This may be my final post on the tire changing at home topic (finally huh)
Tried doing some golf cart tires - 205/50-10's on alloy rims. Wow, were they tough!!! I had made up a smaller wooden head and it was destroyed trying to get those beads on.
Had to use my smallest tire levers in the end, but still super hard. Strap needed to seat the beads as well...

Led me to make another,

stronger head out of plywood

, which I hope can handle stresses in more than one direction. (A 9 minute compilation of stills and video)

So today, the full sized spare tire from our corolla, volunteered to serve as a practice tire for the new tool.

Link to the video

(8 1/2 mins)

Spoiler alert: It took longer to upload the video that it did to take the tire off and put it back on.
I want to stick to car tires, much easier.

 

I have finally figured out solutions (with reasons why) for the horizontal laser balancing. What makes it work and what makes it fail.
So this is the 3rd and final video on the topic. Links to previous videos are in the text under the video.


As I say in the text under the video...
It meets my goal of creating something most DIY’ers can build at home, is low cost, accurate and reliable... Unlike the HF bubble balancer I bought.

 

Good morning. Awesome thread! Gonna read it wire to wire this evening.

 

I'm up to 24 tires changed now among friends and families and things seem to be going well. As it's a hobby, I don't charge and sometimes I can even get a hand doing it.
Latest was a for my sons, father-in-laws, daughter (Kia soul)
Before that I put a couple of tires on a . That was harder, specially getting the beads on the rim.
Wish I had seen about using a bike inner tube to seal the gap.
No complaints about balancing yet, now I have it sorted out

Just wanted to do an update about costs, as I have been tracking how much I've spent on gear and tires compared to how much it would cost over at discount tire.

For the kia soul... from amazon. With prime, delivery is free, so just state tax. $148 total for 2 tires.

I then find a similar tire at Discount Tire and see what they charge.
Hmmm, they don't have one that cheap - in stock (@$68.50ea)
OK, can I order one??? not really... they have this one on backorder, but ethereal tires don't really count.
So i settle for the 40K mile sentury touring at $81 each - they are OK, I have them on the XB
So I throw 2 into the shopping cart to see the final price
2 tires =$162
Plus install & life of tire maintenance = $44 (free 5k rotations, PSI check, Flat fix)
Road damage warranty = $31.64 (tire replacement but not towing)
Environmental fee = $3.24 : Disposal fee = $6.00: Taxes = $16.56

For a total of $263.44 vs $148, but I take the risk of a puncture that is unrepairable. I'm OK with that. It has happened once in 24 tires.
No environment fee & tire disposal is free for me (drive thru disposal)
well it's a 15 mile round trip so 1/2 gallon of fuel = $2

Nothing against discount tire as a business, they have to make a profit. They make a lot of profit. I will not be putting them out of business with my hobby.
Some of their practices are shady (High pressure sales that don't seem that way??)
e.g. They won't touch a tire over 10 years old, but in reality it's 6 years.
They use a tire scanner (scammer) tool, then point to a chart to put the fear of g^d in you that your tires are cr^p and to change them immediately. It's just too dangerous to drive away on those 1 year old tires that you have barely scrubbed in. Puncture repairs... really??

So in the end I save money - even after tool investment and I get some control back that these big companies are steadily taking away.

 

...And here it is finally.
Changed 2 tires and balanced on the XB
Everything went smoothly