School Me-Tire Changers.

[Iron-Iceberg]

Looks like I'm in need of a tire changing machine and a balancer for a new business. Only I have no experience with one out side of watching every time I get new tires.
So what style of changer is good?
What Brands should I look at and what ones should I avoid?
I will need to do run flats and I know those can be a pain.
This is a new business so I cant afford a lot but I don't want one that will not last. I just need a good work horse used is ok.

Thanks for any help.

 

[mulepackin]

Used to be able to find good lightly used Coats machines when most of the neighborhood service stations got run out of business by the "convenience stores". Wish I would of picked one up then. Still an occasional one comes available this way, but I'm not the only one watching.

 

[Danglerb]

How many tires you expect to do a week?

How skilled will the person be that operates it?

Any special kind of tires or wheels?

Do you need something that looks fancy for the customer, or is it hiding in the back?

 

[Iron-Iceberg]

Danglerb,
Ill be starting out at about 20-30 tires a week. Maybe more in the future. Ill be the one operating it. And although I do not have any experience with a tire machine. I do lots of vehicle work. And it will be me working the machine. Not some kid that id have to worry about.
I will need to do most passenger car tires. And run flats. No large truck tires. And it will be a my shop no customers so I don't need any bling. LOL

 

[bmwpower]

Go to TireRack and look at their "approved installers". They mention the brand/model machine each shop uses.

 

[wilbilt]

It very much depends on what kind of tires/wheels you will be changing.

I have an old Coats 20-20, and it works great for good old steel wheels and standard tires. I even change the occasional 14 or 15 inch alloy wheel on it, because I have the experience to do so without destroying the wheel.

If you will be working on newer alloy wheels in diameters of 16" or larger, you really need a GOOD rim-clamp machine and the proper training to use it.

Anything that will efficiently and safely do the job on the new stuff is not going to be cheap. Hunter makes excellent tire changers:
http://www.hunterengineering.com/pub/product/tirechanger/3814T/index.htm

Those run $3,000 and up...USED.

 

[Danglerb]

I don't really know any of this stuff, but working backwards, say 150 tires a month, and $5 to $10 a tire, thats about $1500 on the high side grossing a month, allow say 20% for equipment costs, thats $300, maybe a 2 to 3 year payoff, for a "rough" budget of $7k to $10k, but that should have all stuff you need in it, not just one or two main bits.

OTOH thats only about 5 a day, does anybody make a high quality simple tool? Maybe something like the Coats 310 or 4050?

If you can wait for a deal, decent stuff doesn't sell for all that much used, you just might have to travel a bit to pick something up.

 

[jimvannoy]

I have an old Coats 30-30 I got for $100.00. I have wanted ads running in various local papers all the time for different things and usually find what I want for a good price. You just have to say no to the calls with the higher priced stuff and a bargain will come along. I got a lot of calls when I had an ad running for a tire changer. I actually could have bought 3 or 4 old Coats machines for around that price.

I cleaned it up gave it a paint job and it's been working fine for a couple of years now. I have done many aluminum wheels on it with no problems but I use to use one all the time back in the early 80's.

 

[epmills]

At the shop I work at, we use this hunter machine http://www.hunter.com/pub/product/tirechanger/3814T/index.htm . I have no idea how much it cost, but I'm sure it wasn't cheap. The nice thing about it though, is that it even run flats aren't too hard to mount with it.
Personally, I would try and find someone who has had some tire mounting experiance. Tires are one of the things where its all about experience, there are guys in my shop who can mount very low profile mixed with run flats on very outdated machines like its nothing. Even hiring someone for a week to teach you some tips and tricks would mean a lot more than you can imagine.
Good luck with the business btw!

 

[wilbilt]

Tires are one of the things where its all about experience, there are guys in my shop who can mount very low profile mixed with run flats on very outdated machines like its nothing. Even hiring someone for a week to teach you some tips and tricks would mean a lot more than you can imagine.

Nice link, heh.

Well said. Experience is the key when dealing with other peoples' parts. Having to eat a few chrome 20" alloys can put a serious dent in the bottom line.

 

[ColdDuckTime]

Long ago and far away I had a car with 15x8 Minilites that were *not* made out of aluminum. Going to a tire shop was a real experience with some wheel damage nearly assured it seemed like. Oh man.

 

[kartracer55]

http://www.hunter.com/pub/product/tirechanger/3815T/index.htm.

We use a Hunter Tire machine and Hunter balancer at work. This machine right here handles pretty much everything we ask of it. It has provisions for reverse mount (BMW's) and I have done CRAZY sizes like 30 series on a 20 inch rim. Excellent machine, and because no metal contacts the rim as the machine is moving, you can safely assure customers that you will not damged the rim while changing a tire. We also have 2 coats machines, a REALLY oldschool one like Jim pictured above and a Coats from the early 80's that we use for steel rims.

AS far as Balancers, the Hunter Road force is absolute ****.
http://www.hunter.com/pub/product/balancer/4159T/index.htm
This is the latest and greatest machine. BIGGGG$$$ but if your opening a tire shop and have the volume to justify it, then its great.

 

[Vicegrip]

Coats 5030 rim clamp tire changer is a good workhorse that will do many types of rims steel and alloy. The 5030 a common unit so you should be able to find them used. Coats is good about stocking parts.

Coats 700 digital dynamic tire balancer is a OK entry level unit and is as accurate as the expensive ones but not quite as fast. Unless you are running a tire shop and have the mechanics standing in line for the machine 10 seconds a spin rather than 5 seconds a spin is not going to kill your profits. The 700 can also be found used but not a common as the 5030.

I hooked up a well worn 5030 for chump change from work and found a Coats 700 for under $500 with a rack and about 200 pounds of rim weights. Spent about $200 in parts to rebuild the 5030 from one end to the other replacing all the wear parts like seals, O rings, belts and hoses.

New each is $3000 or less if you shop around. Used they run around 1/2 price or less depending on condition.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

I gotta ask. What kind of "business" is that that will cause you to change 20 to 30 tires a week and not have any customers?

Charles

 

[Vicegrip]

I might venture a guess of a rim repair shop.

 

[bmwpower]

Here's a set...not cheap, but looks recent:

http://newjersey.craigslist.org/tls/421610396.html

 

[wilbilt]

I gotta ask. What kind of "business" is that that will cause you to change 20 to 30 tires a week and not have any customers?

I might guess doing changeovers for car dealers. We used to do quite a bit of that back in the early 80s. Chrome factory alloys were very popular on Mercedes, BMW, Volvo, Porsche, etc.

Our shop stocked factory wheels that had been plated, and we would pick up the cars directly from the dealer (or from the boat) and swap the wheels before the cars ever hit the lot. The "cores" would then be sent to the plater to be chromed. It was not uncommon to do 6-8 changeovers in a day.

We also did a lot of dismount/mount/balance jobs for a guy who had a business polishing and/or color matching wheels. he worked out of his garage, but would bring in the wheels loose.

 

[zvezdah1]

For anyone interested in a motorcycle tire changer, here's a manual one, I've seen demo'd and also read reports on, I'm ordering one today.

They've also got vids on the site of various tire changes.

http://www.nomartirechanger.com/
Chris

 

[RickP330]

Are you close to Long Island? I have a Coats 3030 I haven't used in a dogs age and will let go of cheap.
RickP

 

[Iron-Iceberg]

Visegrips right I do wheel repairs for dealerships and retail. I have been doing mostly on the spot repairs but I need to start doing more major repairs and I will need to remove the tires for this.
Sorry Rick Im about as far from Long Island as you can get. LOL Closer to Long Beach CA