Mounting slicks

[JeffV8]

Do you mount your own slicks by hand??

[BK]

I have. And done it by machine.

[rooman]

Beadlocks, yes, the rest I take to my mate (nephew by marriage actually) at Hoosier tire which is only about 12 minutes from my shop.

Roo

[dreracecar]

Try and find a custom shop that does high end wheels, last thing you want is one of those mechanical monsters without the protectors scarfing up those new magnezium rims. Just asking for trouble trying to mount them yourself.

[JrFuel Hayden]

I agree, if you have bead-locks, you can mount them yourself.
If no bead-locks look for a tire store that has a tire machine that uses a plastic wheel to roll the slick bead onto the rim, not a steel lever looking device that slides on the rim edge to peal the bead on.
I learned the hard way about the better tire machine, when Hayden Wheels took off some very old/ hard GoodYear Blue Steaks off of real mag Halibrand so we could polish and put a clear baked on coating so the mag would not turn green in a week. This was for the Adams-Wyre-Mulligan cackle car to put in the NHRA Museum. But after I had my regular tire shop that I used to change slicks for our JF car, they used the sliding steel lever to install the Blue Steaks again, but the lever skipped up off the tire bead and gouged the clear coating. So I had to find someone/ something to strip the baked-on clear off to re-polish, and re-clear the wheel. That's when I found the new tire machine with the plastic roll-on wheel.  Still not easy but those hard Blue Streaks did go on with-out screwing up the wheel.
BTW i have done this clear baked on coating on a number of real mag wheels. I started offering this service for front wheel customers that wanted polished alum front rims, but didn't want to have to hand polish them again. They just use spray-on detail wax.

I hope this helps !

Jon, 800-624-3803

[JeffV8]

Thanks guys.. I will will bring them to a shop.

[PSweeney]

it's possible to mount them with levers and balance them on a bubble balancers. I have done my own but don't have the equipment to break the bead if I need to move the tire to the rim to balance / offset heavy spots.

[dreracecar]

Spoons and levers work, but they can slip and damage the rim, and knowing that the OP just bought some fancy new magnezium rims it was advized to him to seek professional help.

[bikeguy307]

We hand mount ours and take them to a local shop for balancing.

[tony1966]

I mount mine by hand (non bead locks).  The back side will push on by hand with some lube on the bead, most of the front side goes on by hand, then I use and ax handle for a lever to get the last bit on.  It helps to have some way to keep the wheel from sliding around the shop.

you can use a rope with a small bit of tube around the circumference to help seat the bead when you have rims that are as wide or wider than the tire.

Or just a take them to a shop you trust.

[Draw 3D]

I mounted mine by hand and balanced them using a cheap Harbor Freight bubble balancer, no vibrations. Met a guy whose got a hi-dollar NFC and he has the same bubble balancer and hes not had any vibrations either.

[Oldschool]

I mount my own with no problem and then had them balanced.

[Totally T]

I always did mine with bars and a slide hammer....then once upon a time it took a skid loader and a demo saw and from that point on they go to my local tire store. Im lucky as the guy is a racer and always gets us taken care of.