Re: 55 56 Packard safety bead rim wheels.

Posted by PackardV8 On 2010/10/18 21:42:10

BH. I have both a large 1930's hand powered bead breaker and a air powered 1940's Mays Bro's bead breaker/ tire changer. The old 50's and even on up into the 60's tires were Extremely difficult to break the beads on. I did many during the mid 1970's. The old 50's tires were the worst. There are a few tricks to it tho.

The modern radials damned near fall off of the rim with even just the hand operated bead breaker.

I laugh and often just walk away in disgust when i here so many so-called mechanics say they never demounted a tyre themselves. Especial the modern radials are so damned ez.
With even just a cheap modern bead breaker the tyres can be knocked off of the rim and a new one put back on faster than they can be loaded in a truck and transported backwards and forwards to the tire store. But those old 50's and 60's tires are real bear.