For what it's worth, I've had Minis since 1979 and never once had a tyre mounted by a store - I've always mounted and removed them by hand with a couple of tyre levers.

Albeit, I've had a store break a stubborn bead then I do the 'hand job'!

Cheers,

M.

Having had lots of tyres fitted to lots of kinds of mini wheels over the last 40 years I would suggest that use ogf a tyre fitting machine will not cause problems.

HOWEVER, as always, the problems lay not with the machine, but with the nut behind it.  If the fitter doesn't know what they're doing (careful use of word ..but I must admit, I've never seen a female fitter  - or care about their job - there are plenty of opportunities for grief.

I've had one tyre damaged and the shop paid to replace it.  In the old days any shop could do it  and would do it on a  routine basis.  A "few" years ago the Guys at NTW in Va fitted 008s to my new S wheels for free - They just thought those dinky litttle wheels were soooo cute. These days, anyone who knows their trade can do it, although some shops may no longer have equipment that can handle 10" wheels (for both fitting and balancing). 

The trick is to talk to the management, ask them if they stand behind their service.  Its up to you to judge whether they are genuine and can be trusted - or whether to walk away.  A decent shop not equipped for the task should be able (and willing) to recommend someone who is.

I get mine done at a local truck shop because they're real professionals and understand that its important to do the job properly.

Cheers, Ian

I had 145 Falken's mounted and balanced on the Factory steel wheels with no problems at a tire shop.        Mini Estate

Well my wheels are the stock 10' steelies that the car came with and I'm just having some Falken 145s put on them, but since I've  ordered these tires I've had two flats, one was a cut in the sidewall that isnt repairable and the other was due to the fact that my spare was ancient, when I get the new ones I'll just put one of my current tires on the spare. I've got two questions now; is it ok to let it sit with a flat for two weeks? or will that put stress on the suspension? Also will it damage my steelies to use a machine? There seems to be a lot of different opinions here.

Here's my 2 cents. I have a genuine set of Mamba wheels from the 70's. My Yoko 008s literally slide on by hand with NO tools. When I had a set of MWS minilight knock offs there was no way in heck I could get a 008 on them. I tried for several hours with a manual tire machine and sheer force. I brought them to Discount Tire and the when on lickety split. No marring or damage.

My recommendation would be to try your best to do it by hand. If all else fails go to a tire store because if you can't get them on by hand, and you refuse to go to a tire store, you may as well ride on slicks or change to another wheel.

I would assume that the custom rim and slick tire combo made for a very tight fit. It's a shame he had trouble, especially after being recommended to go there. I guess you have to qualify the advice of others. Some people know where talent resides, some people just want to tell you something cool.

I must apologize. Almost all of the 10 inch tires that I had mounted and balanced on the Minis I owned for the most part were in fact early standard factory wheels. I have no knowledge or experiences to relate where it comes to custom wheels and the wider profile 10 inch tires. Sorry to hear about the problems that others have had. Some of those wheels are like jewels. It would be sad to incur any damage, even just a scratch!                                             Mini Estate

"Hogwash"???  Mini Estate, I beg to differ.....I will never again trust a tire shop to do my 10's.  I recently took delivery of a beautiful set of Force Racing split-rims, (about 1100$ US), then spent another 110$ to get the centers gold anodized, then spent a few hours assembling them, with over 60 nuts/Allen bolts that I had to buy.  Bottom line, a lot of waiting for my very expensive wheels to get here and, more time/money to get them finished.  I asked a friend who is into Show Customs, to recommend a tire shop that could install my Goodyear 10" slicks, without damaging anything; so he calles "his guy" who says "no problem; bring em in".  So when  I got there, they laughed at the wheel size, and tried to use one of their machines first, but it would not adjust small enough, so they started to hand mount them with 4 foot long tire spoons; They had two guys prying with those big bars on my poor little 1/8" thick rims, and I hear one say to the other,"I think you are bending the rim" I jumped over there and took a look; I almost had a heart attack!  the rim looked like an octagon!  I yelled STOP!  They said, "don't worry, The Mag Man can straighten it out no problem". I screamed at the guy about how much the wheels cost me, and I grabbed my wheel, put it and the others back in my truck and left before I completely lost my temper.  I spent until 4 AM that night, straightening that wheel, as best I could with a mallet and block of hardwood that I ground a radius on, and sanding/pollishing it out, then mounting the rest, all with some cosmetic damage from the motorcycle tire spoons I had to use. I got a couple hours sleep, tossed the new wheels in the Mini, (without ballancing), and drove the 600 miles to Lake Tahoe, for Mini Meet West.  

  If you decide to have a tire shop mount your 10s, I suggest you make damn sure they know what they're doing, if you don't want your wheels trashed. 

There are some mag + tire combinations that can be troublesome.  Crosslands, if I have the name right, are too big for Falkens, but then Revolutions are so small that when cold the Falkens nearly fall off-by cold I mean -30C.  You can have the rim machined slightly to fit.

Having had a few disasters, it is nice to have someone who has done a 10" tire in the last while do this work.  I prefer a rim clamp type tire machine, clean and in good working order, with the plastic things on the clamp parts.

While you supposedly can do them by hand I tend to make quite a mess anytime I try.

I just went through this last week.The wheel was a new deep dish 6in. Revolution with a used R 32 yoko. First the guys said lets do it by hand. The sweat was poring off there heads, I managed to hurt my back. Then I took it to a buddies place ,he has a motor bike tire machine. It just wasn,t strong enough to hold the wheel. More damage to the wheel.Then I drove 20 miles to a shop that I know does mini wheels. But I had heard that some wheels are just not easy to mount. Three minutes and a $ 5 charge.I had sanded and polished most of the damage out of the wheel. It still is only good for a spare now. Live and learn!!!!!! cheers

Its good to know that they can mount them by machine without a problem, and I wasn't planning on letting them use an air ratchet to put the wheels back on anyway, but where should they jack it up on the lift? I'm assuming on the  subframe right?

The main problem, as alluded to by Bobbie Martin, is letting the wheel jockies near your car with an air gun/rattle gun. This can be OK when removing lug nuts (other than the late model ones with the aluminum caps), but is an invitation to disaster when putting wheels back on. No need to torque lug nuts more the 40 lb.ft.

There's also the issue of how the car is supported when the wheels are removed. Raise your hand if you've seen Mini body shells with dented floors from jacking/supporting incorrectly. It's unanimous.

I've owned over a dozen MKI Classic Minis over the last 20 sumptin years all with 10 inch tires. I had them all mounted and balanced with absolutely no problems at many and various different tire stores. The last mount and balance was on (4) brand new 10 inch Falken's on my '62 Mini Countryman two years ago at 'Les Schwab'. They did a perfect job with no damage or problems whatsoever. I took my own tires in after buying them from a different source. The tire company I happened to use before that was 'American Tire'. Again, no problem whatsoever. I don't know where these horror stories originated with mounting 10 inch tires on a Mini, but I'm here to say it's all hogwash. I've never had a single incident with over (60-70 total at least) brand new 10 inch tires installed over all the years. So no worries.            Mini Estate

I have mounted lots of 10" tires with a rim clamp type machine.  If your rims have a deep well for the tire bead it shouldn't be a problem.  I have read some aluminum wheels are not machined correctly and the well is not deep enough for the tire bead.  If your wheels have a good sized well, it really is not a problem.  New tires are not too bad, old tires can be a challenge as they are not a flexible and are easy to damage.   Now, finding a tire shop that will mount and balance 10" wheels, that might be a problem.  Once you find a place, I wouldn't take the car there anyway.  Just take the tires & wheels to the shop, get them mounted & balanced and then install them yourself, using a torque wrench.  If you are planning on having a Mini for a while, think about buying a good used balancer and maybe a tire machine.  You can pick them up for a few hundred dollars and then you won't need to worry about tire shops.

I've heard (and seen on this site) that you should only mount 10 inch tires by hand or you risk damaging them, but I have also heard people say that this is nonsense and that most tire mounting machines don't put that much stress on a tire unless you are doing it wrong. Having used tire mounting machines at a previous job, I tend to agree with the latter. Which is the right way?

I'm asking this as I am getting new tires soon at a local retailer and I don't think any tire store knows how to install by hand and I would rather not have to do all of them by hand and then drive somewhere on unbalanced tires to get them balanced.

 

Any information would be appreciated.