tire change

[georgeorge]

OK Mellow Joe,

I know you said you changed your own tires, but I have a new rear tire in the garage :ups1: that I can't get on, because there's an old one in the way that I can't get off. The tire just doesn't seem to have enough stretch to remove it from the wheel. I have a press and so I was able to break the beads on both sides but now I am trying to get the tire off with tire irons and I have chipped the black paint in two small spots just on the edge. And I still have not been able to get the bead over the edge of the wheel. It's really not a big deal...I can touch up the spots. But I guess I'm going to bring it to the dealer :money1: to make the swap and have it balanced. :cus:

Brian

[dannyk]

A good mix of dish soap and water to make it slipprey and make sure that the opposite end to the tire irons is into the center of the rim to give you the room to spoon it over the edge. Another set of hands would come in handy at this time. If doing it alone a couple of small blocks of wood help to hold the tire into the recess of the rim. If you dont have rim protectors I have found that some chunks of heavy plastic work also, I cut mine from an old plastic box like they put the newspaper in for roadside delivery. Sometimes if you can get them mounted and balanced for a reasonable price it ain't worth the effort to do it yourself except for the satisfaction of doing it yourself. Radials seem to be a little tougher than bias ply to change though. Do you have long tire irons or short ones, sometime the xtra lenth makes a difference.

[Mellow]

My rims are all scratched up from my attempt... I can get the tires mounted/balanced for $20 at a local shop... I wimped out and gave up on changing my own tires. Maybe I'll try again in the future but, for now, I'm passing.

I'd like to 'see' someone do thiers the right way before I attempt on my own. I'm sure I don't know half the 'tricks' that make it easy.

[George Radominski]

It is critical that the tire on the opposite site of your iron is push down to the smaller diameter of the rim. Use your knees to push the tire on one side of the wheel as you use iron on the other side of the wheel. Napa has 1 gal. Bottles of the tire mounting and demounting soap. Good luck.
George.

[Mellow]

It is critical that the tire on the opposite site of your iron is push down to the smaller diameter of the rim. Use your knees to push the tire on one side of the wheel as you use iron on the other side of the wheel. Napa has 1 gal. Bottles of the tire mounting and demounting soap. Good luck.
George.
George, do you use a tire changer or just the tire irons? I bought the Harbor Frieght changer and it just didn't seem to work right, again, I didn't know any tricks and the changer had no instructions.

[georgeorge]

I was just using various size tire irons. I've given up now. The wheel and new tire are down at Burt Ives Honda getting mounted and balanced as we speak. I will cost $20 to mount, $9 to balance and $5 to dispose the old tire. Almost isn't worth all the cussin and fightin with it. I needed to go there anyway to buy a new air filter and some moly lube and hypoid gear oil for the final drive.

Brian

[dannyk]

I agree its a hassel, but the satisfaction of doing it yourself is worth something. A couple of friends of mine and myself do all of our tire work, including balancing. When getting close to a trip there is always a new set of tires in the garage ready to go on just in case. Take a look at the rotation arrow and make sure its on the right way, seen it happen to many times that the shop guy mounted them backwards. Your in luck if they will change the tire right away, I have seen tires sit for as many 3 days during riding season before a mech. is pulled to change them, depends on the shop I guess.

[georgeorge]

He told me it should be done today so we'll see. Burt Ives is a small family run dealership, so it's pretty nice dealing with them.

Brian

[ssls6]

I do my own tire swaps. The key is that rims are V shaped. You need the bottomside bead to be in the center of the V when you pull the topside bead over the edge of the rim. To do this you must break the bead from both sides. Soapy water helps.

RLK

[George Radominski]

Mellow,
I build tire changer myself, a lot of plywood with 2 vises to keep tire down as I am working on the opposed side of the wheel with irons. Using plastic rim protectors is a must to protect it. It takes me 10 min. to remove an old tire and put a new one on. The Harbor Freight tool is good for breaking beads only.
George.

[Mellow]

Mellow,
I build tire changer myself, a lot of plywood with 2 vises to keep tire down as I am working on the opposed side of the wheel with irons. Using plastic rim protectors is a must to protect it. It takes me 10 min. to remove an old tire and put a new one on. The Harbor Freight tool is good for breaking beads only.
George.

10 mins!.. wow, I bled more than 10 mins from my various wounds...