Cheap Kart Tires

[Jfive]

Soap the bead with dawn dish soap and set one bead on the rim, then try the fire trick. Sometimes you have to do it more than once. That or take it by a tire shop and have then try using a cheetah. I've had more luck having one bead on when changing tires.

 

[MrC.]

A couple suggestions
take the valve stem core out. For two reasons it allows more air in and out if you choose the fire method
Also a racket strap around the tire can squeeze the center inwards and push the beads outwards.
Let the tires if there new sit out in the sun for a couple hours before mounting there more flexible when warm

If you must use starter fluid get a straw so you can spray into the tire not all over the side of it. Start with just one or two short squirts and see how the tire reacts . I like to chain the rim down to a table or weight. It can jump up and cause alot of damage bouncing around the shop.

You can also try placing the rim on something so it does not touch the table and allows the tire to flex out to the rim without touching the table. For car rims I have used a 5 gallon bucket which holds the rim and the tire cant hit the ground.

Just some advice use to mount tires for a living.
MrC.

 

[Dukkie]

I've never seen the fire method before but it's amazing how it works. Definitely a good trick when you're up the creek with no paddle...



Those should be good to go and they're the exalted "sawtooths", no less. I'm betting they're Cheng Shin or Kenda--both quality tire makers.

So a Cheng Shin tire is a good thing? Based on the name i thought it was cheapo china thing.

 

[jandj]

A Ching Shen is a very good tire.
Vintage kart guys race on their slicks , and race them hard.
Kenda's are good as well, I have them on my overpowered Manco Deathmobile.

 

[Hellion]

Cheng Shin tires are made in Taiwan ROC. Now Taiwan's independence of mainland China and its industrial capitalism is surely the reason for the quality. They might as well be the Germany of SE Asia.

You go communist and you get crap... at least that's the way it's supposed to be.

 

[Dukkie]

What do you think about these options on amazon:

1. Hi-Run-WD1060-8-00-7-Knobby

2. Duro-HF240A-Knobby

3. Cheng-Shin-C9314

4. Cheng-Shin-General-Purpose

5. Duro-HF240-Knobby

6. Kenda-K290-Scorpion

7. Sun-16x8x7

 

[chancer]

The original Tire I mentioned in this Thread is a "Hi Run" brand. I like them.
You have I am sure read the opinions on the "Cheng Shin" Also Good tires.
I don't know personally about the rest.

 

[Hellion]

This thread is about cheap tires. GO CHEAP! Buy 'em cheap and stack 'em deep!

We might be overthinking these purchases like we're comparing automobile tires (where a lot more is riding on them compared to kart tires).

If money were no object, I'd go with the big brand names, or at least those with established names; Cheng Shin and Kenda (South Korean). Otherwise Amazon reviews are pretty accurate for the oddball stuff too.

UPDATE: I now have both my tires mounted; the "Greenball Rib" mentioned earlier in the thread that were squashed flat for shipping and remained deformed.

One wasn't so bad and I was able to muscle the tire onto the rim and inflate it merely by assuring that more air was rushing in than what was escaping the casual relationship between bead and rim. The other, I couldn't fix. Not even ratchet straps would work as the tire was already too deformed for them to work.

Cue the fire method: I used starting fluid, just one squirt at 12 and at 6 o'clock. A short liquid "fuse" sprayed across the sidewall at 6, a lighter for ignition and FWOOM! The tire is mounted and inflated with the explosive gases. I removed the valve core prior to this operation per the online recommendations. I reinstalled the valve core, pumped it full of air and I'm a happy camper.

 

[jandj]

All I can add us a story from my past.
I live in a part of Virginia where tractor pulls and such are frequent events.
A friend from the small town of Suffolk worked on a tractor called "The Peanut Queen", as peanuts are a main crop in the region.
They were seating some tires on the Queen by the Instant Start method.
All I can say is when several cans of Instant Start are lit off, a bigass tire can clear the roof of a building right quick.
To quote Charlie Daniels, "We were all stepping and fetching like our heads were on fire and our asses were catching!"

 

[chancer]

I would definitely NEVER suggest using the Fire method.
If you cant do it, Take your tire to a trained Proffessional!

JUST KIDDING


I love this method. I am just too cheap to go buy Starting fluid, and I never have any luck with carb cleaner.

 

[jandj]

The only good carb cleaner is 2+2.
Most of the rest is environmentally friendly non toxic crap.
2+2 will go off like napalm.

 

[Dukkie]

For what its worth, i bought #3. will see what i get.

 

[Hellion]

For what its worth, i bought #3. will see what i get.

Those are nice looking tires. Cheng Shin is the parent company of Maxxis tires too, FWIW. Report back here with your first impressions.

Soap the bead with dawn dish soap and set one bead on the rim, then try the fire trick. Sometimes you have to do it more than once. That or take it by a tire shop and have then try using a cheetah. I've had more luck having one bead on when changing tires.

I didn't use Dawn full strength but made a mix of sudsy water and saved it in a little tub for repeat use. I used it more than once for the same tire.

I give up. What is a "cheetah"?

 

[chancer]

I give up. What is a "cheetah"?

Cheeta (sometimes billed as Cheetah, Cheta and Chita) is a chimpanzee character who appeared in numerous Hollywood Tarzan movies of the 1930s–1960s as well as the 1966–1968 television series, as the ape sidekick of the title character, Tarzan.

 

[Jfive]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qrs-0dl6gw