I am new to karting and changing tires has been a massive struggle for me. I have a bead breaker, tire plyers, which work well and good, but that leaves me with the rim half out of the tire and I am unable to get the rim out. I have resorted to tire grease and a heat gun, which helped get the rears out but I haven’t had any luck. If anyone has any advice that would be greatly appreciated!
Speaking as a 130 lb weakling who also struggles with mounting and dismounting tires, it’s all in the technique (and it helps to have some weight behind your pushing and pulling).
Fold the tire in and crush it down on the part nearest to you. Kneel on that part of the tire. Then use one hand to hold the tire down on the opposite side. Use your other hand to pull up on the rim. Lube helps. Can’t over-lube when it comes to tires.
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Yes all that above.
If you have a Tire Pryor, the scissors type, you should be able to insert the nose of the Pryor in the wheel and use the tire as a fulcrum and pop the wheel out. It’s too hard to explain here’s a link to a video. Kart Tire Mounting Tool - YouTube
Also, the Pryor has a sharp leading edge that might cut up the tire’s inner bead while dismounting. You might want to chamfer or slightly round the edges and use lots of lube.
You might have a hard time putting the new tire on the wheel. Always, insert the wheel or tire over the inner bead of the wheel. The inner bead is slightly smaller diameter than the outer bead. I’m sure there is tutorial on Youtube.
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Don’t worry, a lot of us struggle with this at first! This video helped me a lot: Tire Changing for Dummies - YouTube
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It’s all about the technique, you don’t need much strength so if it doesn’t work, don’t try to power through it! My fav video is this: Come cambiare le GOMME del Kart A MANO - YouTube I know it’s in italian, but follow the subtitles…the key is to make sure you create a gap between the rim and the bead by folding and positioning the tire in the right way. If you don’t see that gap, don’t try to push through with brute force.
As for your question specifically. Put it down to the ground. Turn the rim about 45 degrees, so you’ll have some sticking out, then push with your weight down into the tire where it makes contact with the rim using your hands or your knee and go around… Check the video above, 3:11 timestamp
Everyone needs to go to the @Muskabeatz school of tire changing. I struggled continuously until he schooled me at a race in the HMG tent.
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Thanks for the shoutout @CrocIndy! @Andy_DiGiusto is spot on that you want to create as large of a gap as possible between the bead and the rim. As his video demonstrates, this is accomplished by getting the tire as deep inside the rim “slot” as possible. It help if the tires are warm, and from there it just takes practice. Some wheels are easier than others to work with. The tire tongs can be used for both stages of dismounting, as @OldFartKarter mentioned.
We’ve all been there and struggled mightily, so you’re not alone! Best of luck!
This is what ended up doing the trick for me! Tire Changing for Dummies - YouTube
Thank you guys so much!
I am one step closer to my first race on sunday!
A product that makes this significantly easier, won’t make a mess, and is safe for your rubber is called ru-glyde sold by Napa. I put it in a spray bottle and spray each bead and tires go on rims easily and also the bead sets to the rim easier. Don’t use grease or wd-40!
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The kart lift tire changer is some of the best money I have spent in karting! I can swap a set of tires in under 5 mins.
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Have my eye on that Kartlift tool. How easy to learn how to use? It doesn’t slide around on you as you put a bunch of force up top on the tire/wheel?
The KartLift tool is great. There is also a technique to use it, but it allows for better angle and leverage. And the pry bar makes life much easier.
I stand on the horizontal bars so it doesn’t move. I’ve mounted/unmounted MG reds and oranges, as well as Vega reds on all sorts of wheels. A little simple green for some lube and it’s super easy to use. I’m 6’3" and 200 lbs, so I have plenty of weight and length to my advantage.
It folds up, and is easy to store in the trailer.
My 12 yo is 5’7" and 115 lbs, and can’t quite get the tires on/off yet. So his job is to pull beed screws and use the beed breaker!
With the possibility of exploding mag wheels due to trying to get the tire to pop into seat (psi) probably a good idea. Tire changing can be ugly.
I am unaware of this being “a thing”. If you’re keeping inflation pressures below that marked on the tire, people still experience rim failures while seating beads?!?!? I use one of the metal bands around the tire when seating beads, but that will just make sure it all ejects upwards into my face, great.
I’ve seen a few wheels failures from beading in my years but literally only 2 or 3 in 20 years. If you consider how many tires are being beaded every weekend, that’s miniscule. Use enough lube and some common sense and it shouldn’t be a major concern. For example, if you are filling it with TONS of air and it isn’t beading, pull the beadlock out and let it air down and apply more lube or let it sit in the sun for a bit and try again.
I do try and hold the tire as far away from myself as possible when beading though, just as a precaution.
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It’s rare but one of Jerry’s pals had to have finger sewn back on. That’s when he told me that he’d rather not have tent clients assist with tire mounting. 
Has anyone had trouble seating Evinco rain tires on Douglas wheels? I think I had the pressure up to 80 psi and it wouldn’t seat, even with tire lube. Finally we were able to seat the tire with Tri Flow.
Yeah, it rained in Southern California last Saturday.
I had to take a set of MG Cadet-sized rains roughly that high on aluminum wheels this fall, did not like it one bit. Funny given how easily they come off the wheel, but I guess the soft sticky rubber just didn’t want to slide up over bead.
I had the worst time with getting MG rains mounted on Douglas aluminum wheels! I even gave up and tried to have a shop help me and they couldn’t get it either. We tried the metal tire bands, crazy amounts of lube even including marvel mystery oil, 80psi, and even using a ratchet strap to crank down the tire more than the metal band could. None worked…and I’m quite sure I was damaging the tire in the process.
The issue is that one side of the tire would pop out first and then the angle for the non-seated side was too extreme for the pressure to overcome. My final solution that worked: fill the tire to 50psi then carefully use the bead breaker to push down on the side of the tire that’s already seated…pushing the bead away from the rim…this will allow the tire to more evenly sit against the rim and both sides popped out and seated.
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