Easiest Manual Tire Removal (No Spoons, No zip-ties!)

[NewTo700V]

I've had this idea bouncing around in my head for a few weeks, and just got to try it. I did a test cut on a spent Bridgestone T30 a few weeks ago, so it seemed good in theory. I'm still shocked by how easy and quick this was. Tire shown in this tutorial is a Michelin Road 5. A top of the line sport-touring radial.

You will need:

-Tire Lube of choice (I use regular Armor-All)
-Utility Hook blades, secured in utility knife


-method to break the beads (I have a Bead Buster XB-450)

1. Remove the wheel from the bike.

2. Remove the valve core and release the air.

3. Stand wheel upright and use the hook blade to cut down the center of the tire all the way around. This is the "hardest" part of the whole procedure. With a fresh blade this should take all of 20 - 30 seconds. This is the most worn and thinnest section of the tire. Of course we work safe and should be wearing cut resistant gloves, right?


4. Put tire on one side and break the bead facing up. DO NOT break the bead free on the other side.

5. Flip the cut edge of this tire half up towards you to invert the curve. This half of the tire should then nest with the side you aren't working on. I can't say how hard other tires will resist, but this was incredibly easy on the Road 5.


6. Lube the rim and bead of loose tire half. Leave one side of the bead all the way down sitting on the other unbroken bead. Lift directly across from the low point up high and over the edge of the rim. This required very minimal effort, and was the easiest I've ever coaxed a tire bead off a rim by hand.


7. Flip the rim over and break the remaining bead.

8. Lube the rim and bead and just pull the remaining bead off. Since the other half of the tire is gone, there's no need to do the invert fold as there's plenty of room to work with.

 

[rc_heli_nut]

I do something similar to this, except I cut through the sidewalls on both sides, which leaves 2 rubber hoops on the rim, that break away easily with a little coaxing from a bead breaker. There's a local shop that will recycle the discarded 3-piece tires for me.

Brad

 

[NewTo700V]

I do something similar to this, except I cut through the sidewalls on both sides, which leaves 2 rubber hoops on the rim, that break away easily with a little coaxing from a bead breaker. There's a local shop that will recycle the discarded 3-piece tires for me.

Brad

I've seen that method. But I wanted to see if it was possible to only have to make 1 cut, and through the thinnest part of a used tire. I didn't think dragging a blade through the sidewalls twice was needed. There's also "GT" tires with beefier sidewalls. They will still wear thin in the middle. My local county landfill will take up to 4 tires free per visit. Nothing says they can't be cut in half though.

 

[Shadowjack]

Like rc_heli_nut, I've cut both sidewalls on old hard tires just so I could get rid of them, by using a saber saw. The (tube-type) beads just fall off.