How do I mount tires on rims myself (old school way)

Sbeghan

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2009
Location
Triangle, NC
TDI
03 Jetta Wagon 5spd 390k mi
So long story short, I have some 17 inch snow tires and 17 inch long beach rims (Got them really cheap off craigslist, haha). I picked up a tire iron and some ky jelly and am trying to mount the tires onto the rims but dear god its hard. I can get the first bead on but getting the second bead on seems impossible to me. The closer I get to getting flipping the bead under the lip the tighter the rest of the bead gets, to the point that it sounds like its tearing. How the hell do you guys do this? And yeah, I know one of the problems is that I'm using 17" rims and don't have much side wall to work with.
 

arne487

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2008
Location
Fort Collins, CO
TDI
'03 Golf TDI, '10 TDI Cup Jetta
There are plenty of videos on YouTube that show you how to do it. However, it's not worth the headache. Take the wheels and tires to WalMart. Pay them $5 per wheel to do it for you. Balance them yourself with a static balancer.
 

Lug_Nut

TDIClub Enthusiast, Pre-Forum Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 20, 1998
Location
Sterling, Massachusetts. USA
TDI
idi: 1988 Bolens DGT1700H, the other oil burner: 1967 Saab Sonett II two stroke
A difference between man and animals is the use of tools.
A difference between homo sapiens and other humanoids is using the right tool.
If YOU don't have the right tool, then barter something, like a few dollars, to let a practiced operator perform the labor for you.

I'll change bicycle tires and lawn equipment tires, but the low speed construction and flimsy, tall (relative to tire width) sidewalls make them easy to mount and dismount. Wide, low-profile, steel-belted tires aren't worth wasting the time, tire and wheel.
Tell me these aren't run-flat tires, because their sidewalls are stiffer yet.
Save the wheel, save the tire, save your time and effort.
 

Abacus

That helpful B4 guy
Joined
Nov 10, 2007
Location
Relocated from Maine to Dewey, AZ
TDI
Only the B4V left
Not everyone has a Wal-Mart next door, or a garage that won't gouge you to death.

The trick is to get the bead opposite of where you're putting on in the center of the rim, so it'll be at the point closest to the center of the rim. This will allow the bead on which you're working to have the most distance, so it'll be easier to get over the lip.

I bought my own used tire machine for cheap ($100) and it's a lot easier than changing them by hand, which I used I do often. The right set of tire spoons makes all the difference.

Toss an 8 ply sidewall off-road tire on a narrow rim sometime and you'll see just how easy car tires are by comparison.
 

Sbeghan

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2009
Location
Triangle, NC
TDI
03 Jetta Wagon 5spd 390k mi
Well, I watched youtube videos of people doing it by hand and they made it look so easy, but the tires were more flexible than mine. Its a Blizzak WS-50 so it might be thicker than normal? Medium profile too, but not too thin. I said screw it and took it to Walmart but they wouldn't do used tires so I'm going to run to a used tire place across town. All the regular tire places want 20-25 a wheel which is ridiculous.

The way I see it is, if I can do it by hand I'd like to do it at least once so I know how to do it in case of emergency. I guess these tires and rims defeated me, but I'll try again on a 195/65-15 on a warm summer day.
 

tdidieselbobny

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 4, 2005
Location
Stafford,NY (WNY)
TDI
'03 Galactic Blue Jetta TDI, '15 Silk Blue Golf Sportwagen TDI
So long story short, I have some 17 inch snow tires and 17 inch long beach rims (Got them really cheap off craigslist, haha). I picked up a tire iron and some ky jelly and am trying to mount the tires onto the rims but dear god its hard. I can get the first bead on but getting the second bead on seems impossible to me. The closer I get to getting flipping the bead under the lip the tighter the rest of the bead gets, to the point that it sounds like its tearing. How the hell do you guys do this? And yeah, I know one of the problems is that I'm using 17" rims and don't have much side wall to work with.
Did you wipe any liquid dish soap along the bead of tire? Nothing expensive,get a bottle of cheapest dish soap you can find. Beads didn't seat w/ air alone for me when I mounted son's winter tires a few months ago. A LITTLE ether assisted in setting the beads-do so at your own risk-not the ideal way of doing it,but I don't own any other type of "bead setters" or whatever you want to call them.
 

Jayg

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2012
Location
Anchorage, AK
TDI
'12 Jetta 6MT-VW bought back as a lemon
Did you wipe any liquid dish soap along the bead of tire? Nothing expensive,get a bottle of cheapest dish soap you can find. Beads didn't seat w/ air alone for me when I mounted son's winter tires a few months ago. A LITTLE ether assisted in setting the beads-do so at your own risk-not the ideal way of doing it,but I don't own any other type of "bead setters" or whatever you want to call them.
Fun to watch though!
 

Seatman

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 23, 2010
Location
Scotland
TDI
2014 Skoda rapid elegance 1.6 cr tdi
Not worth it but can be fun just for the hell of it, tough on a 17 though :eek:
 

mrchill

TDIClub Enthusiast, Super Secret Diesel Ninja Vend
Joined
Sep 16, 2003
Location
MASS! home of THE WORLD SERIES CHAMPION RED SOX! x
TDI
96 B4v red \ 98 Mk3 green\98 Mk3 Jetta black\ 99 Mk4 Jetta green x2\ 99 Mk4 Golf silver x2\ 99 Mk4 Jetta black\ 97 B4 sedan green\04 JSW gold\03 JSW silver
Warm soapy water and the proper technique. Absolutely it can be done...but as it was said...it isnt worth it by a long shot.I used to manually mount and static balance tires...once radials were more common...it was tough. Low pros are even more difficult. If you have the wheel held down firmly it should be ok to do...but if not...you will have severe difficulty. You need to drop the lip of the tire well past the bread point while rotating the rest onto the rim. I know a 75 year old guy that does them like cake all day...and also does split rims by hand in under 5 minutes no machine. Technique.
 

Sbeghan

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2009
Location
Triangle, NC
TDI
03 Jetta Wagon 5spd 390k mi
Haha, I'll remember that bit about Walmart next time. These tires were apparently a bit hard to get onto the rims and took the guys at the shop 10 minutes each tire. I was in a hurry and didn't notice they had mounted 3 of them in one direction (whoops), so I'll have to go back and have them reverse it later. I didn't use dish soap, I used KY jelly :D
 

engineered2win

Veteran Member
Joined
May 24, 2011
Location
Dublin, OH
TDI
MkVI Golf TDI
What size tires are these? My dad has a Hazard Fraught tire changer and I've used it to change tires on my old cavalier, but those were 195/70R14's... I moonlighted as a tire lackey back in college and remember how easy those bike tires slipped on the wheels with a real tire changer. It took me a good 40 minutes to mount them. You're wasting too much effort on 17's. Go on tirerack.com and find the closest retailer with the cheapest mounting and balancing.
 

Pat Dolan

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2002
Location
Martensville, SK
TDI
2003 A4 Variant, 2015 Q7
DO NOT use soap on your tires, ESPECIALLY with steel rims. The stuff is acidic and will attack the rubber, not to mention corrode the heck out of a steel rim. Tire lubricant is the right stuff (not sure if KY Jelly is or not...certainly not within my field of expertise - I won't ask how the OP came up with that).

If you are not dismounting, the only things you need to re-install a tire is your feet, some rubber lube and a rubber mallet. A few cracks on the bead in a radial outward direction while you tromp the opposite side of the bead into the drop with your feet will put almost any tire on in a few seconds.

My (now deceased) team mate insisted that we do all kart tires by hand (i.e. NO tools except for the bead breaker). With 6 to 10 karts at any one event, that was a LOT of tire handling. If you REALLY want to develop some skill, try that some time.
 

Lug_Nut

TDIClub Enthusiast, Pre-Forum Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 20, 1998
Location
Sterling, Massachusetts. USA
TDI
idi: 1988 Bolens DGT1700H, the other oil burner: 1967 Saab Sonett II two stroke
What "emergency"?

The way I see it is, if I can do it by hand I'd like to do it at least once so I know how to do it in case of emergency.
What kind of emergency?
On the road when driving? If the tire comes off the rim the tire AND rim are shot.
At home? Then it's not an emergency, is it?
 

P0234

Veteran Member
Joined
May 18, 2011
Location
NoVA
TDI
11 JSW
Not everyone has a Wal-Mart next door, or a garage that won't gouge you to death.

The trick is to get the bead opposite of where you're putting on in the center of the rim, so it'll be at the point closest to the center of the rim. This will allow the bead on which you're working to have the most distance, so it'll be easier to get over the lip.

I bought my own used tire machine for cheap ($100) and it's a lot easier than changing them by hand, which I used I do often. The right set of tire spoons makes all the difference.

Toss an 8 ply sidewall off-road tire on a narrow rim sometime and you'll see just how easy car tires are by comparison.
Great advice above. Only thing to add is get ru-glide from Napa, best lube there is. Plastic Milk bottles make great rim protector material.

Also, at no point should the tire feel like you are ripping cords. It's ALL in technique, as soon as you start wrestling with the tire, you will lose.

That, and if you can find someone to do it for less than $10 a tire, PAY THEM!!!
 

arne487

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2008
Location
Fort Collins, CO
TDI
'03 Golf TDI, '10 TDI Cup Jetta
Wal-Mart gets 35.00? I have to raise my prices.
$5 to mount a tire, $8 to balance a wheel. I was actually surprised last week when they mounted my wife's snow tires without scratching a single wheel.

I won't ever let Wal-Mart touch one of my cars again (goodbye pinch weld), but I'll still take wheels and tires in for them to mount.
 

tdidieselbobny

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 4, 2005
Location
Stafford,NY (WNY)
TDI
'03 Galactic Blue Jetta TDI, '15 Silk Blue Golf Sportwagen TDI
DO NOT use soap on your tires, ESPECIALLY with steel rims. The stuff is acidic and will attack the rubber, not to mention corrode the heck out of a steel rim. Tire lubricant is the right stuff
I never heard of that before-guess I'll just have to worry about the tires then,as they were mounted on some alloy wheels:eek:. I'll have to see if someplace sells a small container of tire lube-my boss bought a 4 or 5lb plastic tub of it last year,and it has shriveled up quite nicely since then:eek:...
 

Sbeghan

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2009
Location
Triangle, NC
TDI
03 Jetta Wagon 5spd 390k mi
I'll have to go to the car and check the tire size, it was something odd off craigslist - barely fits in my fenders and it rubs if I go over a bad bump. But basically, they were stiff and lower profile than the regular tires. Edit: 225/55R17

I was reading some karting and motorcycle forums for tips and a couple guys said that KY was amazing for mounting... tires.

As for the snow tires, I think $240 total for the tires, rims, and mounting was a good deal and they are -awesome- compared to my summer tires (I did have to weld a crack, but that only took an hour to weld and grind down). I tried to do donuts and had to give up until I could find a larger parking lot. I have better traction out here on the snow and ice than on the gravel road and leaf covered driveway I live on.
 
Last edited:

Pat Dolan

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2002
Location
Martensville, SK
TDI
2003 A4 Variant, 2015 Q7
I was reading some karting and motorcycle forums for tips and a couple guys said that KY was amazing for mounting... tires.
I am REALLY trying hard not to jump on that straight line...aw shucks...you guys MOUNT tires down there? No wonder you need so much KY!
 

hevster1

Vendor
Joined
Nov 14, 2005
Location
Columbia NJ
TDI
98 NB
$5 to mount a tire, $8 to balance a wheel. I was actually surprised last week when they mounted my wife's snow tires without scratching a single wheel.
I won't ever let Wal-Mart touch one of my cars again (goodbye pinch weld), but I'll still take wheels and tires in for them to mount.
That's 13 not 35.
 

fruitcakesa

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 18, 2007
Location
Vermont
TDI
04 jetta 5 spd wagon
My local Napa mounts and balances for 12 bucks a tire.
Get a second set of rims and forget about about tire switching.
 

Lug_Nut

TDIClub Enthusiast, Pre-Forum Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 20, 1998
Location
Sterling, Massachusetts. USA
TDI
idi: 1988 Bolens DGT1700H, the other oil burner: 1967 Saab Sonett II two stroke
I am REALLY trying hard not to jump on that straight line...aw shucks...you guys MOUNT tires down there? No wonder you need so much K-Y!
It's not easy finding something to take a 17 inch diameter rim job..:eek:
 

Fix_Until_Broke

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 8, 2004
Location
Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, USA
TDI
03 Jetta, 03 TT TDI
DO NOT use soap on your tires, ESPECIALLY with steel rims. The stuff is acidic and will attack the rubber, not to mention corrode the heck out of a steel rim. Tire lubricant is the right stuff (not sure if KY Jelly is or not...certainly not within my field of expertise - I won't ask how the OP came up with that).
If you are not dismounting, the only things you need to re-install a tire is your feet, some rubber lube and a rubber mallet. A few cracks on the bead in a radial outward direction while you tromp the opposite side of the bead into the drop with your feet will put almost any tire on in a few seconds.
My (now deceased) team mate insisted that we do all kart tires by hand (i.e. NO tools except for the bead breaker). With 6 to 10 karts at any one event, that was a LOT of tire handling. If you REALLY want to develop some skill, try that some time.
I've never heard of this before?

I've seen hundreds of tires come off rims that were lubed with dish soap and never seen any rim or tire damage due to it. A bead sealant is also used on all these tires so maybe that's preventing any corrosion?
 

Pat Dolan

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2002
Location
Martensville, SK
TDI
2003 A4 Variant, 2015 Q7
I've never heard of this before?
I've seen hundreds of tires come off rims that were lubed with dish soap and never seen any rim or tire damage due to it. A bead sealant is also used on all these tires so maybe that's preventing any corrosion?
Soapy water is incredibly corrosive on iron/steel. However, if you have been seeing rims on which the paint coating is still in tact, that would explain no visible corrosion. The reason nitrogen fills are all the rage today is that using any dry gas eliminates moisture that will corrode steel rims and attack the rubber. When you use soapy water, you are pouring in 1000x as much water PLUS a very corrosive additive.

Noteworthy, though: why was rim sealant being used if the rims were in decent shape? In the tire trade, it is considered to be a desperate attempt to do something that shouldn't be needed.
 

Fix_Until_Broke

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 8, 2004
Location
Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, USA
TDI
03 Jetta, 03 TT TDI
Soapy water is incredibly corrosive on iron/steel. However, if you have been seeing rims on which the paint coating is still in tact, that would explain no visible corrosion. The reason nitrogen fills are all the rage today is that using any dry gas eliminates moisture that will corrode steel rims and attack the rubber. When you use soapy water, you are pouring in 1000x as much water PLUS a very corrosive additive.
Noteworthy, though: why was rim sealant being used if the rims were in decent shape? In the tire trade, it is considered to be a desperate attempt to do something that shouldn't be needed.
This is farm and salt country so most wheels are already corroded weather they're steel or aluminum. The soap coating is just a thin film on the ID of the bead to help it slide on the tools and rim, not slobbered all over everything.

Bead sealer is put on EVERY bead as well as new valve stems as it almost eliminates leaks proactively instead of when corrosion from salt or crap works it's way in. A co-worker had an aluminum rim leaking from the bead due to corrosion - bead sealer would have prevented this.

Soap may be corrosive, but I've never seen it be an issue on any of my steel or aluminum over the last 15 years, nor tires that are similar age. I'm guessing that it's not corrosive enough to be a real problem.
 

vwa1

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2012
Location
SW Iowa
TDI
1982 Rabbit Turbo Diesel. I think it counts! Please don't banish me to the Vortex!
Mounting is easy. Just need a nice tire spoon or two. It's the breaking the bead that's the hard part.
 

Pat Dolan

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2002
Location
Martensville, SK
TDI
2003 A4 Variant, 2015 Q7
FUB: I am the from the materials side, and can tell you it really is NOT what you want in contract with either the tires or steel wheels (not sure about aluminum, never looked into that). However, I defer to the wheel and tire guys (one of my good friends owns a wheel shop) and they are extremely down on this practice. Why would you use soap and water when proper tire lube is so cheap and available????? No different from using the wrong tool on the lug nuts.

I understand where you are coming from with the bead sealant - as I have some here for exactly the same reason, but my wheel and tire friends have me convinced only to use as last resort, not prophylactic application.
 
Top