Z6's coming..mounting, balancing questions.

[Chris9450]

Alright, I just got the bike and ordered a pair of Metzeler Z6's. I would much rather take the wheels off myself and take them to a place to get them mounted and balanaced(not sure where yet), than taking the bike up and having someone take the wheels off and charge me more money. Taking the wheels off seems to be pretty straight forward, so I'm not really that worried about it.

Anyhow, should I take the rotors and chain sprocket off the rim and just take the bare rim to have it balanced, or is it better to have it balanced with all the extra stuff?

Either way does not matter to me, I've been unable to find any tips on this, unfortunately most of my searching has sent me to guys who mount and balance their tires on their on, and I don't feel comfortable doing that with motorcycle tires. I guess it's something about me (God Forbid) dumping and the tires that I mounted myself contributing to or being the main cause of falling. Thanks in advance.

[JaredL]

I would say it would be fine to leave that all on (sprocket, disc's)

[ZukiFred]

Leave the rotors on, Once the rear tire is off you will be able to just pull off the rear hub with the sprocket attached.

[BarMatt80]

everywhere that i have taken my tires to that will actually mount 3rd party tires(which more and more are starting to mount them) don't need the sprocket part. I have always left the rotors on. I got some valve stems from cyber and i highly recommend them. They are angled so it aids in filling of air. Also the guy that mounted my z6s did a horrible job of balancing, i get a shake around 100 that wasn't there before. He said it was because of the wavy center pattern, but i simply replied as your an idiot. So i recommend taking them to a place that dynamically(spin) balance.

[the_wanderer]

Also the guy that mounted my z6s did a horrible job of balancing, i get a shake around 100 that wasn't there before. He said it was because of the wavy center pattern, but i simply replied as your an idiot. So i recommend taking them to a place that dynamically(spin) balance.

Somebody on the board mentioned Equal for tire balancing, so I looked into that instead of wheel weights. I discovered this stuff called "Dyanbeads" which are little ceramic beads that go inside the tire. I wasn't sure that they were okay, so I put 'em in a tire that was mostly worn out, so if they were crap, I wouldn't have to deal with 'em for long. Everything was smooth. So I pulled the weights that were on there from the last time I had tires put on. Still smooth. Then I pulled the Suzuki factory weight from when the bike was built (yeah, it still had the "S" logo on the wheel weight...) Still smooth.

Overall, I'm impressed. I wanna see how many miles I get outta this Z6 to see if the Dynabeads make any difference in treadwear...

[BarMatt80]

I have heard of some balancing agents that can be added to the inside of tires and stuff to balance them, but I am not a fan of that. The only thing i would consider putting inside tires is antifreeze along with some other form of a liquid in a farm tractor tire for added traction.

I am by no means an expert in tires, motorcycles or pretty much anything for that fact, but something inside my tire that can rotate with the tire I don't think it is a good idea and i don't see how a liquid, powder, beads would balance a tire. Obviously it does, but don't know how. I see it as if you fill a bucket with water, you can spin it without the water coming out and that is how i see beads, liquid or anything inside a tire happening. I'd rather go with weights and a tire that has been dynamically balanced so it is balanced all the time at all speeds.

just my 2 cents.

[gpggnnn]

I just used equal on my new diablo's and I don't get any kind of vibe or shake.

[Kattervaul]

I have only mounted and balanced 8 motorcycle tires. I did mine on my kat and 3 other bikes. All in the last 6 months. While mounting I left all sprokets and rotors on as I used a Tire machine to do them. The rotors and sprokets did not even come close to the clamps.

I wanted to pass on the balancing procedure I used that worked extremely well.

For a Kat you need 2 car jack stands. Gently slide the Axel through the Rim hub leaving and equal amount of axel sticking out of each side. Place the tire between the two jack stand resting the axel on the cradle of the jack stands as evenly and upright as possible. THe tire should spin freely and easily without any restriction.

ok gently spin the tire and let it spin until coming to a complete stop all on its own. Depending on how hard you spin it is how long it will take to stop. Be gentle or you will have to wait a very long time or start over. After it stops mark the tire on the side where the tire and rim meet as close to the center as possible of the top. THe top < Your Mark> is the point where you will be adding weights if you need them. Spin the tire again and see if it stops on your mark being at the very top center again. If your mark stops in a random location your wheel is balanced < Rare>. Chances are that it will stop with you mark at top center.

For weights, I used 1/4 oz sticky weights, Very easy to use. Putting them on 1/4oz at a time , Put on 1 where your mark is but as close to the center of the rim as possible. Near that lip in the middle Where the factory weights were that you removed hopefully before you started. It doesn`t matter which side of the lip you put on your new weights just try to stay even with your mark. ok spin the tire again. If it stops on your mark again then you add another weight. Repeat the process until you mark starts stopping in random locations each time. At that point your tire will be balanced. Take your time and only add weights 1/4 oz at a time. If you bought decent tires you should not need more than 1 oz of weight per wheel. None of the tires I balanced needed more the 3/4 oz`s.

For a Gixxer I had to use a broom handle and 2 milk crates. the others I used 2 jack stands and that axel the came with that wheel.

This process and including me mounting them saved us quite a bit of money < me and my buddies> The cheapest shop we found here was 50 dollars a tire to mount and balance.

I know its simple and all But I just wanted to pass on in detail how to balance them though because doing it yourself is easy and you end up with piece of mind that it is done properly and you will notice a HUGE difference especially if you are coming off the factory balance job that on mine at least was not even balanced.