Changed Tires, got a question

I have never changed my tires before, but really wanted to know how to do it myself. My neighbor helped me (has done it many times before on his ducati, is time tested) and it went fairly smoothly. My question is, I know it is very easy to damage wheels with the tire irons, but what does it take to damage a tire on installation? Just curious, I do not believe that I did hurt the tires as we were only using 8 in irons, little harder to get into trouble than the 2ft ones, just wanted to know what others have run into.

If your bike uses tubes that is where you might do damage. Tires are pretty tough. Ed

Yea, you can't hurt the tires no matter what you do. Just don't pinch the tube is all that matters. I've replaced many tubeless tires and see that rubber bead of the new tire getting all buggered up and think "this is NOT good", but even then never a problem.
The problem with changing tires and scratching the rims is mostly on the mount of the tire, demounting is relatively safe and easy. If anyone is interested there are some great tire irons made for mounting that make it darn tough to scratch a wheel or pinch a tube. These irons only work for mounting, use regular tire irons for the demount. These are made for use with an expensive tire changing machine but work great with old wheels manually too.
www.nomartirechanger.com/06SpoonBar.html

del

thanks guys, good ideas.