Some rims / tyres present more problems than others but there are very few tyres I cannot mount by hand without tools and if I do need to use a tool to assist in mounting I have rarely had an issue with tube damage.

I most often use talc and insert the tube into the tyre first before mounting and sometimes I start at the valve and sometimes I don't as very few tyres give me any grief.

Of course... I change more tyres than most and find that Park levers are made of cheese and are pretty much useless... pedros steel core levers are awesome and Schwalbe makes an excellent lever that is also virtually unbreakable and very resistant to bending.

And when it gets really tough I have a set of Park professional levers which, unlike their plastic counterparts, will not break or bend as they are steel.

You have to be careful using these... not because they are steel buy because of how much extra leverage you can get with these much longer levers.

Besides talc... which acts like thouands of little ball bearings you can also make a little mounting fluid with a few drops of dish soap in a spray bottle and this will also help things glide a little more smoothly and will help stubborn tyres seat properly.

When all else fails, you can take a boot to them.