I have a set of standard plastic rims with wide tires on em. I just picked up a set of 4 ply reg tires. I need to switch em out is there any tricks or tips I should know about that will make changing them easier?

Try not to gouge the rim with whatever you use to pry the tire off. patience is a huge factor, and try a little dish soap to "lube" things up. It will go off and on much easier with some liquid soap. Good luck and I will see ya soon!!

Sean

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Originally posted by Fireball I have a set of standard plastic rims with wide tires on em. I just picked up a set of 4 ply reg tires. I need to switch em out is there any tricks or tips I should know about that will make changing them easier?

Presume these are the bigfoots discussed in the other thread.
When tires are new, I find them quite hard to put on.
I wear boots, put the rim on a small pedestal about inch to 2 inches thick, then walk around tire to squeeze it on.
The soap mentioned is almost a must to sliding on the tires. I use washing up liquid. We have a product here called Fairy liquid which you probably have in the USA.. Try not to use to get it across the tire side wall because it makes it slippery for your boots. Just wipe it around with your fingers where it has to sit on the rim.
If you are using inner tubes, put a little bit of air in them to avoid pinching/ trapping teh tube between rim & tire.


Good luck.

You can make a handy tool for getting tires off and on a rim with a bit of steel
bar-stock, say 3/4" by 5/32 to 1/8" thick and a bench grinder.

The idea is to make a tiny smooth ended pry bar to get under the tire and pop it off the rim, or to lever it back on.

Just round the ends of the bar-stock on a grinder or sander, and grind a bit of an angle to the flat side, so the tip is only about 1/16 to 3/32 at the tip. Not absolutely necessary, but it's helpful to put a slight bend in the end, about and inch up and only 10° to 20°. For best results polish it smooth and you've got a great little tire lever.

Two to three of them make getting a tire on quite easy!

-Chip

Or you can just go to any bike shop and buy a set of tire prying tools (steel, not plastic) (about $5). They're designed to not hurt the tires or rims That, and soap make tire changing a snap!

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Originally posted by Bucky Or you can just go to any bike shop and buy a set of tire prying tools (steel, not plastic) (about $5). They're designed to not hurt the tires or rims That, and soap make tire changing a snap!

Instead, go to a motercycle shop and buy the tire irons they have. Much easier to use, much bigger for the leverage needed.

Be careful seating the tires on the rims, maker sure they are evenly set.

Steve

best way is to take them to a tyre dealer and let them put them on they are the experts and will do it for a couple of beers

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Originally posted by popeyethewelder best way is to take them to a tyre dealer and let them put them on they are the experts and will do it for a couple of beers

One of the problems that I encountered taking buggy wheels to a tyre dealer is that they will not fit on their machines. The rim bores are too small. The machines can handle car rims but not the kite buggy rims. Many dealers won't change the tyre because of this problem. I found one dealer that did the job by popping off the tyre using a couple of large screwdrivers. I didn't like that, so made up my own tyre irons & prefer to do the job myself now.
However, I understand that if you take them to a motorcycle dealer who is equipped, you have a better chance of getting the job done OK.

Besides plastic rims, I also have split rims, which makes it easier to change tyres. If you do have split rims, DO NOT try & remove tyres like on the one piece plastic rims. You likely to do some serious damage on them.

I just cheesed out and went the easy route and bought a new set of tires and rims. Now I can just switch em out with a few bolts instead of changing tires. Yep The auto tire shop couldnt do them as they wouldnt fit the machine. Then when they asked me what these weird tire and rims went on, I got some really weird looks. LOL! A Kite What? Huh? WTF? Ahh well Must buggy......

Cheesy is Easy!

O.K. I know you cheesed out and extra rims, But just in case you or anyone else is interested. The guy at the bike shop tells me soap/detergent are not good for properly setting tires. He said you want something that is slick only temporarily, otherwise whenever you hit any large impact, it could potentially unbalance your tires. He recommended something like Windex which completely evaporates once you've finish inflating and setting you tires. That way they get locked in balance.

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Originally posted by Bucky The guy at the bike shop tells me soap/detergent are not good for properly setting tires. He said you want something that is slick only temporarily, otherwise whenever you hit any large impact, it could potentially unbalance your tires. He recommended something like Windex which completely evaporates once you've finish inflating and setting you tires. That way they get locked in balance.

Interesting point Bucky.
Are you actually getting your buggy wheels dynamically balanced?
I use washing up liquid because I didn't know about the stuff that evaporates. I will have to check out Windex or whatever similar product is available here.
I can't see that using washing up liquid soap will be a problem when using tubeless tyres. We really don't go fast enough to suffer from unbalanced wheels . My top speed ever was 66 kph (41 mph). The amount of unbalancing of the tube on the rim in my opinion would not be noticeable

I think the evaporating soap (Windex) does have merit where tyres with inner tubes are used.
I use bigfoots at low pressures when buggying in soft sand and the tyres tend creep around the rims with time. This has the tendency to move the tube as well making the valve stem lean over badly. Left unchecked, this tears the valve from the tyre rendering the inner tube irrepairable. Currently, to fix this problem, I deflate the tyre & move it and the offending inner tube back so that the valve protrudes correctly.

It's recommended for tubeless as well. Its not so much tires get dynamically unbalanced. It that if you hit an obstacle, regular soap will allow the tire's rim to get pushed off center (sometimes to the point of causing a blowout). If a tire is centered and not slippery, the tire pressure alone should be enough to keep the rim in place.

Here's a test to see if your tires have gotten out of true. Spin your tires in the air, and follow the groove lines, or the general shape. If its not arrow straight and stable, Every waver translates into bumps and shakes.

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Originally posted by Bucky It's recommended for tubeless as well. Its not so much tires get dynamically unbalanced. It that if you hit an obstacle, regular soap will allow the tire's rim to get pushed off center (sometimes to the point of causing a blowout). If a tire is centered and not slippery, the tire pressure alone should be enough to keep the rim in place. Here's a test to see if your tires have gotten out of true. Spin your tires in the air, and follow the groove lines, or the general shape. If its not arrow straight and stable, Every waver translates into bumps and shakes.

I have been buggying for 5 years in some pretty tough terrain & never had a blow out like you describe, so I think it must be a pretty rare occurence. I never heard of any of my buggying mates having this problem either.

We all use bigfoots here without grooves . Grooved tyres for our terrain don't do anything to enhance performance except allow the tyre to wear out quicker.

I do spin my wheels from time to time checking for wobbles. I noticed that I get wobbles on my split alloy rims but not on the plastic ones. That's rim & not a tyre fitting problem though.

Interesting chat.