Topic: Tire Mounting at the track
Is there usually someone at the track that can mount tires? My first race is in April and I wanted to keep from ordering more wheels than I need.
2017 CMP Spring Heroic Fix
2018 CMP Spring IOE
The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Lemons Newcomers → Tire Mounting at the track
Is there usually someone at the track that can mount tires? My first race is in April and I wanted to keep from ordering more wheels than I need.
That varies from track to track, but I would not count on having that service available.
I think you need to state what track you are asking about?
Since you mention April I could guess Gingerman?
I have seen some teams in the past with a tire mounting machine but not at every race.
The track has some shops located nearby that can do that and of course there's a Walmart about 6 miles from the track.
Again what track?
If you are talking Inde in April, while they do have a tire machine they are pretty reluctant to change tires. I would plan on having to go into town.
We are running Southern Discomfort at Carolina Motorsports park.
There is a garage in Kershaw I think that usually stays open and has changed tires in the past. Usually, someone has a changer on their trailer at CMP. Or go old school: Sledge hammer and two tire tools!
Note: Think cheese grater on tires when you think of CMP. The track is worn, and you may be lucky to keep a set of tires on the car all day Saturday. The faster you go, the worse the tires get chewed up. YMMV
CMP was interesting. We had to go to town to do it. And luck have it locals were basically *not very nice people* cause it was about 1.5hrs before closing and friday.
we had to go far enough to get service done. Found a nice shop farthest way, about 12 miles away from track, past the main town. They did good service, about 3-4 technicians worked on swapping rubber around. They made it happen in good time too. Need to google them to find them again.
In Loudon, NH there is a shop about 3.5 miles north of the track. just down the road, super awesome shop and nice people.
It be nice to just contact shops in the area, see if they will be willing to stay open Saturdays to help crews around. If they only were able to advertise their services...
When you say in town did you go north or south?
we gone south,
Horton tire Co was very very bad shop [2618 Broad St, Camden, SC 29020]
Then Camden Tire, we suspect Horton guy called them ahead of time. [1109 Wylie St, Camden, SC 29020]
Then we gone to Randy's tire and lube, and that place was awesome. [744 Dewitt Rd, Lugoff, SC 29078]
It was same town that had the party and parade. So worked out ok.
Also got a hair cut, and found another buick/opel by Isuzu to be racing down there.
Good to know.
If you are talking Inde in April, while they do have a tire machine they are pretty reluctant to change tires. I would plan on having to go into town.
I don't doubt the truth of what you're saying, at all, but that is a pretty strange attitude to have. I'd understand them not wanting to let ME mount tires and wreck their fancy gear, but track personnel?
"I need tires mounted, here is money. You know, to help offset the business investment in tire mounting equipment?"
"I'd rather we didn't do that"
Seems strange. If they don't have a machine, fine. If they wanna charge $50 a tire, that's their prerogative ( God knows, we have set some money on fire during the heat of a race weekend. Full tank of 110 octane at Sonoma? Fill ER UP, the other tanks are empty!) but we just don't want to? Weird.
I have used the HF $45 manual tire changer bolted to a sheet of OSB. It works. And it's good exercise.
I keep hearing from a lot of never taught to use anything but the fancy expensive machine type folks that you can't use that changer on Alloy wheels, only steel?
It works fine on alloy wheels, or at least mine did. The bar scrapes along the lip and scratches them up, which is probably why most people don't use it, but I never cared what my Lemons wheels looked like.
I'm thinking that the manual tire changers need a sticker detailing how the pain levels rises inversely to the wheel diameter. I had to lay down for a while and then sit in the hot tub after manually changing the 12" Imp tires.
I changed eight 15" tires one day with it. It was quite a workout. I have since bought a used Snap-On tire changer and relegated the manual tire changer to emergency use only. And by emergency, I mean that my tire changer is broken and no tire shops are open.
I'm thinking that the manual tire changers need a sticker detailing how the pain levels rises inversely to the wheel diameter. I had to lay down for a while and then sit in the hot tub after manually changing the 12" Imp tires.
You may need to look at some better spoons and lube.
Howabout Balance? Bubble good enough for racing or do you take them to get fancy balanced?
Also, couldn't you put the "Floating" head from a power unit on a bering on the center shaft and use that? Or is it a massive amount of torque to turn those?
Edit: Never mind, there are non Marring bars you can buy that don't scratch anything.
Lube is good. I keep a spray bottle with soapy water handy, even for my pneumatic machine.
Balancing might be a challenge. I have no idea how accurate a bubble balancer is. I bought a used Coats balancer for my garage, but that's not real portable.
Lube is good. I keep a spray bottle with soapy water handy, even for my pneumatic machine.
Balancing might be a challenge. I have no idea how accurate a bubble balancer is. I bought a used Coats balancer for my garage, but that's not real portable.
Why would you balance your race tires?
I also practice the ancient art of manual tire changing. 15" alloy wheels, works great as long as you don't mind a few nicks on the wheels.
Harbor freight tire machine thingy - I ONLY use this to break the bead before removing the tire. Line up straight and go slow & steady because it's not hard to bend the machine. I've also seen people rig up attachments to truck bumpers/trailer hitches, etc. That would make for a more stable & portable setup. You need considerable leverage/force to break the bead. On the HF machine, you can bolt it down, but you only need a stack of wheels or another person to stand on it while breaking the beads.
Once the bead is broken, I use 3 tire irons (1 big one, 2 small ones). Start with the big iron, then work your way around with the small one. Most important parts are using lube & taking small "bites" each time with the irons.
This has saved me a ridiculous amount of money over the years. Especially because my car kills the tires' outer shoulder, and I'm constantly needing to flip the tire on the wheel to even out the wear.
I never balance them (removed all previous wheel weights). I line up the yellow dot on the sidewall (lightest point of tire) with the valve stem, but not sure if that even matters. Never had an issue with vibration or anything.
I'll be at INDE if anyone wants a demo haha.
rmcdaniels wrote:Lube is good. I keep a spray bottle with soapy water handy, even for my pneumatic machine.
Balancing might be a challenge. I have no idea how accurate a bubble balancer is. I bought a used Coats balancer for my garage, but that's not real portable.
Why would you balance your race tires?
Why not? I find most speeds are right around 50 or so....... opps, sorry I forgot you usually don't get moving that fast.
we gone south,
Horton tire Co was very very bad shop [2618 Broad St, Camden, SC 29020]
Then Camden Tire, we suspect Horton guy called them ahead of time. [1109 Wylie St, Camden, SC 29020]
Then we gone to Randy's tire and lube, and that place was awesome. [744 Dewitt Rd, Lugoff, SC 29078]It was same town that had the party and parade. So worked out ok.
Also got a hair cut, and found another buick/opel by Isuzu to be racing down there.
Curious as to why did you chose to go to Camden or Lugoff when Kershaw was so much closer? There a couple of shops in Kershaw also open on Saturdays, but I don't recall the name. We have a few tires mounted there when we were in a bad spot, but we try to bring at least 4 news ones and 2 used to every race.
Harbor freight tire machine thingy - I ONLY use this to break the bead before removing the tire..
I recently found the trailer jack is amazingly efficient for this task.
kakarot1232001 wrote:we gone south,
Horton tire Co was very very bad shop [2618 Broad St, Camden, SC 29020]
Then Camden Tire, we suspect Horton guy called them ahead of time. [1109 Wylie St, Camden, SC 29020]
Then we gone to Randy's tire and lube, and that place was awesome. [744 Dewitt Rd, Lugoff, SC 29078]It was same town that had the party and parade. So worked out ok.
Also got a hair cut, and found another buick/opel by Isuzu to be racing down there.Curious as to why did you chose to go to Camden or Lugoff when Kershaw was so much closer? There a couple of shops in Kershaw also open on Saturdays, but I don't recall the name. We have a few tires mounted there when we were in a bad spot, but we try to bring at least 4 news ones and 2 used to every race.
the parade is in Camden. If I remember right.
Balancing important to reduce wear on all the spinny and meety parts.
[Balancing important to reduce wear on all the spinny and meety parts.
Not as much as you think. also, if you run alloys, check your weights after each race. Bet you a case of my favorite beer within two races MAX at least one has shed some or all of them.
The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Lemons Newcomers → Tire Mounting at the track