tire changes??

eyauch · 03-10-2006, 11:16 AM

Well, I went to one of my local dealers yesterday only to get a quote of $160 dollars for a tire change plus the price of the tires at $265. $425!! I thought this was a bit high. So I questioned them on it. They said we can do better if you buy the the tires from us. And the 2 choices you have are this "model" of "bridgestone" and this model of pirelli. We can do that for $295. So what if I like another brand, well than its back to $160 for labor. So my question for you is where do you go for tire changes? I know that I can get them done at a local track day at grattan for $30 plus the price of the tires through STT. Not horrible. I just didn't want to screw around with this the morning of a trackday.I am in East Lansing, Michigan. What do you other locals do?

phobiaphobe · 03-10-2006, 11:19 AM

Bring the wheels in off the bike and they should do it a lot cheaper.

CBR929RE · 03-10-2006, 11:21 AM

buy your tires online, take the wheels off and bring them to a smaller moto shop, not a dealership.

if that dealership can only get you 2 tires they are freakin morons.

eyauch · 03-10-2006, 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phobiaphobe

Bring the wheels in off the bike and they should do it a lot cheaper.

Believe it or not that is off the bike!!

schnogg · 03-10-2006, 11:35 AM

Dude, which dealer is that, College bike shop? I usually just buy tires online and change em myself. I mean, they only have to be static balanced, so you don't need one of those crazy discount tire computer balancers or anything.

Kuss929 · 03-10-2006, 11:37 AM

I had an in around Detroit but the last time I went with him he screwed me.

Nickolson's charged me $90 wheels off. Which is still horrible. Made me want to get my own tire machine.
This next time I may just use the irons and do it myself. It will nick the rims a bit but I stopped caring about appearance years ago.

eyauch · 03-10-2006, 11:38 AM

No, full throttle. I usually get reasonable service if I need it. But I thought the tire thing was over the top price wise.

schnogg · 03-10-2006, 11:44 AM

Crazy. I'm a DIY kinda guy. I have found a few good tutorials on tire changing sitting around. All I use is a 1.5 foot 2x4 and an 8 foot one to break the bead. Then its just tire irons and lots of padding to protect the precious brake rotors. But having the dealer do it is nice too. I used to have a buddy at Grove's in Mason who would hook me up, but he quit to start a career in mortgage sales.

HondaGalToo · 03-10-2006, 11:46 AM

All local dealerships around here totally screw you on the price of tire changing. I don't mind paying a reasonable fee, but wtf?? I get tires changed at trackdays now. Kind of a pain, having to miss a session. I try to do it on the weekend events, at the end of the first day...

SM929rr · 03-10-2006, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HondaGalToo

All local dealerships around here totally screw you on the price of tire changing. I don't mind paying a reasonable fee, but wtf?? I get tires changed at trackdays now. Kind of a pain, having to miss a session. I try to do it on the weekend events, at the end of the first day...

Find a small custom bike shop, the one I use does a lot of custom Harley things. but they charge me 20 if I get the tire thru them or 40 if I bring one in. But Its a small shop so the tire prices are fair or just as good as the net

CBRVFR · 03-10-2006, 12:55 PM

Michigan guys -

Don Proctor is the fireblades/grattan tire tech, and he's on this board as bikeoholic. Send him a PM - He just lives in the Plymouth-Canton area

He'll save you hundreds of dollars compared to buying and mounting tires from a dealer. Definitely worth the drive or ride out.

He'll mount them if you already bought them for a fraction of what you're talking about here.

PM me if you can't reach him - I have his number.

CBRVFR · 03-10-2006, 12:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kuss929

I stopped caring about appearance years ago.

You mean the bike, too?

HondaGalToo · 03-10-2006, 1:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SM929rr

Find a small custom bike shop, the one I use does a lot of custom Harley things. but they charge me 20 if I get the tire thru them or 40 if I bring one in. But Its a small shop so the tire prices are fair or just as good as the net

I found one of those, but they have a manual changer. I don't care how proficient you are at using it, you're gonna scratch rims. If I had stock rims I might not be picky, but no way my OZ rims are going on a manual changer!

I'll keep looking around, there must be one with a pneumatic changer....
Hmmm, I think the guys who used to do tires for our track club are fairly local....I should check them out...