Is it safe to mount tires on 1935 wire rims on a tire machine? Will the newer machines even work? I called a couple local places. One would not do it, one said they would need to see the rims to see if they needed to be mounted by hand. Thanks - Brian
The guy at the shop near me used a tire machine to mount my 35 wires so I say yes. He did them quick too. Also, Belle tire near me won't do it but Discount tire will. Also try the small mom and pop shops.
If they are 16", they would be easy to mount by hand. All you need are a couple of tire irons to put them on. Are you going to use tubes?
I saw a cool thread on the AACA site; mounting tires without tools and no chance of scratches.. The guy did a utube video; Shows him using a super thin cheapie plastic garbage bag with the rim iside. Then only using hands, he wiggled the tire right on easy. He was a thin older guy, not a pro wrestler It took more time to rip the plastic bag up in pieces and out of the tire when it was on, but no scratches at all.
Many moons ago, bout 35, I used to work in a tire store. We mounted all the wire wheels by hand. Mostly British, mg and trimpuh. We did do a few for restored A's and such though. If careful I'm sure you could do on machine, but those things have quite a bit of torque and could easily mess up the true on a wire wheel. A lot of places won't touch em because they don't want to be liable for damage. And if you take them to a place and they use a machine, make sure to find out if all goes wrong who is liable for damage, standard practice is you, they are mostly not liable for wires or mag type wheels. Although they deal with alloys so much now it may not be a big a deal to them as it used to be.
i wouldnt think it would be too hard to do it by hand..(with out a machine that is) im thinking many were done by hand tools or the lack of , back in the day....way before these new fangled thing you call a tire machine came about I've mounted many a tire to wire laced wheels AKA Motorcycle types with out the aid of machines, cant be that hard
Good greef, get a shipping blanket and a rubber mallet and do it yourself like everyone else has done.
I am sure there are a lot of folks that have done this by hand. I am positive that "everyone" has not. Just asking a question. Yes I have done motor cycle tires but have never done a car tire.
My local Firestone Tire store will mount 16s (as well as 19 and 21" A wheels) on his machine with no scratching and he even has a balancer that can balance these wheels-and yes, that makes a difference. If he has the capabilities, there must be lots others out there....
I had an old coats machine at my old shop. They made teflon shoes to go over the end of the tire tool to protect the rims. I mounted a bunch of 35 wires. I even made an adapter to mount tires on 36-39 wide five rims. Just a thin plate with studs welded on for the lug nut holes. You just need it sturdy enough to keep the tire from spinning when mounting the tire. The problem can be the young buck that is usually the one on the tire machine. He doesn't give a **** about your paint and his boss doesn't want him to take the extra time to do the job carefully.
i've done plenty of these wheels on a tire machine no problems, we have the teflon shoes on our machine and have never scratched one yet.
where are you in pa? Universal tire in Hershey will mount and balance them. They deal in bias ply. No young bucks mounting and balancing them there either
WTF the difference betwee a hot rod wire and a Harley wheel, not a danm thing! Find a better tire store!
The whole reason I was asking was to see if a tire machine would mess up the older style wire rims. Wasn't sure if the pressure these machines put out would break them. I mounted them myself.
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