Do You Need an Assist Arm on Your Tire Changer?

An assist arm adds real money to the price of a tire changer, so it's fair to ask whether you need one. The answer depends almost entirely on the tires you change most often.

What an assist arm actually does

When you mount a tire, the bead has to drop into the center of the wheel so it can stretch over the rim. On a soft, tall sidewall, your hand can hold it there. On a stiff, short sidewall, it fights back and wants to pop out as you go around.

An assist arm is a second set of hands mounted to the machine. Depending on the arm, it can:

• Press the bead down into the center of the wheel and hold it there while the turntable spins
• Lift the bead up during demounting so it's easier to grab with the bead lever
• Roll the bead into place on tough tires

The result is less wrestling, less strain on your back and wrists, and less risk of scratching an expensive wheel.

Signs you need one

• You regularly change low-profile tires, the short sidewalls found on most performance cars and many newer SUVs
• You work on run-flat tires, which have very stiff, reinforced sidewalls
• You do a lot of light truck and SUV tires with heavy, stiff sidewalls
• You handle expensive custom or alloy wheels and want to keep levers away from the rim
• You're doing tires all day, and the time and strain add up

If you mostly change standard passenger and light truck tires on steel or factory wheels, a machine without an arm will do the job fine.

Single arm or dual arms?

A single arm handles most of the work: it presses the bead down and holds it while mounting. It's the right fit for shops that see low-profile tires regularly but not all day.

Dual arms add a second arm on the other side. With both, one technician can work through run-flats and the stiffest low-profiles without help.

Top-mount arms attach above the turntable and press the bead from above. Side arms mount beside the machine and often add a lifting disc and centering tool for more control.

Atlas tire changers and assist arms

Each family of Atlas tire changers comes in a version without an arm, with one arm, and with two, so you can pick the machine you need and add the arm level that fits your tires. On Atlas dual-arm machines, the left arm has a pressing block and a pressing and lifting disk, and the right arm adds a second disk and a bead roller. The Atlas E-Z arm on the TC755EZ is a middle ground: a single right-side arm that combines a pressing disk, bead roller and pressing block.

The Italian-engineered Atlas Platinum PTC300 comes with a left-hand assist arm as standard.

Bright tire changers and assist arms

Bright tire changers work a little differently: you buy the machine, then add the Bright assist arm made for it. That makes it easy to start with the machine and add an arm later, when your tire mix calls for it.

The AL335 right-side arm must be installed together with a PL330 left-side arm. See every Bright arm and the machines it fits in our Bright assist arm guide.

Can you add one later?

Often, yes. Add-on assist arm kits are available for Atlas 200 Series and 700 Series tire changers, and Bright offers arms made to bolt onto its machines. With Atlas, buying the machine with the arm already installed is usually simpler and costs less than adding it later. Either way, call us before you buy and we'll confirm which arms fit the machine you're looking at.

Our take

If more than a few of the tires you change each week are low-profile or run-flat, get at least a single arm. You'll make that money back in time and saved wheels. If you're running a busy tire shop or you see run-flats every day, go with dual arms or a leverless machine like the Bright 897. And if you're a home garage changing tires on your own vehicles a few times a year, put the money toward a good machine without an arm and a quality wheel balancer instead.

Feel the difference in person

Want help narrowing it down? Use the tire changer finder, or call us at 765-544-3838 and tell us what you're changing.