Tire changing

[81xsproject]

thanks to the confidence instilled by a previous post of MAXIMAN, I will soon be attempting to change and balance my own tires. I found a really great write-up, with some sweet home-made goodies that I thought I would share.
LINK

[MAXIMAN]

Two things I recommend having before you start.

1 bottle of Jack Daniels and a very large hammer! (not a rock hammer!)

Hehehe seriously rim protectors...they're about $5 for a pair and will save scratching your wheels up. Second...if you have any ...wink wink...a friend. Seriously the extra muscle is nice to have when wrestling that tire off and on the rim. One guy can do it but it much easier with 4 hands.

Other than that it's the mostfun I've had working on a bike. WHY? Because I get the satifaction of saving $80 to $120 for mount and balance...and AND...invariably I can get a far ar better balance than the shop because I will spend an inordinate amount of time to get it perfect. The shop gets it close. But close doesn't cut it for me when I go on a 5000 mile road trip.

Have fun dude...and take your wife out on the savings.

[old_bartender]

Tire cost $212.50 For two new cont. one front and one back. Take the wheels off myself,and a trip to a shop this young kid of 25 runs.a day later pick up Wheels with the new rubber on and the kids says $20.00 now i am not one to steal so i gave him 25.00 and told him to have a cold one on me. back on the road. this kid even put his lunch down one time to fix a flat for me. Why go anywhere else.

[xsilerating]

Maximan wrote:

WHY? Because I get the satisfaction of saving $80 to $120 for mount and balance

Wow! Where do you take your wheels for mount and balance that it costs $80 - $120? I just brought mine in to have a new tire mounted and balance for the grand sum of $25.00

[MAXIMAN]

The shops around here are STEEP. Anyone else ?

I have no idea why they charge so much.

But in any case money is NOT the issue. Balance is. I cna not tell you how many times in the past several years I've gotten less than stellar balance on tires. Ocassionally it will be very close but not perfect.

Since I started doing my own I get "glass smooth" balance on my tires and they stay balanced for much longer.

From the shop the best balance I've gotten lasted about 4,000 miles then I had to re-balance the tires. Since I started doing it I get 6 to 7000 miles before I re-balance.

YMMV...and I hope it does.

[Ken Talbot]

Originally posted by MAXIMAN
Since I started doing it I get 6 to 7000 miles before I re-balance.

Ah, so you're saying your self-done balance pretty much lasts for the life of your tires? Have you actually got much tread left to balance when they get to that kind of mileage?

[TADracer]

Dont forget the dot

Jesse,

I am sure somewhere in the article in your link they say something about putting the dot on the tire by the valve stem. Be sure to do this otherwise you may sit there all day and never get the wheel balanced the way you want it. (please, dont ask me how I know this).

[81xsproject]

They do mention the the dot. The article even goes as far as to put just the rim and the balancer to ensure that the valve stem is indeed the heaviest part of the rim. If it's not, then you line the dot up with the part that is.

[MAXIMAN]

Originally posted by Ken Talbot


Ah, so you're saying your self-done balance pretty much lasts for the life of your tires? Have you actually got much tread left to balance when they get to that kind of mileage?

Ken ... you obviously don't run Avons.

I got between 11,000 miles out of the REAR tire ...front went 14K then I got bored with it and tried a set of Dunlop E3. I've got about 6000 on them after this road trip to Oregon and they look like they still have half the "useable" thread left. I haven't felt the need to re-balance them....yet...but it's probably coming in the next couple thousand.

[MAXIMAN]

Jesse

Avons don't come with a DOT. Mine didn't

My E3s did. Go figure.

A smart thing to do is pre-balance your wheel with no tire. Determine the heavy point of the wheel then set the dot (if your tire has it) accordingly. I have seen several wheels where the stem is NOT the heavy spot.

Secondly I had a wonderful experience balancing a set of Michelins for a friend last month.

His factory wheel weights were intact and his naked wheels were perfectly balanced....we checked them.

Then we installed the tires. Those tires required no weight. It didn't matter where we moved the tire on the wheel it would balance. He's a bike mechanic at a local shop and told me he's rarely had to add weight to Michelins using this technique.

[Jerry]

Tire balancing has been the topic of another recent thread. Shops in my area charge $45.00 for a "loose wheel" which is when you take the wheel off the bike and bring it in yourself. The $45 is if you bought the tire from the same dealer.

Last blance job I did, front and rear tires, I used Innovative Balancing's tiny bead system...cost about $3.50 per tire since I had to buy the applicator and 'vented' valve stems, from now on I just need to buy the beads, which is a little less money. Lots of skeptacism about these, but after running to Olympia and back, total now around 5K miles, I have to say they work as advertised. Removed existing weights, added the beads and 'vented' tire valves, back on the road with a very smooth ride. I am quite satisfied with the results.

Innovative's main page is:

http://www.innovativebalancing.com/?gclid=CLq7nJer5o4CFR-KgQodvCFBLA

Click on the Motorcycle link on the left-hand side of the page. You should also read the other links, as not all the info you want is on the motorcycle link. For example, the beads don't work well at speeds under about 25 mph. Amount of beads to use is in the ordering section. (1 oz for tires ups to 140 cross-section. I used 1 oz in both front and rear wheels.)

No monetary interest in the company, just saw these and thought I would give them a try as I had gone back to mounting my own tires and was looking for a balancing system. YMMV.