before or after the PS3? She leaves for two days...... and $$$$, LOL.
At least you can tell her you're saving $$ with the tire machine.

Oh, yea, how are you going to get it in the basement? Oh, Al?
 
Thanks Tom! Wonder what the difference between this harbor freight unit is compared to the Krause one? Looks the same and imagine it's just harbor freight's purchasing power?

http://www.harborfreight.com/portable-wheel-balancer-39741.html

http://rogerkrausracing.com/pages/rkrmountingsystem.html

How often should valve stems be replaced? Where can these be purchased and are there any ones better than others? (I'll shy away from the metal ones.)

Wheel weights, valve tool, and those items - just get at harbor freight or know of anyther good source?

I'm a little nervous about figuring out how to use all of this stuff, but looking forward to giving it a try.
 
I don't bother balancing my race wheels. Never had any problem with vibration. Wheel weights arn't cheap and once the tires heat up they balance themselves
 
I save the old stick on weights, buy new double stick tape.
HF unit works great for race tires.
Buy the shortest valve stems you can find, NAPA has 5/8 long stems in boxes of 10.
I change mine once a season, them again I will swap tires 2 or 3 times a year!
 
Dave for supplies such as lubricants, valves, and plugs/patches (if you do your own street tires) you could try contacting Tech (you'll have to Google them) and get their local distributor to help you out.
 
Bought the balancer tonight. From the picture, it looks so much bigger. Using one of my existing race rims, put it on there after making sure it was level to begin with. Wow, pretty cool!! It would be pretty interesting to take the tire and put it on a shops machine and see how close it is.
 
Anyone spin ballance the rims on the car? It's how they're ballanced on over the road rigs and how car tires used to be ballanced. Still have to wonder about the side to side balance that's missed with static ballance jobs. Could be important with wider rims.
 
Just got back from having the two other tires mounted at Town Fair Tire in CT. OMG! This just reaffirmed that getting the tire mounting machine was a good idea. The guy gave me such an attitude about mounting the two tires because I didn't buy them there. Ummm, you've mounted several in the recent past and I asked if you guys could get them. Last time they said they weren't able to get them, but can mount them because of this. They wanted to charge me $71 to mount two tires. The valve stems - $15 for two. Seriously?

Okay, don't balance them or put brand new valve stems on them. Oh, he loved that! You NEED valve stems. Dude, you didn't even look at the tires or valve stems and they were recently replaced. But we don't have a way to charge you for just mounting them. Grumble, grumble. (I had no problem if they charged me something reasonable for doing this.) It'll be $2 each to get rid of the tires. No problem I tell him and mention that I honestly don't have an issue paying them to mount the tires. But I can't input that into the computer.

Well, why is it costing me $71 to mount two tires this time? That's insane. We don't mount other people tires, and that's what it costs. Left paying $4 and change. Was sure to talk to him about his poor attitude and crappy way of handling things. Also won't be purchasing the truck tires I came in for a quote last week, and will mention the experience to my friend who does quite a bit of business with you guys (a car dealership).

I told my friend who was there watching the guy in disbelief that this just reaffirms buying the tire machines was well worth it. At least I say that now before I've attempted to use it. LOL
 
Why don't you just use your new machine?

Here is a good video for how to use it, assuming it is a standard rim clamp (gotta put up w/ a bit of propaganda, but not too bad):

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfXCaxNHmns[/ame]
 
I haven't picked up yet, have a race weekend starting on Friday and didn't want to worry about getting it / figuring out how to use it in time. Will be playing around with it in a week or so on some junk rims and tires.

The one I'm getting is a Coats 2020 unit. He quickly showed me how to use it, but didn't absorb all of the information. Trying to find an online manual for it...
 
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As far as supplies go, You can get a 6lb box of stick on weights for $20, local REAL (not advanced or autozone) parts store.. Box of 50 valve stems, $16ish.....I use a guy I met at the track now for supplies, all he dose is sell shop stuff!
Get a second Tire spoon! Very helpful!
 
gran racing said:
I haven't picked up yet, have a race weekend starting on Friday and didn't want to worry about getting it / figuring out how to use it in time. Will be playing around with it in a week or so on some junk rims and tires.

The one I'm getting is a Coats 2020 unit. He quickly showed me how to use it, but didn't absorb all of the information. Trying to find an online manual for it...
Click to expand...



A Coats 20-20 ???.. Be very very careful. Follow the directions carefully....Steel wheels, no problem, alloy wheels...it will take some practice, a lot of practice, and if you are not VERY careful you will break the center of the wheel.The downward pressure on the center of the wheel, when you step on the pedal, is quite significant. It was designed to be used on steel wheels ( this machine was ancient already when I started in the tire business 34 years ago), not alloy. Not to say that it won't do some alloy wheels, but the equipment is only as good as the operator within the machines capabilities...Also, make sure the guy who buy it from gives you the plastic covers for the tire bar so it doesn't scratch your wheels. Without them, it WILL scratch your wheels.
 
Lael Cleland said:
As far as supplies go, You can get a 6lb box of stick on weights for $20, local REAL (not advanced or autozone) parts store.. Box of 50 valve stems, $16ish.....I use a guy I met at the track now for supplies, all he dose is sell shop stuff!
Get a second Tire spoon! Very helpful!
Click to expand...


By the steel polyester coated stick on weights....the lead stick on weights are being banned slowly but surely state by state.

TR412 valves are the shortest (not easy to find), TR413 valves are the most common
 
I agree with Phil about the coats 20-20, (obviously he knows way more than me about tire changing) when I was looking at getting a machine I came across that and figured it wouldn't be the best bet for track wheels, since the wheels are usually soft and the tires are really stiff. I was going to go for a full size machine but didn't have the space, I ended up going with a manual machine instead.
 
Does current owner of the coats 20-20 change race tires or just normal street tires?

Maybe you could take one of yours to him and watch him change it. If he has trouble then you most definitely will since he has more experience. Just a thought.
 
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