[mikestew]

I used to be a professional auto mechanic. I know how to swap tires on a rim. I know how to do it without scratching the fuck out of your nice alloys (which you, dear inexperienced reader, are guaranteed to do the first few times you try it). I know why you need to get the bead into the recess of the rim lest you struggle mightily to get the new tire on. I've changed motorcycle tires by the side of the road with nothing but a couple of tire irons.

I also know that "a lot of work" doesn't even begin to describe it if I'm doing it on my garage floor with tire irons. If you're low on money and without other options, by all means, give it a go. But if $100 isn't the difference between your kids eating or not, save yourself a fuck-ton of grief (as well as half a Saturday) and just go get those new skins put on at a shop where they have big air-driven machines that will spoon those things on in mere seconds. Back in my pro days, myself and a helper timed ourselves from the time the car pulled into the bay until it hit the ground with four new tires: nine minutes. I probably can't get a single wheel off my car from a cold start in nine minutes.

So, yeah, it can be done. But you don't want to do it.

[kube-system]

I just think of it as getting paid $100 to go to the gym. And I get to exercise the more colorful parts of my vocabulary. :)

Those days are probably behind me though.

[mikestew]

Well, you nailed the two primary reasons I don't do it anymore. :-) It is a workout for sure, and I would curse a blue streak the whole time.

OTOH, it's a handy skill to have when you're in the Yukon by the side of the road with an unpluggable tire, and 100 miles from civilization.

[bombcar]

Yeah wheels are one of those things that the big machine helps a ton. I’ll gladly pay to have that done, even if I’ll replace the starter myself.