Ridiculous overpriced tire story. Please read.

[mx916]

Needed a new rear tire for 2000 Kat 750. Call my usual dealer who I think is usually a bit steep. I ask for a price for the Dunlop D205 rear tire.
He says $194 for the tire!! Almost shocked I ask if that includes mounting and balancing. He says if I bring him the wheel it will be another $40 for mounting and balancing!!!! I hang up and call another dealer about 20 minutes away. For the same tire he says $135 and for mounting and balancing another $20. Well, you can guess where I went, and where I will continue to go. I realize the dealer will be more than a mail order place, but that first guy was nuts!! Ever happen to you???

[Kat-A-Tonic]

Yup. When I attempted to order replacement tires for my 750 Katana, a dealer quoted me over $300 CDN for a set plus an hour and a half of labour (at $80 per hour) to mount them. In total, it would have costed me close to $500 dollars.

[stevnmd]

Buy a tire changer from Harbour Freight, a Marc Parnes balancer, some wheel weights, and just mail order the tires from now on.

[Jax]

Wow..that is expensive...My local dealer I think if you buy the tire from them they do it for free if you bring in the wheel...If they take it off then they charge $30.00 but they also adjust the chain for you...

[mod4]

it's happening right now ....

Kat went in Friday for a "half day service". It was supposed to get the valves adjusted and the oil changed. This is a 94 Kat 750 with slightly over 10,000 miles on it. I've owned it about 600 miles. Never used a drop of oil looking at the sight glass, never had a drop of oil on the garage floor .... the call at 3pm .... "we can't give your Kat back, it has such a bad oil leak at the valve cover we don't want you riding it .... and the spark plugs tubes are filled with oil .... we need to order parts. And your front tire is seperated, it's dangerous. New tire is required."

Okay. I work on cars for a living and have given that same phone call to many car owners, I figure it's karma. My $310 service is now quoted at $500 plus tax. $50 of that is the mount and balance charge .... *cough cough* I think thats horse****. The front tire WAS bad, but to bang me 50 bucks to mount on top of the service .... they are the only Suzuki dealer within 50 miles of me, but they will prolly never get another dime of my business. This is the same shop that refused to offer me ANY discount for delivering the bike with no fairings ....

[Wingspan]

Buy a tire changer from Harbour Freight, a Marc Parnes balancer, some wheel weights, and just mail order the tires from now on.

I've never paid a shop to change my tires. For only a bit more than they charge to mount one set, you can buy all the tools you'll need to mount them for a lifetime. The first set or two can be a bear, but once you get some practice it's no trouble at all to mount them.

I spooned a fresh set on my VFR and a new front on my Dad's Goldwing just this past weekend.

[Mojoe]

Buy a tire changer from Harbour Freight, a Marc Parnes balancer, some wheel weights, and just mail order the tires from now on.

if you run Equal (the powder you put inside the tire) instead of using weights, you can eliminate the cost of a balancer and weights. This will be my 4th year running this method....which I tried to tell some of you guys about back in KP days. I just order my tires from americanmototire.com. then take the wheel to this local tire place that i do all my business with. If I supply my own powder, he charges me $10 per wheel.... $15 if he supplies it.

I said it a dozen times already...and will say it again....once you try balancing your tires with this method, you will never go back to weights. I can let go of the bars at 100mph and it is dead solid. no shimmy or shake what-so-ever. and unlike weights which may need rebalancing as the tire wears uneven, this method is constant.

[gpggnnn]

Hey Mojoe, where can I get some of that Equal Powder?

[Mojoe]

Hey Mojoe, where can I get some of that Equal Powder?

try a tire dealer. if they don't have it, check with an automotive parts place. If both of those fail, go to a tire dealership that carries tires for big rigs like semis or motorhomes. This powder was originally used in big rigs because it was cheaper and more cost effective in the sense that reg weights on big rig tires means having to have the tires re-balanced evey once in a while. This method eliminates that need.
I swear by the stuff. Like I said...4 years now and I look at weights like a joke.

I just did a quick search via google and this is the first site I cam across.

http://www.leadfreewheels.org/101.shtml

This metheod is referred to as "permanent balancing".

Here is a quote:

Several options exist for permanent wheel balancing. These include liquid and dry powder weight added to the inside of the tire and external weighted balancing rings the clamp between the wheel and hub. Both these options are commonly used for over-the-highway trucks, where tires can last 100,000 miles or longer. Frequent off-vehicle balancing costs could add up over the lifetime of the tire. One popular dry powder balancing product is known as Equal. Installation of the balancing material is done on a deflated tire, using a special tool to inject the powder into the valve stem. Alternately, it can be placed in the tire prior to mounting. Proper technique must be observed to keep water out, including being careful with liquid tire mounting lubricant and use of dry air for inflation. For a tire used in off-road situations, where frequent air-down/up cycles are common, user's may want to consider adding an air dryer to their on-board air system. Both liquid and powder in-tire balancers can cause problems with clogged valve stems, too.

If you do try it, be careful as what the last sentence says. You DO NOT want to check your tire pressure unless you are near an air source. Sometimes when you stick on a tire guage, some powder will get stuck in the valve. This happened to me my first time and my tire deflated before I could get to some air. I do not have this problem now because I learned how to minimize this risk. Rotated the tire until the valve is up top and not down near the ground. Then kick the tire a couple of times so all the powder falls down to the bottom. Then you are pretty much 100% safe to check the pressure. If some does get in the valve, adding air will force it back in the tire and you are good to go. Once you get used to it, it's cake.

[Wingspan]

If you do try it, be careful as what the last sentence says. You DO NOT want to check your tire pressure unless you are near an air source. Sometimes when you stick on a tire guage, some powder will get stuck in the valve. This happened to me my first time and my tire deflated before I could get to some air. I do not have this problem now because I learned how to minimize this risk. Rotated the tire until the valve is up top and not down near the ground. Then kick the tire a couple of times so all the powder falls down to the bottom. Then you are pretty much 100% safe to check the pressure. If some does get in the valve, adding air will force it back in the tire and you are good to go. Once you get used to it, it's cake.

If you're happy with that method, I won't try to talk you out of it. However, this issue alone is enough for me to stick with weights. Balancing tools are inexpensive and I've yet to spend more that 5 minutes balancing a tire.

[WildKat]

99-100 times you're going to get outrageous prices like that when you inquire about buying tires directly through a local dealer. You can always make out better by purchasing them online and then finding a small shop to mount them for you. Many dealers wont mount a tire unless you buy it from them or they'll charge you and arm and a leg to do it. Plus if you dont by the tire "they think" or the factory thinks you should buy, they may not even consider it. My local dealer told me he wont even touch my bike if I get a 160/60 rear tire on it.. because "it will adversely affect the handling to the point of near in-rideability" .. I looked at him square in the eyes over the phone and said, you either just read that from a script or you need to do your homework dude!

[Anonymous]

Jeebus, I paid 150 for a SET of D207's

[slayergsxf1]

I go to a private shop thats been in business since 1979. If you bring your own wheels in and buy the tires from him your well takencare of.Avons now on mybike cost me about 300 bucks mounted and balanced. If you buy tires off the net or such he charges 25 bucks each tire,plus mounting and balancing. In my situation bringing my own new tires to his shop to have them mounted I might as well be mounting his wife...Finding a private cycle shop with a certified mechanic you trust you become more a part of the shop yourself than a customer.You'll never get that at a dealership.

[woobie]

I found out your US dealers were just as bad as ours last year. I rode over into NY to check out tire prices and see if anyone had scorpion helmets and was shocked by the tire prices. Not to mention the mounting charges.

Locally they want $450 cdn+tax and + mounting ($380 US) for a set of Z6s. It's well worth the effort to drive over the border and pick up tires from Ronayers and have a local guy mount them.

You'd think dealers(in the US) would just face the fact they can't compete on the tires and try to get $ from mounting them for a resonable price.

[SweetLou]

Buy a tire changer from Harbour Freight, a Marc Parnes balancer, some wheel weights, and just mail order the tires from now on.

I was thinking about this route, but heard that the H.F. tire changer wasn't that great. Do you have one, or know of someone that has one? I would really like to know how good they are. I had heard they are not great from my Bro-In-Laws friend that runs a tire store... so who knows if it is true or not...

Wingspan, what tire mount system did you go with?