The length of irons I used worked well. I wouldn't go shorter, but longer will be fine as well. Also, I used some 2x4 boards fastened together in two strips to keep the rim off the ground. Make sure it's high enough to also clear the rotor. Gives you a strong base without damaging wheel or rotor.

 

Lots of great instructional videos on youtube.

 

Yesterday one of my ridin buds and myself changed my rear tire, I simply used a stock D401 because that's what my son bought me for a Fathers Day gift. My firend has four levers, two being Motion Pro levers about 16" long and two were about 13" long with no name. He had two protectors, we got along just fine taking about 30 minutes to do the job. I'll experience the new tire in about one hour riding the bike to Church which about 31 miles. We used an inverted milk crate as a work stand.

Alsom I can with confidence recommend the Marc Parnes balancer, it was easy to use and of high quality.

 

Kind of old but Ill give a shout out to the harbor freight 5$ tire irons. Work great, I had 2 motion pros and bent them, I used the harbor freights to change the front and rear tires on my bike to brand new white walls. If you have never changed your own tires then get a third tire iron/spoon until you get the hang of it.

 

I use three of the 16'' steel irons from Motion Pro. Excellent strength and leverage. As far as lube goes, I personally went for "Tire Mounting Lubricant", which can be found at NAPA. I like it better than soap and water because I have seen some rusty beads after using soap and water for a few years and letting it sit in there.

I don't bother with rim protectors because I just used some of that cloth medical tape and taped up the irons. This way I can move them around easily and not worry about going off the protector or gouging the rim. It's harder than it looks to really gouge something bad.