Changing rear tire myself

[bwringer]

I change my own tires -- the shops around here won't mount tires unless you buy them through the shop at insane markups.

It's a financial survival skill, unless you have enough money you don't care. The best prices I've found locally are around $300+ a set for premium (Dunlop 491, Metzeler, Pirelli, etc.) tires mounted and balanced if I bring in the rims. I can order the same tires myself for $180 - $200.

[jm_foote]

Where do you order from?

[GSstiny]

Where do you order from?

I got my last set from www.americanmototire.com. I got a set of dunlop 404s for less than $100. I think shipping was in the $20 range.

[Jethro]

I used a large c-clamp and some pieces of 1X wood to break my beads. It was easy. I use balancing beads from http://www.innovativebalancing.com/

I read through thier whole site, but still don't understand how the balancing beads work. Can you explain it?

[JHawkins]

I read through thier whole site, but still don't understand how the balancing beads work. Can you explain it?

I don't understand it exactly either, I do know the big rig trucks in the company I work for have used sand in the tires for quite a while, supposed to work real good. I am thinking about ordering some in to try on the next set of tires.

[flyingace]

I'll post an endorsement for americanmototire. They had the best price and the tire arrived in a few days.

[bwringer]

I just ordered a set of Pirelli Sport Demons from Southwest Moto Tire. They emailed me a few minutes after the order to let me know that the sizes I needed were not in stock and how long it would take them to arrive. Pretty good service, I think. No one else I contacted had oddball size Pirellis in stock either, and I wasn't in a hurry anyway. The tires arrived on time as promised.

Since they have free shipping on orders over $100, their total prices were the best I found by a few bucks, but their selection in bias ply tires is limited.

http://swmototires.com/

I've also ordered from Tires Unlimited before, and been very happy. They have a huge selection of brands and sizes, and their prices are very competitive. They are a real tire warehouse, so you can call a real person to check real inventory if you're in a crunch:

http://tiresunlimited.com