For many years my brother and I have been changing tires manually. I have
2 tire irons that I purchased at a truck parts place and an old manual bead
breaker. I have found that 14 inch and up can be installed on the rim just
by lubricating the bead well and working the tire on by standing on the
sidewall and working around. Sometimes it takes a little push with the
tire iron to finish the last little bit. The wheel never gets near a tire
machine, just sits on a piece of rubber matting.
Removing the tire is a little more difficult but very dooable.
I once watched a mechanic mount a 13 inch tire to an aluminum wheel by
spraying the bead with silicone and just twisting it onto the wheel.
As to needing to stretch the bead to get the tire mounted, I don't think
that this is true at all. All you need to do is to distort it a little.
The key is that the bead goes into the drop center of the wheel while the
tire is being mounted. It really doesn't take a lot of force to get the
tire on or off.
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