How do you change tires?

[wayzalot]

               
I do alot of my own maintenance and work.  I have always taken my wheels to an Indy with a tire machine and a spin balancer. I read here guys who buy their tires and wonder if you mount them the old fashion way with tire irons?  Do you balance them or just line up the mark with the valve stem and call it good.  I could save some $ and also the shop I take my wheels to is 60 miles away.

Merry Christmas and thanks HTT for a wonderful site.  I hope Santa was good to all.  My OL got me a new set of chaps.

[PoorUB]

Harbor Freight tire changer with their motorcycle wheel adaptor, plus Mojo Blocks ,and Mojo Lever.
On HF's sight look up a 34542-8VGA, and 42927-5VGA. $49.99, and $59.99. Then look at  http://home.comcast.net/~prestondrake/mojoweb.htm For the blocks and lever. For about $200 you will have a nive tire changer. As for balancing I built a static balancer, simular to this one. http://webbikeworld.com/Reviewed-motorcycle-products/balancer/

Edit the price! oops!

[Blackbaggr]

               
I do alot of my own maintenance and work.  I have always taken my wheels to an Indy with a tire machine and a spin balancer. I read here guys who buy their tires and wonder if you mount them the old fashion way with tire irons?  Do you balance them or just line up the mark with the valve stem and call it good.   I could save some $ and also the shop I take my wheels to is 60 miles away.

Merry Christmas and thanks HTT for a wonderful site.  I hope Santa was good to all.  My OL got me a new set of chaps.

That is not something I "f" around with... not much between you and the road.

[Sonny S.]

Harbor Freight tire changer with their motorcycle wheel adaptor, plus Mojo Blocks ,and Mojo Lever.
On HF's sight look up a 34542-8VGA, and 42927-5VGA. 449.99, and $59.99. Then look at  http://home.comcast.net/~prestondrake/mojoweb.htm For the blocks and lever. For about $200 you will have a nive tire changer. As for balancing I built a static balancer, simular to this one. http://webbikeworld.com/Reviewed-motorcycle-products/balancer/

I've been thinking about something like that and using DynaBeads.
I just ordered 2 new tires for my dresser and I'll be looking at $70 for the Jap shop to mount and ballance, and that's with me bringing them the wheels.
Harley dealer wants $45 PER WHEEL

[gOOseman]

               
I do alot of my own maintenance and work.  I have always taken my wheels to an Indy with a tire machine and a spin balancer. I read here guys who buy their tires and wonder if you mount them the old fashion way with tire irons?  Do you balance them or just line up the mark with the valve stem and call it good.  I could save some $ and also the shop I take my wheels to is 60 miles away.

Merry Christmas and thanks HTT for a wonderful site.  I hope Santa was good to all.  My OL got me a new set of chaps.

Use to change tires on my buddies old manual tire changer and never quite got the hang of it......alot of cussing and skinned knucks but it does save some $$. Also, I have never completely trusted somebody else doing my motorbike work. Always wondered if the tire changing jobs at the shop got delegated to the bike washing tech. You know what they say, "if you're not paranoid, you're not paying attention. Anyways, I stopped by a local indy tire shop one day about the truck, and the fellow who owned the shop is a bike guy. I bring the wheels and new tires to him and it changes them out and gets rid of the old ones for $10. Something to try if the circumstance is available.
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gOOseman

[tireater]

I use one of 2 indys...I can't use irons because of my powdercoated rims...Mount and balance $20 if you bring the wheel in...

[Sonny S.]

gOOseman,

how do you know I live near Boonsboro 

[PoorUB]

He don't, but his computer figured it out!
Look up www.danasoft.com

[PoorUB]

Harbor Freight tire changer with their motorcycle wheel adaptor, plus Mojo Blocks ,and Mojo Lever.
On HF's sight look up a 34542-8VGA, and 42927-5VGA. 449.99, and $59.99. Then look at  http://home.comcast.net/~prestondrake/mojoweb.htm For the blocks and lever. For about $200 you will have a nive tire changer. As for balancing I built a static balancer, simular to this one. http://webbikeworld.com/Reviewed-motorcycle-products/balancer/

I've been thinking about something like that and using DynaBeads.
I just ordered 2 new tires for my dresser and I'll be looking at $70 for the Jap shop to mount and ballance, and that's with me bringing them the wheels.
Harley dealer wants $45 PER WHEEL

My local HD shop quoted me $75 PER wheel on the bike to mount and balance! They have yet to sell me a tire or mount them! I bought the HF changer right after I bought the bike. I figure it is paid for a couple times over by now.

[gOOseman]

gOOseman,

how do you know I live near Boonsboro 

Its harmless.........it only lets "you" see that info....nobody else can see "your" information....ie when I am on this link it just shows my stats......I friend pulled it on me and I was amazed.........

gOOseman

[Sonny S.]

OK, so what you see in post #4 is different than what I see ?  Now you've really twisted my head 

[gOOseman]

OK, so what you see in post #4 is different than what I see ?  Now you've really twisted my head 

The only thing I see is my stats.......anybody that is on this link  only sees "their" info NOT yours....It messed with my head too until I went to the site and read about it.........

gOOseman

[Sonny S.]

Wow, that is a trip !

[eglideic]

 I have some very large tire irons from the Farm and Fleet store and used to use a large vise and blocks of wood to break the bead till I found a J.C. Whitney Motorcyce Tire Bead breaker at a swap meet for $5.
At first I thought at $5. it must not work well at all but I won't be out much, but no, it works slick as can be.
A local indy will bubble balance them for $5.

[Admiral Akbar]

I used to use a press with wood blocks to break the bead and tire irons on everything including PCed and polished aluminum wheels. If you have good tire spoons,short wood box out of 2x4s, a strong back and know what you are doing, you can do a good job.. I only have 2.5 out of the list so have picked up an Atlas tire changer..    Works well removing tires with the stock head but needs the newer plastic head to get the tires on.  I tried using a nomar bar to remove a Brazilian  Metz from a 16 inch PC wheel.. Ended up bending the damned thing and it supposed to be better than the Mojo.. I think I'll ask the guy at Nomar if he can do a video of a Brazilian Metz on a 16 in rim..  

The static balancer from Nomar is only 99 bucks..

Max

[Eglider05]

A local indy will bubble baance them fo $5.

No need to load them up and take in for balancing. Try some Dynabeads, http://www.innovativebalancing.com/motorcycle.htm they work great.

Rick

[FLTRI]

Harbor Freight tire changer with their motorcycle wheel adaptor, plus Mojo Blocks ,and Mojo Lever.
On HF's sight look up a 34542-8VGA, and 42927-5VGA. 449.99, and $59.99. Then look at  http://home.comcast.net/~prestondrake/mojoweb.htm For the blocks and lever. For about $200 you will have a nive tire changer. As for balancing I built a static balancer, simular to this one. http://webbikeworld.com/Reviewed-motorcycle-products/balancer/

I've been thinking about something like that and using DynaBeads.
I just ordered 2 new tires for my dresser and I'll be looking at $70 for the Jap shop to mount and ballance, and that's with me bringing them the wheels.
Harley dealer wants $45 PER WHEEL

This post is for those who just can't justify paying a shop reasonable $$ to mount and balance their tires YET have no reservation spending $$$ on add-on do-dads, chrome bling, and otherwise nothing more than stuff that increases weight and decreases mileage. 

So please disregard the following if you are experienced and own the proper tools to mount your own tires and use a balancer you feel is good enough for your purposes.

IMO, unless you buy a quality spinning balancer you simply cannot get a high quality dynamic (at speed) balance. Sure a static or bubble balance will suffice, and I can appreciate those who live in rural areas where it is highly inconvienient, or even impossible to get to a shop with the latest tech in balancing @ reasonable pricing.
Note: $45 per wheel for balancing is an example of how the term "stealer" came about. IMO, $15 per wheel is even high, but not theft.

I would like to share my experience on the dyno with rear tires. Since rear wheels are the only ones I can feel/evaluate, I can only comment on them.

At least 1/3 of the bikes I run on the dyno indicate the rear wheel or tire is either out of balance or out of round. Since the dyno drum is smooth and round we can eliminate the "road" as a varible to the observed rear movement. Out of balance or out of round become immediatley obvious because the rear end of the bike will vibrate at during tuning speeds and/or hop up and down at lower speeds.

Note: For alloy (mag type) wheels it can usually be assumed they are round, however with spoke wheels that is not necessarily the case. Either way, when the rear end of the bike moves or bounces up and down the wheel assy is either out of round (spoked wheel) or  out of balance. As the wheel comes to very slow turning the naked eye can see if the spoked wheel is out or round, which in my experience is at least 50+%.

Needless to say it is possible some techs (inexperineced or lazy) do not always check or care if a spoked wheel is out of round when "slapping" on a new tire. Maybe management feels it is not profitable to mess with it, possibly because it is a tedious job to re-true a wheel properly or maybe they don't have a tech (out sick? ) who can efficiently (flat $$ charged vs actual time spent) get the job done. Remember, shops generally make more profit getting light services in and out.

Then there are the wheels that shed their weight(s) after balancing, sometimes days, weeks, or months later. This can be due to anything from not cleaning the surface where the weight is attached to blowing them off with a pressure washer. Careful inspection while cleaning will usually indicate missing weights because remains of tape adhesive will be appearant. That said, the shop that mounted your tires would have had to clean all the past weight glue remnants from the wheel or you could make a wrong assumption that a weight was missing.

You may say: I don't believe my tires are out of balance because the bike feels ok going down the road.

Let me offer this: Some of the bumps/roughness you feel on roads could partly be the affects of out of balance wheels and or tires.
When I show some owners their out of balance or out of round rear wheel or tire (yes there are defective tires that have sat on racks so long they are no longer round) , sometimes to be told "I just got the bike back from new tire(s) being mounted and balanced", or "I just paid $$ to have my wheels re-trued", yet it is obvious the wheel was not true.

IMO, owners need to be vigilant with their wheels and tires BECAUSE, as I have stated many times, they are what separates the rider from the cold hard and unforgiving pavement. While liability suits are for negligent work, you gotta be alive to collect. 
No intent to piss off anyone but to ralate my experiences working with these bikes for a long time on the dyno. Have a Happy X-mas and New Year!!!  - Or whatever spins your top!
Bob

[tireater]

Dyna beads didn't work for me..They say they will accentuate wheel problems...
I noticed my back wheel had a hop last time on the dyno...Sonny 

[Sonny S.]

Bob, not sure I follow your first paragraph right   

[autoworker]

I use a couple of large C-clamps to break the bead,tire irons,a truing stand,and stick on  segmented weights that came from NAPA.

To remove or mount the tire I lay the wheel on an old auto tire that is sitting on a throw rug,cover the irons with duct tape,use rim protectors and or rags on the rim edge.       BTW...lube is your friend.
A truing stand for balancing can be had pretty reasonable on the web.In fact there is a US made one on ebay for less than $100.

I'm too cheap and stubborn to pay someone to do it and if it's not right I only have myself to blame.

A manual MC tire changer may be in my future though.

So far I have had good results.

[Faast Ed]

Dyna beads don't like moisture (present in many air compressors).

[Admiral Akbar]

Bob, not sure I follow your first paragraph right   

I got it.. The post he's referring to is his own.. Not the whole thread..

Got to say this though   If dynamic balancing is so good then why does Hoban static balance flywheels? (IRCC that's how they do it)  

Bubble balancers ain't that hot tho. Wouldn't use it on a MC wheel, they were marginal on cars.. Max

[Sonny S.]

Not sure how Hoban Bro's does it but House of Balance, which is near me ( who Zippers uses ) Dynamic balances HD flywheels.
At least that's how they do all 5pc assemblys. I've had them dynamic balance a clutch basket for me too.

http://www.houseofbalance.com/

[PoorUB]

IMO, unless you buy a quality spinning balance you simply cannot get a high quality dynamic (at speed) balance. Sure a static or bubble balance will suffice, and I can appreciate those who live in rural areas where it is highly inconvenient, or even impossible to get to a shop with the latest tech in balancing @ reasonable pricing.

You are surely in titled to your opinion, here is mine.
I worked at a mass production machine shop for a few years. Many of the parts we made required balancing. Most of the companies spec computer balancing for the parts. Now we were a small shop and did not have the required computer balancer, but we did have a static balancer, so we used it. Some of our vendors found out about our cheating on the balancing and had parts tested on computer balancers. We never had a part rejected for balance issues. Our static balancer did as good of a job as the "required" computer balancer.

As for motorcycles tires, yes it is important that the rim be true. I can get my tires balanced within 1/8 of an ounce if I want to dick with it long enough. I have ridden tire just slapped on the rim, and later balanced and been an once or so off and never noticed a bit of vibration or issues with balance. It ain't rocket science!

[Ken R]

I've done both . . .. .DYI and indy shop. 

The local indy shop will not mount/balance tires bought elsewhere for any price.  They say it's because of liability.  I say it's because they want to discourage Internet buying.  But I've used them in a pinch. 

But they will mount and balance the tires they sell for free.  The cost is in the tire mark-up.   Takes 'em about 10 minutes and it's done.  (I have always taken the wheel off the bike for them; they charge more to handle the bike).

And, I've done it with the tire iron method . . . . several times.  It's a pain.  Sometimes I wonder if it's worth it to save $50 per wheel per year.  There is a good chance that you'll slightly bend a rotor.  And it takes about an hour, including balancing on a stand I made. 

Every time I need a new tire, I have to make the decision:  DYI or shop.   If I have nothing to do, I'll change it myself.  If not, I'll take the wheel(s) to the indy.

Had three rear tire flats in 2008; all due to punctures.  Took the tire to the indy both times because it was at a crucial time.  (I did the initial tire installation and balancing).