A few months ago I asked you guys for advice/opinions on "Harbor Freight" type tire changers.  Anyway, I decided to get one and today I finally got around to using it to mount my wife's snow tires.  (You know what that means... no more snow for the rest of this year!)  

I had half a sheet of plywood laying around, so I cut some 4 foot pieces of 2x2,  screwed to the bottom of the plywood to make a "floor" to bolt  the tire changer to.  Thought that would be easier than getting anchors, drilling into the concrete floor, etc.  

First tire took about 1:15 from jacking up the car to letting the jack down with the snow tire on.  Second one took about 40 minute, last 2 took about 30 minutes each.  It took a little practice to figure out what I was supposed to be doing, and as usual getting the 2nd bead re-mounted took a little extra work.  The last tire, I had a heck of time popping the second bead off the rim,but just kept spinning it and pushing it down 'till it popped off.  

It probably would have been easier to do if the changer was bolted solid to the floor instead of having a 4x4 platform, but it was definnitely doable.  ( I have some experience changing motorcycle tires  by hand)

Conclusion:  If you like to change your motorcycle tires, you'll probably like to change your car tires for the same reasons.

(For me it's:  1.  I can do it whenever I want to/have time VS. making an appointment.  2.  I like learning to do stuff myself  3.  I'm cheap     ( but to be honest, if I was paying myself minimum wage, it might have been cheaper to get somebody else to do it) I've been charged anywhere from about $20 to about $100 to switch 4 snow tires on  

Well, Phil seen his shadow, so we have six more weeks of snow... yer wife's car should be good then!