Technical Bead Breaking (So easy a caveman can do it) - Tires

List of items you will need:

1) A tire that needs changing.
2) A good set of tire irons.
3) Tire lube (very important).
4) A nice soft mat, so you don't scuff up your rims.
5) A stout garage door.
6) A Trace brand bead breaker(this is the most important) Message Trace for the specs. Its a precision tool!

Once you have gathered all the necessary tools and have a few beers, its time to start. Make sure the garage door is positioned at the proper height and the tire is at the precise distance so the lever and wedge are at a 90 degree angle when resting on the bead. Then with nice straight arms, a straight back, and a determined look on your face, begin to bounce up and down on the bead. If everything is aligned it will pop right off. Use your tire irons and plenty of tire lube for the rest. Then go have some more beer!

[image: Posted Image]

I once put the leg of a couch on the bead and got all my room mates to jump up and down on it.  The next day was my first race.

Are you saying Trace is a tool?   :laugh:

Since I don't have a stout garage door or a Trace, I put a moving blanket in my driveway, put the rim on it and drive over the tire with the front of my car.
Works like a charm.

[image: View Post]Rice, on 18 November 2011 - 05:53 PM, said:

Are you saying Trace is a tool?   :laugh:

Since I don't have a stout garage door or a Trace, I put a moving blanket in my driveway, put the rim on it and drive over the tire with the front of my car.
Works like a charm.
Isn't it hard to line-up your car if the blacket is moving? (sorry, couldn't help it)

Trace looks so studly!! Pump that thang.

Here is what I have been using for a bead breaker. It works for my motorcycle's, ATV's and tractor tires without breaking a sweat. I put a block of wood under the tire and a block of wood under the wedge of the splitter. I have used it many times with no issues.
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[image: View Post]obryap, on 18 November 2011 - 06:52 PM, said:

Here is what I have been using for a bead breaker. It works for my motorcycle's, ATV's and tractor tires without breaking a sweat. I put a block of wood under the tire and a block of wood under the wedge of the splitter. I have used it many times with no issues.
[image: Posted Image]
HAHA, nothing like a little overkill!

wow..
if you need to change your tire that bad..
put cardboard on the ground. drive your car over the edge of your tire.
  flip your wheel and repeat.

[image: View Post]gll429, on 18 November 2011 - 09:41 PM, said:

wow..
if you need to change your tire that bad..
put cardboard on the ground. drive your car over the edge of your tire.
  flip your wheel and repeat.
HAHA....His corvette has about a 5" clearance. He would end up just pushing it down the street!

What works for me
Tire/wheel on piece of carpet
2 x 4 on tire perpindicular to the rim
Drive car/truck on 2 x 4
Flip rim, repeat

Not fancy, not sophisticated, but it works.

[image: View Post]Coastie, on 18 November 2011 - 04:51 PM, said:

Once you have gathered all the necessary tools and have a few beers, its time to start.
Deflate the tire before having the beers or your drunken ass might end up trebucheted over the roof. :laugh:

[image: View Post]Coastie, on 18 November 2011 - 10:42 PM, said:

HAHA....His corvette has about a 5" clearance. He would end up just pushing it down the street!
Clearance is more like 2 7/8 inches.  It's pretty much impossible to use my car as a tire-changing device!  (It needs a BATH, too!)
[image: Posted Image]

[image: View Post]CharlesW, on 18 November 2011 - 11:33 PM, said:

Not fancy, not sophisticated, but it works.
Well, I wouldn't necessarily describe my home-made 2x4 bead breaker method as "sophisticated", either.

Very primative, why not get a tire machine, life is alot easier, and you can stand up.

Its worth it if your going to do your own tires, but otherwise its worth $30 for shop to do it.

[image: View Post]spud786, on 19 November 2011 - 12:05 PM, said:

Very primative, why not get a tire machine, life is alot easier, and you can stand up.
That's a silly thing to say.  Sure it's primative, but it's ingenious and it works.  I can certainly afford a tire machine, but I don't NEED something that I'd use two-three times a year that takes up a lot of space in my pristine garage.  My easily stored 2x4 breaker, my irons, and my rim protectors work beautifully.  And....I invested in the superb Marc Parnes wheel balancing kit http://marcparnes.com/  , so that tool plus an account at SWMotoTires makes me totally self-sufficient when it comes to tires.

Ask Coastie how long it took me to get that 190 tire off that RC51 wheel.

Trace, ditch that 2x4 and you'll have a perfectly good excuse to buy a proper car - a truck :idea3:

[image: View Post]Trace, on 19 November 2011 - 10:55 AM, said:

Clearance is more like 2 7/8 inches.  It's pretty much impossible to use my car as a tire-changing device!  (It needs a BATH, too!)
[image: Posted Image]

Im self sufficient too, with a full stand balancer, but I can see that is not your thing.

[image: View Post]spud786, on 19 November 2011 - 01:19 PM, said:

Im self sufficient too, with a full stand balancer, but I can see that is not your thing.
Well that's great, but what IS your point with putting me down about my $2 2x4, along with anyone else here who doesn't have the cool stuff that you have?  You have a "full stand balancer" and a tire machine, yet I'm quite sure you can't change or balance a tire any better or faster than I can.  

So here we have a friend of mine (Coastie) posting a semi-humorous story about me changing a tire with a minimal amount of cave-man tools, and you find it fitting to be high&mighty about your grand equipment.  Well, I hope you get your money's worth out of 'em.

Next time you go to change a tire---and I hope it's daily since you have such unprimitive professional equipment---take a moment to get over yourself.

Before the JC Whitney bead breaker,  I used to jack my car up on the tire with the appropriate 2X4's etc. and use the car's weight to do the dirt.  It is more controlled and waaaaaay more sophisicated than simply diving over the wheel.   :rolleyes:

[image: View Post]Trace, on 19 November 2011 - 03:18 PM, said:

[image: View Post]spud786, on 19 November 2011 - 01:19 PM, said:

Im self sufficient too, with a full stand balancer, but I can see that is not your thing.
Well that's great, but what IS your point with putting me down about my $2 2x4, along with anyone else here who doesn't have the cool stuff that you have?  You have a "full stand balancer" and a tire machine, yet I'm quite sure you can't change or balance a tire any better or faster than I can.  

So here we have a friend of mine (Coastie) posting a semi-humorous story about me changing a tire with a minimal amount of cave-man tools, and you find it fitting to be high&mighty about your grand equipment.  Well, I hope you get your money's worth out of 'em.

Next time you go to change a tire---and I hope it's daily since you have such unprimitive professional equipment---take a moment to get over yourself.


Just as I stated, if you want to be a cave man have fun, doesnt really matter does it.

Folks,

Would it be possible to use a big 'C' Clamp to break the bead?



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