BMW R1200R R1150R/T F800 K1200R R1100R/T R1250R RnineT Message Board

I now have about 4500 miles on my 2004 R1150R and the tires need replacing. When I called my dealer for prices I was shocked. Bridgestone and Metzlers (ME6?)were both priced about the same. The dealer wants $330 dollars for a front and rear package. Now here is the best part, he wants $120 to change the tires. Netting it out, the price is $450 plus tax !!! I know that I can buy the same tires online for about $185 including shipping. I think the local yamaha dealer charges $30 per tire for changing them. So, the online tires can be delivered and installed for about $250. Are BMW tires harder to change? Is there anything unique about the BMW wheels? Is it OK to have another motorcycle dealer change your tires?

That is about what I was quoted for new tires. Also, my dealer does not sell/carry avon's.

there is nothing magical about changing our tires. the first time I did both it took about 3 hours because I was seconding guessing myself each step. 2nd time took less than 90 minutes.

What I used: the first time I purchased 3 tire irons (two short - 8", and one long - 16"), a marc parnes wheel balancer, a used 14" car rim from the local tire shop, an 8' 2X4 for a bead breaker, wheel weights, duct tape, and an old shampoo bottle. all in all I save about $50 bucks the first time and beat myself up for 3 hours.

the second time I save over $200.00, made sure it was done right.

If you are going to do it often (at least once a year) and are inclined to sweat and curse do it yourself.

for $60.00 plus the effort to pull the wheels, the dealer is pretty good value if they are careful and take their time.


Bill

baltm604,

So tell me, how do you do the balancing ? I have gotten the impression that the rear wheel needs a special adapter for balancing because of the single sided swing arm. And tell us where to buy the wheel balancer.
What was the total cost for all the tools you needed ?
I need change tires as well and would like to do it myself.

http://www.marcparnes.com/

If you use the balancer twice, it has more than paid for itself.

I used this document http://www.clarity.net/~adam/tire-changing.html as a general set of instructions.

I used this doc http://www.webbikeworld.com/t2/bead-bre ... reaker.htm for guidance for breaking the beads.

The first time I did it, I actually did use my car as the vulcrum point. the second time I connected the 2x4 to a stud on my garage wall, using a 3/4 bolt with nut and washers for the pivot, worked much better.

I purchased the tire irons from denniskirk.com. the longer 16" is nice. When you are putting the second bead onto the rim, the longer tire iron can be held under your arm, leaving your hand free to use the two shorter once to get the bead over the rim.

I bought the stick wheel weights off the garage on the corner ($2 for a couple of strips of stick on lead weights.

I used an empy large Pert shampoo bottle for rim protectors (you can get 3 out of a bottle.

Lastly, I used a small quick grip type bar clamp that was in the shop. It was used to squeeze the tire together on side as I was seating the bead on the other side.

When I do this again (hopefully not until spring) I will try to take pictures of the whole process.

Bill

I pay $225 (Z6) delevered to my house and then payed $45 to have them install ( removed the rims my self and just took them to my local suzuki guy) I you wantI can send you the link, just have to digg it up.

Yes, please send me the link. thanks Dan S.

http://www.ronayers.com/catalogs/tires/ ... =4&type=72
also http://www.americanmototire.com/

dans58 wrote:Yes, please send me the link. thanks Dan S.

Here's another. Good service, fast, free shipping for two or more tires.

http://www.swmototires.com/
If you live in or near Tucson you can roll in, pull your wheel in their back lot and get them mounted for $11/tire. Email first to be sure they have what you need.

I get all of my tires from SWMototires, super people.

It's my understanding that you need a special balancer to balance the BMW rear tires. That's what a BMW mechanic told me. I had a tire which was changed at a ducati dealership, and they couldn't balance it. When I had it replaced (after 7000 miles) I took it to my local BMW shop, and they put some metzeler z6's on (can't wait for it to wear out. Dry grip is terrible with any bit of a lean angle. I can actually feel the rear slide when i get on the throttle). Anyway, I'm off on a tangent. The BMW dealer had the tires perfectly balanced.
What i'm asking is: do you need a special device to balance a BMW rear rim? If not, I'm definitely going to do the tire changes myself. I paid $450 last time!

Marty

that site looks like even a better deal! $450 WOWWWWW I am in the wrong racket!

Couple of questions re: tires...

I bought my bike with 5100 miles on it and now I have 10200 on it. The front is showing signs of wear but the rear looks great. The tires are Michelin Macadam 90; does anyone know if these were OEM tires or do you think they're replacements? The bike was placed into service in March of 2003.

I'm leaning toward the Pilot Road and since the rear looks so good, do you think it'd be fine to mix tires by replacing only the front? Part of me wants to replace both but not sure if I'm wasting $$ to just to have a "set".

The Macadams were the original tire on both of my Rs, and 10k miles is good out of a set. I got around 7300 out of both of my fronts.

I also ran the Macadam rear with a Pilot Road front for about 1500 miles. I now have both the front and rear Pilot Road on, and am very happy.

I bought the set of Pilot Roads from http://www.swmototires.com , and was very happy with the deal. Buy the set and save on the shipping.

Jeff,

Thanks for the info. I read one of your posts where you sometimes go to Southeastern Ohio for rides. Where do you go? I grew up down there, in Gallipolis, and my parents still live there. I was there this summer riding in the Athens area; what a great bunch of roads! Sadly, when I lived there I had a Harley Sportster so I didn't get to appreciate those roads as much as I do now with RR.

DK

Marty,

Because of the single side swing arm, the BMW rear wheel requires a "special" adapter to balance the wheel. So, not all motorcycle dealers are equipped to balance the rear wheel of a BMW.... some are but not all. If you do it yourself you can buy the wheel balancer from Marc Parnes ($105). You must specify that you have a BMW and he will send you the proper balancer for our bikes.

Donald

Thanks, Donald. That was some super-useful information.

DK,
I usually end up in the Athens, Marietta, and Woodsfield area. I have headed down to Gallipolis quite a few times, and anything east of Chillicothe is decent riding. There is also a great BMW dealership east of Athens on US 50.

Also, look in the grooup rides section. Next spring we are planning a ride in the SE Ohio/WV area. I am guessing it is less than 500 miles from you, and you could make decent time on the slab to get there.