How many of you change your own tires

[WesV]

I got to thinking about it, if I am gonna be replacing tires on this thing 2 or 3 times a year, can I do it myself? All I have ever worked with are big tires (31"-38") on steel or aluminum rims then always get them balanced by the local tire shop. I have seen ads for a motorcycle tire balancer for an decent price, (I guess it is anyway) and was wondering how many of ya'll changed all your own tires? Is there anything special about changing them on the Mag Rims? Is it worth my trouble or should I keep spending $30 to have them professionally mounted and balanced?

[Rico]

I made myself a tire changing fixture with some all-thread and an old 13" auto wheel. Works nice BUT it's still a bit hard on my fingure tips and the balancer I fabbed is a bit slow to use. (so as not to counter balance).

long story short. If I have the time to take the wheel to the shop I do.($15 mounted and balaced)
If I'm pinched for a late night tire change Well I do that too.

no good answer. Just the same ol' BS
Rico

[Planecrazy]

If he doesn't respond directly, PM Joe Nardy for all the info you need. He set up both a simple yet effective mounting jig, as well as a great balancer which a number of the Chicago area gang has used. It wasn't expensive and you'll never have to rely on someone else again.

Regards,
Steve 8)

[skreemer]

I second Planecrazy's suggestion. Both myself and my roommate has successfully used Joe Nardy's services.

[Jethro]

Joe! How about letting us in on your tire changing wisdom?!

[gsbill]

I have changed my own tires, only because I didnt want my wheels ruined. I used a 5 gallon bucket to set the wheels on and worked carefully with a few tire irons. To remove old tires, just cut them off. This method worked good for me on all sorts of rims and tires, from street to race, cheap to very expensive wheels. I used stick on weights for balance.

[WesV]

If he doesn't respond directly, PM Joe Nardy for all the info you need. He set up both a simple yet effective mounting jig, as well as a great balancer which a number of the Chicago area gang has used. It wasn't expensive and you'll never have to rely on someone else again.

Regards,
Steve 8)

Is that his handle? Joe Nardy? How much did this setup run you? Enough to save the costs of not having the hassle?

GSBill,
I have no problem mounting the tire, I am just worried about correctly balancing it without the right machines.

[Joe Nardy]

WOW! Joe Nardy sounds like a great guy! Maybe you just don't know him well enough...........

Seriously, I have fabricated some simple devices to aid tire changing using materials I had laying around so the cost was $0 and a bit of my time. The only expense was purchasing stick on wheel weights. I could only find a box that will last me several lifetimes and it was $15. (If anyone needs any weights please let me know. I'll send you some for free.) I had some tire irons so you can add that to your cost if you don't have any. They are pretty cheap.

Doing tires yourself involves some hard work and swearing but it will save you some $$$. Plus when the wheels are off is also a good time to inspect wheel bearings, clean brake calipers, lube shaft splines, etc.

Unless anyone is in a great hurry I will task myself with writing up a procedure with pics and posting it here and/or brwinger's site (with his permission, of course). This may take a while since the Holidays are upon us and Cathy and I are leaving for a week's vacation (Beliz?) in three days. In the mean time, here's a great writeup that I got some of my ideas from: Tire changing
I do some things differently but this writeup will give you a good idea what is involved in changing tires yourself.

Thanks,
Joe

[lhanscom]

I tried the tire lever routine, and didn't like it, and I get my tires mounted free if I buy the tires at the shop, so I don't do this a whole lot, but I did find an easy way to do it. I got a unit that's designed for changed ATV tires, as well as lawn tractor tires and the like, but it works pretty well for motorcycle tires too. I got this at Harbor Freight The bead breaker part won't work on mc tires, but I break the bead in a bench vice, just be careful with your rim, I use padding on the rim and have no problems. Then I mount the wheel on the device, and the long lever they provide is the best part of this setup. Take an old milk jug, and cut out a peice of plastic, then stick the lever in and put the plastic between the wheel and the lever. Then you can just spin the lever around and the tire comes off, it's really that easy. Going back on is the same idea, only you use the other side of the lever, and soapy water on the bead helps a lot. Then you just need a compressor to set the bead.

Balancing isn't rocket science, just take a metal rod and put it between a couple of posts, with the wheel riding on the rod. Voila, balancing rig.

This obviously cost a bit of money, but it was well worth it IMHO. Oh, and it works great for ATV tires too.

[HiSPL]

I change my own tires with nothing more than brute force and ignorance.

I also balance them by supporting the axle on two jackstands. I use stick on weights that I get for free from the firestone place down the street. I go in and ask if I can buy some stick on weights and they give me two sticks of them for free, every time.


P.S. The reason I started changing my own tires is because I couldn't get any shop in town to mount my tires without tubes in them. My rims are not stamped "tubeless", but I have been doing it this way for over two years now without any problems.....

Good luck.

[earlfor]

I change and balance my own tires. I built a small table shaped like a doughnut to place the rim on and added a post on one side with a arm and large wooden wedge that pivots down to break the bead. For tire irons, I ground and reshaped three 18" heavy duty prybars. Total cost for lumber and pry bars was under $20. For balancing, I set the wheel with axle in a "U" shaped stand made from a 2 x 4. I "V" notched the top end of the 2 x 4 so the axle doesnt roll off the end of the 2 x 4.

I get balance weights free at the local tire shops. I picked up about a dozen small clip on type weights a couple years ago and just keep moving them from tire to tire as needed. :-)

Earl

[WesV]

I guess a more appropriate question is how do you actual balance the tire? Once on the new tire is on the wheel and you have an axle running through it and on the stand, what do you do? How do you know where exactly to place the wieghts, how much and when do you know it is fully balanced.

[HiSPL]

The heavy spot settles to the bottom. Add weight to the top.

You can google up lots of info about spoonin' tires and balancing. Some folks don't think it's necessary to balance at all. I balance, but not to a high degree of accuracy. I couldn't feel any vibration at 100+ mph so I'm pretty sure you don't need a spin balance unless your land speed racing and expect to top 200 mph.

[Joe Nardy]

The heavy spot settles to the bottom. Add weight to the top.

You can google up lots of info about spoonin' tires and balancing. Some folks don't think it's necessary to balance at all. I balance, but not to a high degree of accuracy. I couldn't feel any vibration at 100+ mph so I'm pretty sure you don't need a spin balance unless your land speed racing and expect to top 200 mph.

I have heard that a static balance is actually more accurate than a spin balance. Spin balancing is faster, more idiot proof and seems more high-tech. It's been a few years since I've been in the pits at a motorcycle road race but the last time I was the guys at the Dunlop tire trailer were static balancing the Superbike tires. That's proof enough for me.

Joe

[moto_dan]

The heavy spot settles to the bottom. Add weight to the top.

You can google up lots of info about spoonin' tires and balancing. Some folks don't think it's necessary to balance at all. I balance, but not to a high degree of accuracy. I couldn't feel any vibration at 100+ mph so I'm pretty sure you don't need a spin balance unless your land speed racing and expect to top 200 mph.

I have heard that a static balance is actually more accurate than a spin balance. Spin balancing is faster, more idiot proof and seems more high-tech. It's been a few years since I've been in the pits at a motorcycle road race but the last time I was the guys at the Dunlop tire trailer were static balancing the Superbike tires. That's proof enough for me.

Joe

It was my observation also, and since then I've done the same on my bikes, both race and street.