Bead breaker

A tire bead is held in the groove by air pressure.

A bead breaker is a tool used for separating tires from rims. The inside ring of the tire is called the lip, and the bead on the lip seals to the rim in a radial-ply tire, trapping the air inside. Often, the bead can become frozen to the rim after rusting occurs, requiring the use of a bead breaker in order to be removed.

A need was experienced by avid 4x4 enthusiasts and overland travelers for a simple tool to effectively and efficiently remove the tire from the rim of a wheel, in cases where a tire requires repairs to the inside. Tire changers have a semi-automated bead loosening system for removing tires, but due to the high cost and lack of portability these are were not suitable. In addition beads frozen by heat and rust to the rim must often be broken free manually. In these case the bead breaker is ideal. Used like a chisel, a bead breaker leverages a mechanical advantage to drive the bead away from the rim. This is a good example: www.beadbuster.com ^[1]

References