BeadBuster XB-450 Review

Story by Rick Sosebee. Photos by Rick Sosebee. Published Mar. 26, 2014 0 Updated Oct. 31, 2019

Small, inexpensive tool makes it easy to change ATV and UTV tires

Sometimes the simplest things bring about moments of “why didn’t I think of that.” Recently we had the opportunity to get our hands on a new small and very portable tool called the BeadBuster XB-450. This tool is approximately four inches square and breaks the bead on any ATV or UTV tire in a few steps.

We first saw the BeadBuster at American International Motorcycle Expo this past October. The demonstration from the inventor made the job of breaking a tire’s bead seem ridiculously simple. It wasn’t long before we were on the phone asking for a unit so we could test it out for ourselves.

Most ATV tires can be very hard to break off the rim when you need to replace them or simply clean out the extra dirt should you take a good digger into a trail bank. With steel rims the lip can become rusty and some inner bead lips on aluminum wheels are very good at holding the tire in place. The hard part for most tools is that the tire sidewall can be very flexible and allow tools to move around then loose grip on the bead. Here’s a look at how the XB-450 gets the job done.

1. Lay your wheel and tire combo on the floor of the garage and add a touch of soapy water to the rim’s lip. This helps the foot of the XB-450 slip under the rim’s edge.

2. Lay the foot of the BeadBuster on the tire right at the edge of the wheel and press the foot under as much as possible. Using a ratchet or impact driver screw in the bolt on the front of the XB-450 to set the foot completely under the rims lip.

3. The rubber rim protector keeps the BeadBuster from hurting the custom wheel. The next step is to screw in the bolt on top of the XB-450. Be sure to do this slowly as the foot presses the tire off its seat.

4. This process may need to be repeated a couple of times around the wheel if it becomes stubborn.

And that’s it folks. The bead has been broken and you are ready to do what you will with the tire. We found that the tool is made of seriously strong steel and after breaking down approximately ten wheel tire matches the BeadBuster XB-450 still performed as good as it did the very first time. There are many reasons to love this tool and one is that you can actually change your own ATV tires and save a fortune.