I am growing tired of dealing with the tire shops pretty quickly and am considering buying tire changer and possibly a balancer to make life easier. I go through 8-14 235/80/R16 tires each year and can save $50/piece for the same tire mounting them myself. Also, with a changer I could repair flats more easily, again saving frustration. Yesterday I spent 3.5 HOURS at Walmart getting 4 tires changed out on my F250 (need tires on a Sunday in 2011, Walmart was the only option, road hazard warranty has kept me there)... and for the first hour I was the only customer there! In 3.5 hours they serviced 4, maybe 5 vehicles. A couple weeks ago my usual trailer tire shop tried to tell me they put a new tire on a repair job. I told them the repaired tire/wheel was sitting in my truck, and it assuredly wasn't new. They wanted to see for themselves, then got snippy with me. This was the second time I'd stopped by that day to pick up the tire but they couldn't find the ticket, so I spent 25 minutes just picking up the tire with $85/hr of labor sitting in the truck. Blah blah blah, I'm thinking I want to DIY. I know very little about changers and balancers... who has some insight or recommend sources to acquire such insight? In a perfect world, the changer would change passenger vehicle tires (16 and 17" currently), trailer tires (15" and 16"), and hopefully 17.5/19.5/22.5/24.5 tires. That last bit seems to be where I'll lose my practical options. I'm not looking to spend $10k on a changer, $2-3k is my theory.
U don't need a machine for the bigger tires just brute Strength and ingnorance. I would look around for auto shops that have closed or check craigslist etc. I would think that you could find an older, good working coats machine for under 2-3k. Beware though. If you have a tire machine, everybody's your best friend!
I've bought and sold a few changers and balancers. Watch auctions too I usually buy them for 6-700 and sell for around 1200
Let me rephrase my initial thoughts regarding a budget, I want to stay under $5k for the changer and balancer. I can change tires by hand, but when the heat index is over 100 I don't have much desire to exert myself very much. I prefer to save my perseverance for paying jobs! I have a mini ex and ctl too, very few mooching friends though. My personality makes telling someone no pretty easy.
Like stated before. You can find a used tire machine and balancer on CL or local auctions for around $1000. Coats and FMC are great machines and last forever for the most part. Doing 22.5 & 24.5 on a tire machine is more work that using spoons.
i have a little coats tire machine i bought off of craigslist for 300 it is the best thing i have ever purchased and i only balance tires of the steering axle of my truck so i have a cheap harbor freight balancer and so far i cant complain