Tire mounting/balancing

[orionburn]

I'm sick of having to pay the local dealer about $40 a pop on getting a tire mounted/balanced, so I've been kicking the idea around about getting the equipment needed to start doing it myself.

Any of you guys do your own mounting/balancing? I've seen some equipment for decent prices. Have to figure it would pay itself off in about 4 tire changes or so. Of course I would like to have the comfort of knowing that if I do do it myself my tire won't pass me going along the highway (yeah, yeah...like my fairings......)

Here's some links:

Changer: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=34542

Balancer: http://www.webbikeworld.com/Reviewed-mo ... /balancer/

[Hooligan]

good post, i have been looking into the same thing. plus, i have a brand new set of dymags that i don't want the local shops tearing to hell and back.

[FZRDude]

With the right equipment it is easy to do. When I lived in Ga, I mounted all of my own tires, but I had some friends that owned a shop I could use. All the equip was manual stuff, no electric or air tools/machines

[orionburn]

That mounter from Harbor Freight is the cheapest I've seen. All the other ones seemed to be $200 or more. From what I've read the hardest part is just getting the bead to break. There are some cheaper balancers out there, but I liked the looks of the one I posted in the link.

It pisses me off so much that I can pratically get all four tires mounted on a car for the price of one wheel on the bike.

[MadHaqr9]

I've used the HF tire changer and its not all the difficult. Friend spent about an hour walking me through the process while doing it, but now that I know what I'm doing it could probably be done in about 20 minutes, maybe less. It does take a little elbow grease to get things done since it's not motorized, but it's not that hard. Breaking the bead is pretty easy if you have a large set of C-Clamp pliers or vise-grips.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=42927

You will also need that piece in order to do M/C wheels. Both units are still less than you'd pay for a couple of tire changes, and I've seen them on sale for $80 before.

Oh yeah, you'll definitely want to have something solid to mount the base to, or you won't get anything done. He had it setup to mount the base to the concrete floor in his garage.

[orionburn]

That's good to hear. Nice to know it does work before spending the money on it. Did you have to be really cautious to avoid scratching the rim up, or is that fairly easy to avoid doing?

[koma]

What happened to tyre pliers and a couple of blocks of wood?!
Yeah it takes a bit of muscle but it's cheap and if you do it yourself carefully you won't scratch the rim at all.
Also, balancing can be done using a couple of milk crates and the stock rear axle.

[MadHaqr9]

That's good to hear. Nice to know it does work before spending the money on it. Did you have to be really cautious to avoid scratching the rim up, or is that fairly easy to avoid doing?

Yeah, it does work and IMO better than paying the outrageous amount that most places want just for mounting, even with wheels already off the bike. If you are a one or two tire a year kind of person, it may not be worth the trouble, but if you are going through several sets a year due to track riding, hardcore twisty runs or burnouts (eeek) it would definitely be something to consider. You also have to think about where you are going to store the two parts when they aren't in use, they do take up a bit of space.

As for wheel scratching, I wouldn't say you have to be "really cautious" but you should be mindful of what you are doing. Jeremy said he wouldn't even try it again without having a set of tire changing spoons to work with, he said he got them from FleaBay for under $20.

[Alfred e]

Balancing ? ? not very good at that BUT
always do my own mounting , usualy on a Saturday night

[barneyfzr600]

I bought a changer and balancer off of ebay for $100 & $70. Have yet to be delivered, but I'll let you know Nate. I basically rounded up about 8-10 buddies that ride and had 'em chip in $20 a head. That covered 2 tire changes. Not a bad deal. I still had money left over to buy weights too!

[KontoBoy]

I use a Harbor Fright changer with the motorcycle adaptor. Subscribe to the HF email notices and they'll send from time to time a 15-20% off coupons--that's on top of the sale price.

It works fine but you need to mount it securely to the floor and take some precautions to protect your rims and rotors. There or bolt holes for a floor mount, or a half sheet of plywould, some 2x3"blocks and some lag screws works too and keeps it portable.

The bead breaker feature has the tire on the ground. Stick an old tire underneath to keep the rotor from pressing in the ground and possibly bending.

When I tighten the rim to the changer tire I always wrap a lots of tape around the clamps o keep them from scratching the rims.

Get some rim protectors and good tire irons too. The bar they provide is big with some rough edges and can easily scratch your rim--more tape. Once to get started you'll need a second tire iron to hold the tire over the bead. Use lots of lube--I just use soapy water or 409 in a spray bottle.

I was not able to change a car tire on teh thing though. I just couldnt break the bead.

I also use a manual spin tire balancer. I can't remember the brand. I paid about $100 for it with various size wheel adaptors. It has worked fine for me, even with the track bike hitting about 150 mph top speed. Working the pits at the AMA races at VIR, Dunlop was using the same thing.

Locally I can get a tire mounted and blanced on a loose rim for $25. I saved my investmenr the first year.

Kontoboy

[silver]

When I bought the XS750 in Mass., I was introduced by it's previous owner to mark Holbrook who lived right across the street. Mark's known as a great host for Saturday morning get togethers at his home in Pepperell Mass. All the riders bring there bikes over to change tires on Marks home-made tire changing rig. It's really high tech as it's built from a few 2X4's, an old car rim, some duct tape and a used disk brake shoe from a car. You can read about it at :

http://users.net1plus.com/holbrook/tireproc.htm

http://users.net1plus.com/holbrook/tireeqpt.htm

and a good visual guide is at :

http://www.clarity.net/~adam/tire-changing-doc.html

[silver]

Rim protector = HDPE plastic such as a cut up shampoo bottle.

[owdamer]

I've been thinking about this myself for a few year as I'm sick of ham fisted tyre fitters taking the paint off my rims. I found a balancer but the cost was a bit steep. £94.95!!!. Does look good though.