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How-To: Take off old tires from rims

19K views 23 replies 19 participants last post by  caddy1820 
#1 ·
Did this for another board, but thought it may be handy for you guys too. I hope to complete an "install" how-to when my new tires come in.

I got bored this evening so I figured I would take the old set of tires off of the rims so I can mount the new tires for Talladega/CMP whenever they come in. I took some pictures during the process in case anybody was wondering how it was done. Please note this was my FIRST time doing this, so there could be a better way to do it. This method seemed to work pretty decent for me and I never once had to sling a tire iron, punch the wall, or "take a timeout" due to frustration. :D Also note that I did not protect the rim. If you are worried about the appearance of the wheel lip, you should buy some rim savers or cut up some shampoo bottles/orange juice jugs/milk jugs.


1. Here are the items you will need: a couple of 2x4's to keep the wheel (and brake disc) off the floor/ground, an 8"/200 mm c-clamp (Sears has them for $13.50), and a piece of 1x2 or some other thin board. Not pictured are tire irons. I used 4 (1 - 11 1/2" and 3 - 9" irons)


This also comes in handy (thanks for the recommendation Sig :wink)



2. The first step of actual work is to take the valve out of the tire. You can get a valve remover at Advance or Pep Boys for about $3. Once the valve is it out, it's time to break the bead.

For the rear, you can just put the c-clamp on there and one side will break easily.


In order to break the bead on the other side, you will need to use the thin board in this fashion (pic was taken on front wheel)


Here is what it will look like when the bead breaks


To finish breaking the bead on the rest of the rim, lay the wheel down on the 2 2x4's like this


And you can either use your hands like this


or for the stubborn bead, you can use your knees



3. Now that the bead is broken, its time to get the bead up and over the rim. This was probably the closest thing to being frustrating. Here is where the Honda polish comes in handy. Spray some on the bead and on the rim lip to make sure everything is nice and slick. I found that for a one person operation, place 4 irons between the tire and rim like this


Start with one of the irons on the end and lever the bead over the rim lip. Now just go down the tire iron line doing the same thing. Once you get all four spots levered over, the tire should look like this (I know, pic is already in the thread :redflip). Note the bead on the right is over the rim.


At this point, you should be able to grab the tire bead that is already over the rim lip and pull the rest of the bead over (may need to add more Honda polish). Note: I recommend using your hand to hold the wheel down instead of a foot. I used my foot (only the ball of it and only on the center hub) so I could take the picture yet show that the wheel needed to be held in place


IMPORTANT NOTE: when you go to pull the rest of the bead over the rim, make sure the "bottom" bead is in the deep (center) portion of the wheel, otherwise you will be working against yourself.


4. To get the "bottom" bead off of the rim, I pretty much repeated step 3 with the exception that I only had to use 2 tire irons and was then able to pull the tire off of the wheel (or in my case, pull the wheel out of the tire :)). Honda polish is your friend here as well.



That pretty much sums it up. Please remember to do not put pressure or stress on your brake disc's. They do sometimes get in the way, but you can usually find a way around them. If you are scared of screwing up the brake disc's, by all means take them off as its a small price to pay for peace of mind.

Please feel free to add tips, tricks, and techniques that I did not touch on. I thought this may be handy for some of you do-it-yourselfer's. Enjoy. :thumbup

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#3 ·
WHy don't you just get a valve stem remover, take the valve stem out and that lets all the air out. Jump on the side of the tire and it'll break the bead for you..

Also -- 24" spoons work better than those 10" (?) ones you are using. they make it quite easier.
 
#5 ·
SpLiZaaT said:
WHy don't you just get a valve stem remover, take the valve stem out and that lets all the air out. Jump on the side of the tire and it'll break the bead for you..

Also -- 24" spoons work better than those 10" (?) ones you are using. they make it quite easier.

You must have some weak beads (or be working on a dirtbike or mountain bike tire :wink), because I have tried standing on them and they didn't budge.

I use the small irons because they are a little easier to deal with since I do this all myself (i.e. no help). That, and the fact a friend bent his wheel because he was using a long iron (15 or 17").....the long iron's levering force was more than the wheel could handle and so the wheel gave way. With the shorter irons, you don't really have to worry about that. :thumbup
 
#6 ·
did you remove the valvestem completely before stepping on it??

Also -- i was doing a dirtbike tire ;) But i have a hard time believing the long spoons bent the r6 rim...we REALLY press down on dirtbike tires to get them on and never have we bent a thin aluminum rim haha

Anyways, nice writeup -- never though to use clamps.
 
#7 ·
SpLiZaaT said:
did you remove the valvestem completely before stepping on it??

Also -- i was doing a dirtbike tire ;) But i have a hard time believing the long spoons bent the r6 rim...we REALLY press down on dirtbike tires to get them on and never have we bent a thin aluminum rim haha

Anyways, nice writeup -- never though to use clamps.


Yes, the valve was completely removed. Try jumping up and down on a sprotbike tire and let me know how it goes for ya. :wink The clamp idea came from a friend of mine who used to race AMA dirt track (awesome rider). I would have never thought of that had he not mentioned it to me.


The long irons do provide good mechanical advantage over the shorter ones, but I never strained to lever the bead up and over the rim using the shorter ones. Plus with the brake disc's still in place, that just made the long iron (I tried using a 15" iron) too cumbersome to deal with. I don't know.....after hearing him tell the horror story of him bending his rim and that using the shorters irons would prevent that from happening, I wasn't willing to to take the chance. :)


I was not there when my buddy bent his rim (was on a TL, not an R6) and I have not personally seen the rim, but he is a mechanic and others have seen the rim so I have no reason to doubt him. You'd be surprised at how easily the bead came over the lip using the short irons. :wink It's all about what you are comfortable with......and I am comfortable with the short irons. :thumbup
 
#10 ·
Me and some of my buddies went in a mauanl changing set up. We bought an old truck wheel ($20 at the local wheel shop) that fits inside of the R6 wheel and is deep enough that the sprocket or rotors dont hit anything. To keep it from dmaging the rim when cut up a garden hose and that is attached to the outside lip.
 
#11 ·
brassballs1979 said:
We bought an old truck wheel ($20 at the local wheel shop) that fits inside of the R6 wheel and is deep enough that the sprocket or rotors dont hit anything.
I’d like to try that. What size of rim is it?
 
#12 ·
a 15in rim would probably work best... our motorcycle rims are 17's
 
#14 ·
Call me lazy but I just cut the tyre off the rim with a thick scalpel, starting from the middle top of the tyre and working my way down to the beed on either side. Sooo much easier and quicker!

If you do a burnout beforehand it's even quicker to cut thru as the tyre isn't as thick.
 
#20 ·
How are you home changers balancing the wheels. I have a compressor and will try the wood method above to break the bead!
I want to change my own tyre's now I have a stash of part worn supercorsa pro's for track days that I dont really want to use on the road! I can't really afford a 2nd set of wheels at the moment.
 
#21 ·
I have never had problems with them being out of balance...just make sure you put the tire mark where the valve stem goes. If you think about it.....first time you crack the throttle or take some corners hard...your tires aren't going to be perfectly balanced. My rule of thumb is if it doesn't wobble at 100 or right around your good.
 
#24 ·
Help with tire install

Something to keep in mind while installing the tire is to make sure once you start getting the bead into the tire dont let it stay around the edge of the rim keep it pushed down towards the middle of the tire (width wise). Just look at the rim, if you have it towards the middle it will give you more play on the other end of the rim allowing you to slip the bead over.
 
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