Tire Changing

[Ed K]

Well. . .my RR rear tire is worn at about 4300 miles, and time to change it.

Do you guys change it yourself or have the dealer do it?

If you change it yourself, what tools do you use to get the original off, and the new one on the wheel?

Also does the rear tire ever need to be balanced?

[R4R&R]

Last week I changed my first tire - the front. I should've started doing this about 10 tire changes ago but sometimes I'm a little slow.

I picked up a few tire irons from a local dealer (need three) and a wheel balancer from ebay. Googled motorcycle tire change and went from there. I have always mail ordered the tires, taken my wheels off and and go to a dealer. This typically costs me $30 per tire for mouting/balancing and at least 2 hours of my time. My first reaon for this is the time savings. A side effect will be the money savings, which I will break even at three tire changes (one down, should need a rear sometime in the early summer) for what I have invested. After that it's all money in my pocket (of on the bike - accessories).

[boxermania]

We, I mean there are several riders in our group, change ours. As a matter of fact we have a tire changing day where a few will change their tire(s). It's clean fun, share the work and the expense, discuss other bike/maintenance issues and have a good time.

We use an inexpensive tire changer from Harbor Freight, the regular tire irons that can be obtained from any shop/vendor and a home made balancer set-up.

Yes, balance your tires.....

[gelbe Kulter]

Other
I get the tires via web/mail/phone order and take them to a friend, who changes them for a 6-pack of good beer. A local shop will dispose of them for a charge of $1.50 each - the lowest I have found.

The rear does get balanced just like the front, because the tire requires it. My friend thinks that Avon may make the best balanced tire - I have no balance weights on the rear with Azaros. I had some with the previous two sets of Metzelers.



Interesting side note - Greg (gag!) White reported that Dunlop took over 2500 tires to Barber for the AMA weekend. Pirelli and B'stone were there, too, but with far fewer riders.

[154mph]

I change my tires.

[AndyfromPoland]

Neither. Find out where your dealer sources tyres and go there would be my advice.

What's the point in paying for premium, skilled mechanic time at the BMW dealer when you can pay the rate for the job.

I'd never mess about changing my own.

[Kevin50r]

I change my own, as well as some friends. I use the harbour freight base to break the bead and hold the rim, but tire irons to remove and replace the tire.

I check the balance of the rims without a tire on them and mark the "actual" heavy side, then mount the tire accordingly. I seldom need to add any additional weights or very little.

I change six to eight tires a year (not all my own) and the investment in tools has been well worth it.

[Biff's R]

I am going to go up to Kevin's house the next time I need to change my tires.

[CycleRob]

I changed 8 tires today, 5 of them on the bikes, in addition to 3 other service jobs. It was a crazy Saturday.
Changing tires yourself can have costly consequences you should be aware of. At the top of the list is bending brake rotors while trying to break the tire bead. A $170 brake rotor is turned to scrap metal in a few seconds by bold, narrowly focused enthusiasm. Next would be damaging the aluminum rim's bead sealing surface with your big screwdrivers because you haven't gotten around to getting your own tire irons yet. Then there's scratching/chipping the wheel's beautiful paint job with tire irons so it now occasionally reminds you of the money you saved by doing it yourself. Lastly, there's the tremble and shimmy you notice mostly slowing down thru 45 MPH because your friends told you the wheels don't really need to be balanced by that expensive stealership.

Like Kevin50r, we always check the balance of the rims without a tire on them and mark the heavy side, internally for "next time" and externally for "today". Then the light side of the tire (yellow or red dots) are aligned there. It minimizes weights needed, if at all, to balance the tire.

I think you need to do the math on tire changes and factor in your peace of mind after a pro does it for you with his years of experience and expensive, made for motorcycles, shop equipment. This is especially true if you've never even taken a wheel off yet. Look at how often this tire changing expense occurs. Once every 3 months? Once a year? Consider your abilities and the tools/equipment you'll use. Factor in the likelyhood you'll mess up and damage expensive parts or under/over tighten the bolts you'll remove/replace. Think of how much you'll save by doing it yourself or with help from highly skilled know-it-all friend(s). If you do the math, peace of mind is about thirty cents a day - - - or less.

EDIT:
Here's another, better way to figure it. Dealer charges a pricey $100 to mount & balance tires, you give him the bike. You get 10,000 miles out of those tires . . . that's a penny a mile. If you shop around and bring in just the wheels, $38 for two wheels works out to under four tenths of a cent per mile or 2.63 miles for a penny!

Think about it. Be careful. Seek help. Don't blow off the option of having a (Non BMW?) Dealer do it.

[Guest]

CYCLEROB.....my buddy and friend......you are absolutely right, but the question is how many techs at the dealerships operate like you and the other seasoned gearheads that populate this site.

I'll bet that you are thinking on that one.......

"The devil knows more not because he is the devil but because he is old" Unknown

[boxermania]

Log in pencil head.....yes, dear.....my post is above.

[Pat]

"I think you need to do the math on tire changes and factor in your peace of mind after a pro does it for you with his years of experience and expensive, made for motorcycles, shop equipment."

Call me lazy, accuse me of wasting my money, suggest that I put TOO MUCH faith in experienced techs doing my work for me..... go ahead, try to tell me I'm an overtrusting (rich) fool.

I happily pay a shop to do for me what I DON'T ENJOY! Some of you guys get a kick outa wrenching on yer bike, more power to ya....

My local shops put up with my frequent visits to needlessly look around, because I use (pay for) their services, and buy my tires from them. It's simple, it's a give & take relationship: I give them my business, they help me out in a pinch. It's what I do; and what they've done for me that I appreciate.

Peace of mind that it's done correctly,
No banged up knuckles.
Establishes a working relationship with those upon whom I may call when I REALLY need their help.

[Paper]

Edited, and moved on...

[Acacia]

When ever possible I try to support local services.

Saturday I had my last tire changed at a local tire service I have been using them for several years. A new counter jockey is in sales. 1st, after I had told them excactly what tire I needed (Make and size, Z6 ) was then asked if I wanted a white wall tire and was the bike a chain or shaft drive. I get quoted a price.

I arrive to have it fitted and the price has gone up $8 and am told that if I dont like it I can leave. (too late now to find a nother service). I am also told I dont need to change my tire as there is plenty of tread still on it by another counter jockey who also has no clue. With white tire and chain still fresh in my mind a politely explain that I will be doing a 3500 mile ride the next week (Houston to Torrey UT) and I have decided to change the tyre and will want the old one to take with me.

In the back they put someone onto the job that does not know how to use their equipment and looks like he has never changed a tire. I move in closer, another tech see me and realises there is a customer whose body language is changing and about to say something or take over. He takes over but also begins to miss the heavy side of the tire mark location. A few other customers are watching. We say notjhing but expressions tell all. A few scratches on the rim and I am out of there. I get home and set the wheel on my balancer. It is a full 1/4 oz out and in the wrong place.

Bad and ignorant service that I happen to be paying for will not get my support. I, like most people, will pay a premium for good service. If I find good service, I always go further and make a point of recomending them. The opposite is also true.

Those riders who are not capable of doing their own work and are at the mercy of the dealer and other service provider jackasses, have my sympathy. This last experience has now given me the incentive to make that bead breaker I have been meaning to for some time!

[boxermania]

Friends and fellow riders there are some facts of life that we must recognize and be prepared to deal with

A) There are good shops and bad shops.
B) There are good techs and bad techs.
C) There are knowledgeable people and idiots

Based on my experience as a consumer and in the above categories the latter outnumber the former by a large margin......just look at the responses to this thread......

It is obvous the CYCLEROB's shop and Patrick's shop belong to the former.....

Ahhhh.....feels good to get that weight off my chest................

[Pat]

I, uuuuh,
well........ I have indeed certainly suffered under the hands of the inept and the inexperienced. Many a wheel coming back to me with minor dings, scratches, and dents. Many a scratch in many a gas tank, many oversights, and many things left undone.

A favorite dealership of mine has done an outstanding job on my bike, only later for the same dealership/tech' to really phuck my bike up.... and the bikes of my friends whom I advised give 'em a go . But that was three years ago (and two years ago) (and last year), but I won't mention their name, as you might think that Cycles aren't their Specialties. Yes, I returned to them again and again with the hope that they will have cleaned up their act; but maybe I'm just stupid.

Or the Harley dealership who ignored my specific instructions to replace my balding tires with the hard compound tires that I ordered. 3,500 miles later I discovered that my new BALD tires are the softer Sport compound tires that come on that model bike! The same shop would continue to get my business though, 'cause they're good and..... I'm stupid that way.

Maybe that Ducati/Buell shop to whom I took my bike for a 10,000 mile service and new tires. Overall a good job, but the tech' failed to tell me that my front brake pads were PAPER THIN!!! This place is my favorite shop, has a highly skilled tech', and are quite personable. I have, and will be taking my Triumph to them. Is it stupid to hold a grudge against them for an over-site?

Or the local two man operation that's been in business for decades. Razzed me terribly about owning a Harley, fascinated with my Roadster. They picked up my Honda 750 along the road for me with it's seized rear brake (pads caught on fire). Real nice guys. They put a VERY conspicuous dent in the wheel of my Roadster when I bought tires from them, AND they didn't clean the surface of my wheel before affixing the weights (they came off).

Bottom line, ya takes yer chances if you rely on somebody else to do the job for you. Having put over 100,000 miles on bikes in the last four years, I KNOW I increase the chances (likelihood?) of shoddy work performed on my bikes. Good techs have done poor work on my bikes, and my bikes have occasionally fallen into the hands of a newbie. And I surely don't know how to do HALF the work I have them do for me!

I also know that in life, poo happens.
I can't control the Universe, change my Karma, or expect perfection from others..... even if it's something as simple as putting new tires on a bike. I prefer to interact with the grand scheme of things by going to my local shops and having (some) of my work done for me.
But I guess I'm just stupid that way.

[machew01]

Cyclerob,

Your post about the perceived cost of having a pro mount new tires was greatly appreciated. I felt a little funny last fall spending what seemed to me an extraordinary amount of money getting new Z6's installed. However, I was aware of the cost of new wheels, and I felt much more comfortable having Capitol BMW do the work than some less expensive but unknown alternative. There is great value in having confidence in the resulting wheel/tire/brake assembly.

On an unrelated note, I really enjoyed seeing your beautiful gold Roadster at Bartow.

mac