Patent ID: 7768632

Claim:
A method of fitting or removing a motor vehicle tire comprising the steps of: fixing a rim of a motor vehicle wheel rim/tire assembly on wheel receiving means of a tire changer, the wheel having two rim beads; determining geometrical dimensions of the wheel by contactless sensing, wherein at least one planar light beam is emitted onto at least one rim bead of the wheel, the at least one light beam reflected at a stripe-shaped impingement area on the wheel is detected, and directions of the emitted and reflected light beams are evaluated for determining the shape and/or position of said impingement area on the wheel, guiding the movement of a fitting or removal tool in dependence of the determined geometrical dimensions of the at least one rim bead, and at least one planar light beam is emitted from a stationary position, wherein a rim contour along which the fitting or removal tool is guided during the fitting or removal operation is determined from the stripe-shaped impingement area, and the movement of the fitting or removal tool is guided in dependence on the determined contour without contact with a rim surface.