silly 3-piece rim question

[ubiquity0]

Are tires mounted & dismounted from 3-piece rims by unbolting the rim halves?

The tire shop buffoons attempted to remove the tires from my 3-piece fuchs w/ a tire machine & ended up tweaking the rim lip and scratching the centercap (& giving up)

I had never thought about this before. If 3-piece rims must be unbolted to dismount tires I'll be majorly pissed with them- as they clearly should have known this!

thanks

[ZAMIRZ]

no, they do not.

[ubiquity0]

hmmm, I though it sounded strange. They were unable to remove the tires & basically suceeded only in damaging the rim. They eventually tried tell me that the only way to remove the tires is to unbolt the rim halves.

I pointed out the damage to the duty manager & made it clear that that should not have happened. By that time I had been waiting for a while & was pretty short with the guy.

I have photos of the wheels before. I guess I need to work out how to proceed.

[ZAMIRZ]

No, those stupid morons probably thought the wheels were bead-locks. Only thing is, bead-locks are illegal for street use, not to mention nobody uses bead-locks on a sports car, only for off-road or drag-racing use where you run super low tire pressures.

[ubiquity0]

Has anyone had experience with claiming damages from tire / wheel shops? What would the most effective way to proceed be- go back in person? Send in a letter w/ photos & other evidence w/ some kind of dollar estimate to repair?

[Kevin Stewart]

believe it or not just because the face of the wheel is up doesnt mean its the side the tire should come off, a lot of time the tire is taken off the back side, if you post a picture where we can see the side view i can tell which side, anyway, by craming the bar in on the face side they usualy break the seal, Kevin

[ubiquity0]

Kevin- like this?

[gumba]

I would figure out the replacement costs of the wheel halves, new bolts, labor etc. Send them a registered letter explaining the charges, that you will file in small claims court if not reimbursed within 5 business days. I would also file a complaint with whichever state agency oversees their business.
I had two tires shops tell me they couldn't get their machine to mount a 275 Hoosier on a 9x16 Fuchs. I finally took it to my mechanic who did it in about 10 min.
Pretty scary when a tire shop can't figure out how to mount & dismount tires.

[gumba]

I noticed your in NorCal. I've been using Wheel Works for mounting & dismounting Hoosiers off my 3 pc. fuchs with no damage.

[JayMac]

I was in a tire shop yesterday and noticed a large sign stating that they are not responsible for damage to "mag wheels", this is a reputable shop - I was very surprised, they explained that some wheels are very difficult to work on and the change machine can scratch the rim and center piece, they suggested for rims like my fuchs that they would do it by hand it would just take longer,

[Kevin Stewart]

Ok one more question in the front lip the same as the back, what i mean is the front barrel flat like the rear I really cant tell from the picture, i have ran into this before, what i think you have is a rear barrel half on the front, the wheel will have to be seperated to talk the tire off, Kevin

[Kevin Stewart]

JayMac, i would never let anyone change a tire by hand, the machines today if operated right and its a new mag machine will not damage a wheel, I would never let some one use a hammer, and a bead buster on anything I have, Kevin

[ubiquity0]

Kevin,

the lip edge on the front is different- it is kind of 'hooked' (i.e. if you sliced it in half it would be 'J' shaped).
front:


rear:
the lip turns out ('L" shaped) and doesn't protrude so far.

[Kevin Stewart]

some place on the front barrel is the diameter smaller? it looks like it may be smaller by the valve stem, the wheel barrell has to have a step inn it in order to get the tire off, Kevin

[ubiquity0]

The barrel tapers in very very slightly and then flattens out. The barrel diameter towards the center is only slightly smaller than at the outside. It definitely doesn't step like this:

[ubiquity0]

Originally posted by ubiquity0
The barrel tapers in very very slightly and then flattens out. You can see the line where if flattens in this pic, its subtle:


The barrel diameter towards the center is only slightly smaller than at the outside. It definitely doesn't step like this:

[Kevin Stewart]

i really believe you have rear halves on both sides without that step it is almost impossible to get the tire off with out cutting the tire or destroying the wheel,

[Kevin Stewart]

your wheel has that groove on the front barrel about an inch in, thats a rear half, Kevin

[ubiquity0]

Yikes. How would the tire have been mounted in the first place?
What happens when the rim halves are unbolted (i.e. can the wheel be disassembled?)

I'm not too familiar w/ the 3-piece concept.

Thanks

[Kevin Stewart]

Like I said i seen this one other time, you have to take the wheel apart to get the tire off, Kevin