I've been using my Dremel to remove some old tyres as I can't be arsed to drag the rims to the tyre place and pay them to take them off. Specifically to cut through the metal wires after using a knife to remove most of the tyre beforehand.
The standard Dremel cut off discs are garbage, they either shatter or wear in seconds.
I had a single grey/black wheel of a larger diameter (think they are some sort of fibreglass construction). and got three more as part of an accessory kit. I've used three and broken one.
Does anyone know where to buy them individually or in tubs as they are a lot more useful then the brown discs?
I haven't ever tried this, but wouldn't a regular crowbar do the job?
Bicycle tyres can be removed using spoons without too much of a problem, and although car tyres are in a different league I would have thought you only need a bigger lever to work the tyre over the edge of the rim..
What's wrong with a couple of tyre levers? If you can't break the tyre free from the rim to get the levers in, then do it the old fashioned way. Let all the air out, lay the wheel on the floor, get someone to stand on one edge of it and drive a car onto the tyre at the other edge. A bit of rocking and maybe the person on the wheel bouncing the corner of the car a bit and it'll push free. That's the way we used to do it years ago.
It is usually easy enough to break the tyre bead joint with a large vice or a car jack and something solid to jack under. The time this must be taking is uneconomic, just pay someone to take them off.
I used to live in Oman and had a big GMC 4WD that we used for desert trips. Although we always carried one spare I was a bit paranoid about tyre failure and carried the equipment to mend punctures if necessary.
Manually changing 7.50x15 tyres is a good way of keeping fit!
However, as you've discovered, getting the bead off the rim is often the most difficult bit. With only one's bar hands and car tools the methods I have used are:-
Slow, laborious pushing with a pair of big tyre levers, not very satisfying.
Drive over the tyre, sounds drastic but is quite effective, in your case it doesn't matter if you damage the tyre either.
Use the car jack and a piece of wood. This was the method I usuaully used out in the desert. Put the tyre on the ground under something solid which has enough space for the tyre and jack under it (In my case this was the 4WD). Place the wood on the tyre so it spreads the pressure of the jack over a reasonable area of the tyre (but misses the rim) and jack away. You can the turn the tyre over to remove the other bead the same way.
If at home I've used a (big) vice to remove the tyre bead, pretty easy, use a piece of wood in the same way as above with the jack.
Once the tyre is off the bead it's generally not to difficult to get it off the wheel if you're doing it right.
I never said it was econmical or not time consuming I'm just a difficult bugger and wanted to do it myself. :-)
There is no way I'd like to try breaking the bead without ruining the wheel itself at home without risking life and limb and they are 25 year old alloys...
When you cut through the metal wires you can hear even with eardefenders on (Dremel whine annoys me) them "ping" as the tension is released.
Or hit it with an hammer. It is scrap after all. I once got a tyre on a motorcycle wheel without any tools. You keep the rim of the tyre in the well of the wheel rim. The inside diameter or the wheel is much less that the diameter of the tyre.
Then you slowly roast the rubber in a charcoal burning type pit.
No chance with a big tyre, no chance with most car tyres for that matter. You just stand there jumping up and down like an idiot and/or twist your ankle but the tyre stays firmly on the rim. They *have* to be pretty tight on the rim otherwise it would be too easy to roll a tyre off the rim when cornering hard.
Have you ever tried hitting a tyre with a hammer? It's a pretty pointless occupation. (Like jumping up and down on the tyre I've tried it, I've tried most of the ineffective as well as the effective ways of getting tyres off rims)
That's as it should be.
What's that for, torture after all the awful things it's done to you?
Well, I have removed dozens possibly low hundreds of tyres at home, the first dozen or so were without any "proper" tools. First ones were using a wooden lever assembly jammed into the holes of a wall with open type bricks, this worked fine till the wall cracked up. Then I got a big vice, that was ok, then I made an attachment for the vehicle lift, with a car on all beads were easy, then someone gave me an air powered bead breaker/changer. The method I usually use is the attachment pushed down by the weight of a car on the lift plus some tyre levers.
I have bought a great big case of dremel accessories from Costco recently, it includes 182 bits in total, 72 cutting discs plus 5 of the type I think you are describing, cost was about twenty quid.
Mark if you want great fiber disk for cutting any kind of Materials go to GYROS PRECISION TOOLS INC. They have 3 different kinds, Low tensile(LT)High Tensile(HT) and a Suoer tensile(ST) double reinforecd for all your cutting needs with a variety of different diameters all for use with the Dremel. Go to
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