I Love My Machine
For the No-Mar newbie... It'll take you 2-3 tires to feel comfortable with it..then you'll never fear changing a tire again. I've done about 6 tires on mine in the last 4 weeks. (Geezz.. can it be that many in a freakin month??!!) and can now change them in about 10 minutes. Actually takes longer to balance them than mount them. Amazing.
Have only found a couple of downsides and I am nitpicking..
1. I prefer my HEAVY Coats Bar to the No-Mar bar. I tried the No-Mar bar only twice and never could get the leverage on it as I can with my heavy Coats bar. I may try it again next time around just to be fair. For now... I took my Coats metal bar and epoxied on the plastic end covers that come with it using Goop. Then I wrapped the entire bar with a single sided tape with rubber backing.. Now not only are BOTH ends covered with plastic, but should I actually drop the bar on the wheel, it's got a 1/64ths rubber coating on that as well.. works like a charm...No way to scratch a wheel with it now... now matter how drugged up I may be.. ;-)
2. Not sure if you are familiar with the Coats Changer, but it has 3 metal claws that grab and hold the wheel while changing. If you are removing a tire, after you have broken the bead, and laid the tire/wheel on the machine, those claws reach up between the tire and wheel and lock into place and you then tighten it down.
On the No-Mar.. there are no clamps.. ..only the 3 roundish plastic pieces with slots for the wheels to slide into. What this means is.. you have to COMPRESS the tire before locking it into place.. , meaning.. you lay the tire/wheel on the No-Mar machine and as there are no claws to reach up, you must compress or push down on the sidewall of the tire in order for the plastic grippers to make contact and grab the wheel.
All this means is... On any med-to-soft compound tires,, there is NO problem at all as the sidewall compresses easily.. However, if you are installing a HARD compound tire, it almost takes TWO people to lock the tire/wheel onto the machine as someone has to press the tire sidewall down while the other tightens the lock-in mechanism.. Remember.. this is ONLY when taking a tire off a wheel.. and yes.. this is nitpicking. No-Mar sells some plastic wheel clamps that help in this situation.. I recommend you buy at least 2.. Trust me..
Otherwise.. I LOVE my machine....It make Mongo happy.. A dealer will never touch my wheels again... No-Mar rules!!.. and I don't have any vested interest in them either.
Great people!!
BTW.. I'll be dismounting BOTH tires on my new "S" within the next 2 weeks (I pick it up tomorrow at noon.. woohoo!!) for powder coating.. Will make a follow up post on ease or difficulty.. I honestly don't think there'll be any problem as I regularly do my very wide MV wheels and tires with no probs.