Mike Melton times a $7,000 tire changer against a $32,000 model and finds they're nearly identical in speed: 41 seconds versus 44 seconds. The expensive machine's real advantage is its lever-less design, which eliminates the risk of scratching custom wheels and makes the technician's job easier.
To see what the difference is in the time on changing one on a $7,000 machine compared to a $30,000 machine. So it's not just time. Is the difference what this machine here does, it clamps it from the wheel. So this is a ram clamp machine. This is a center clamp machine. So you have no damage, and you have a possible damage on this machine depending on your wheels. So we're going to start the timer here in just a second, and we're going to see how much longer it takes to change the tire on this machine than it is on this machine. You ready to go? So it's already clamped up, ready to go. We're not gonna worry about clamps. So ready, set, go. So a lot of people are about speed and stuff like that. We're more about accuracy and not scratching people's wheels. All right, you're going to dismount it, and we're going to remount it back up. So what we're going to do, we're going to take our time to see how much longer it takes for this one compared to our touches. A lot of guys are like, oh, I can change it faster. But it's not about how fast it is. It's about not damaging your customers wheels. All right, so we're at 41 seconds and 41 seconds. All right, now let's take it over here, and we're going to put it on this machine. We're going to do the same as that thing. Now, the ram clamp machine took 41 seconds. Let's see how much time it takes on this one. Ready, set, go. So this one here is a leverless machine. He's not having to put a bar over the wheel at all with the potential to scratch the wheel. So we're 15 seconds right now. All right, now he's got it off. Now we're going to go back to mounting it. So remember, the ramp clamp cheaper machine was 41 seconds. This is a more expensive machine. This one here is about $32,000, but you're not going to damage any wheels. Now, this is a steel wheel. You ain't got to worry about damaging. What we're talking about is your custom wheels or even, like, nice factory factory wheels. There's a lot of nice wheels out there. That's it. 44 seconds. So you're talking about three seconds. But you're more accurate with this machine. And also, you're not going to damage anybody's wheels. So is it worth the extra money? Yes. Why? Because it's not only easier for the guy who's changing the tire, you're not going to damage any customer's wheels. So that way, your customer at the end of the day is going to be a lot happier.
