Tire Machine / Changer & Balancer

Getting tired of dealing with tire shops screwing up my wheels.
Looking for a tire machine that can handle a 14" wide wheel, and 20" tall rim.
Anyone have luck with some of the cheapo brands out there?

I have been happy with my Atlas that came from Greg Smith Equipment. Have had it for several years and it has changed several hundred tires with no problems. Does 14" to 20+".

I've had an Italian built, no name rim clamp tire changer and electronic balancer for about 15 years or so. I only use them for my own stuff. Everything has been satisfactory up until a couple of months ago the turntable on the tire changer quit working in one direction. I think it's the switch.

It's a great day having this equipment at home.

It's a great day having this equipment at home.

Found out a friend just got a greg smith equipment one. Going to check it out soon.
Still open to other brands.

Good call on this! I am always keeping an eye on CL for a used Coats, or similar, but for the price, I may get new Atlas...Last time I paid $150 at the local shop to mount and balance 4 tires for my DD, off the car, and they scratched the rims...

I just bought a new Atlas with the lift arm very nice for the money for sure bought mine threw autozone best price out there

Autozone in my area doesn't show any Atlas equipment on the website. Can you elaborate on what a "best price" is?

Its in there tool flier






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I sure don't blame you for wanting to do your own. Most of the guys doing that work at tire dealers just don't seem to give a damn about other people's property. They use the impact driver like it's a Nascar pit stop and chip and scratch wheels before and after the tire machine. The tire machine misuse is even worse.

- EM

add to that the cost they charge. back in the early 90's, i took 4 bare wheels and two tires to the local shop where my one buddy worked on saturdays. the shop wasn't busy, so i shopped for two more tires while i waited for my buddy to finish up. i wanted him to put the tires on because i knew he wouldn't screw up the wheels. in the mean time, i selected a couple of tires from the rack to match the ones i had. well, after it was all said and done, the owner waited until my buddy was off the clock to have him put on the tires. so no money for him, and an obscene charge for me buying two tires and mounting 4 wheels i brought in bare. no lifting a vehicle or taking wheels off ! i went home and designed a manual tire machine that will handle tire diameters up to 44" in diameter, and wheel widths up to 16" wide. also works for small tires on mowers and other pieces of equipment. this thing has changed hundreds of tires since, including custom rims with no damage, as i also have many bars with different shapes of plastic and silicon tips that work great. i would love a modern tire machine, but no room for one and a spin balancer. i'm stuck with a manual machine and bubble balancer, but these have worked excellently over the years, and have saved me much money to boot !

All Hunter tire machines except the brand new top of the line changer($22,000) are made in Italy so yours might be from the same manufacturer
I really hate to read these horror stories about techs scratching rims and ruining tires for customer cars At the dealership I work for I treat rims and tires like they were my own. Of course I use an impact to install wheels but I've hit over a million lug nuts in my 34 years in the business and I don't miss and hit your expensive wheels.
There are lots of car guys that work in the shops around town. You just need to make friends with one and buy him lunch and or his favorite adult beverage and you will get the job done right. We just got a new Hunter machine for run flat tires with sensors and it's awesome to even do regular tires.
We have all Hunter equipment and I like it all
Gus

Another vote for atlas from GSE

A LOT of tire machines are made in Italy Corgi and as mentioned Hunter. These days even more in China. IMO for personal use Atlas is a great machine. I used coats stuff for years with very few issues with daily use.

Does anyone have a Weaver tire changer and balancer combo? $2079 and free shipping. Looks a little better than the $1000 Ebay units?