How to Dismount a Tire

After we covered tire mounting, we received a few comments from our readers that they needed help with the dismount process. Today, we'll look at how simply it can be done if you have the right tools and apply the correct technique.

With the wheel and tire removed from the kart, first identify if the wheel has bead screws. If so, remove all bead screws entirely from the wheel so you don't damage your tire or wheel in the de-bead process. If no bead screws are present, make sure your tire is completely empty of any air before moving on.

Next, we'll fit the tire to our bead breaker. For us, it's a "deluxe-type" tool where it's gear driven and has de-bead rings on both sides of the tire so we don't have to flip the tire over. Other tools have a prong on a lever and you'll need to de-bead both sides separately. Both work just fine, it just depends on preference and sometimes budget.

Using your bead breaker of choice, de-bead both sides of your tire. You'll know when your tire has been de-beaded as the rubber will have separated from the bead of the wheel.

With the tire de-beaded, we'll begin the dismount process. It's crucial that we pull the backside of the rim through as it's smaller in size than the front. We'll begin with the backside of the tire facing away from you and your hands on top of the tire. Squeeze in the side wall of the back of the tire up near your hands (figure 1). If you also squeeze in the wheel and hold it in place, this should open up the tire at the bottom, showing an opening between the rim and tire as seen in the video at 3:31.

Still holding the wheel in place, flip the tire over so the opening in the tire is now at the top (figure 2). Push down on that part of the tire so that it starts to push off the rim. This will take some strength and perhaps a little bouncing up and down to get it to push off, but if the tire is placed correctly it should be a pretty quick process.

At this point the tire should be removed from half of the rim. The tire may be deformed from the last step, so pull the tire out to it's natural form. Again, we'll push in the side wall of the tire at the top, making a crease in the tire (figure 3). If the crease is at 12 o'clock, grab the tire at 3 o'clock with one hand while also holding the rim with the other and start to twist them apart. The wheel should twist out of the tire if you have a proper grip.

If you're looking to mount a new set of tires and need some help getting started, please watch our tire mounting video.