Best Prices for Tires Online in US

[mznyc]

My Avons are knackered,time for a new set.May try Z6's.What do you guys recommend for price/reliability for online dealers?

Thanks.

Michael

[Guest ratchethack]

Michael, this is just me, but I know several others who've come to the same conclusion. Is it the same on the East Coast as it is here? Dunno, but I can't think of any reason why it'd be any different?

 

NOTE: I cast NO aspersions wotsoever here on our friendly, most superlative GUZZI dealers! I have NO TIRE EXPERIENCE with ANY of 'em -- though a select few get all my parts business, and LUCKY THEM!

 

After finally giving up mounting my own for decades, I began sourcing tires exclusively via Web shopping and paying a err, "penalty" for having local dealers mount 'em. I eventually came around to the conclusion that the local dealers -- every one of 'em has turned into a MEGA MOTO MART -- were none too keen on mounting 'em for me. In fact, most in my area flat out refuse to do it unless I buy the tires from them, and I found some won't even touch a Guzzi wheel even then -- and sure this makes perfect sense.

 

The MEGA MOTO MARTS that WILL do it charge $25 USD or so, and apparently pitch 'em into a dungeon, where some chained, one-eyed troglodyte evidently does the work with a pair of hammers on a stack of cinder blocks. I reckon they get 'em back to return to you after the carnage by trading your newly mounted wheel and tire for a ripe fish or road kill. You get your tire mounted alright, but with considerably less paint and metal around the rims. . .

 

By my experience, dealers are happy to mount tires as a service along with more profitable business, but unless they get the markup on the tire, they really, truly DO NOT want this kind of work, so they do their level best to discourage it. . .

 

There are smaller service shops just about everywhere, a few of which are glad to have tire AND mounting business, and make a priority of demonstrating that they want you back next time. If you order the tires from them, they use their mfgr. discounts to considerably offset the low cost of Web tires (and shipping), and I get MUCH better prices with the small sevice shops than at the MEGA MOTO MARTS. The difference here between Web shopping and paying for mounting is a few dollars more per tire, but again, the Main Thing is that since they actually WANT your business, they tend to do Top Drawer mounting -- without scarfing up your wheels.

 

Got a little moto shop like that close to me that consistently does the best tire work I've ever had.

 

Just my take. Hope this helps. Good luck.

[Ryland3210]

My Avons are knackered,time for a new set.May try Z6's.What do you guys recommend for price/reliability for online dealers?

Thanks.

Michael

 

Ratchethack's points are well taken, but you may be planning on doing it yourself. If so, my local tire dealer says to avoid using soap based lubricants to assist in mounting the tire, which may cause the aluminium rim to corrode internally. Probably won't cause a leak this time around, but it might be difficult to clean up the rim the next time the tire is changed.

[richard100t]

Per Ratchets post, my MG dealer doesnt do tires. The dealers near me that do change tires charge $25 to $30 per wheel even when you buy the tires from them. This is becoming unacceptable to me & I've been looking at the tire changing tools on ebay. I really have never changed a tire before but I'm pretty sure I can find someone to show me how. Does anyone have some advice on the best type of tire changer/balancer to buy for under $500?

Back to the subject at hand I think its perfectly fine to not support your dealer & buy tires wherever you damn well please if you feel like your getting taken to the cleaners.

[Greg Field]

The Hrbor Freight changer is the best value. If securely mounted, it'll do the job. The only really ubstandard part is the actual wand. With some grinding and a re-paint, it can be made servicable, too. Keep in mind, though, that some modern tires have extremely stiff sidewalls and can be a nightmare to mount. And you can get injured doing it. I know of more than a few broken fingers and rotator cuffs torn up by do-it-yourselfers. Then, you have to balance the times, which takes more gear. I did it for several years for myself and friends in my own garage. I now just pay the guys in the shop to do it. My left rotator cuff's bad enough already.

[Guest ratchethack]

Ratchethack's points are well taken, but you may be planning on doing it yourself. If so, my local tire dealer says to avoid using soap based lubricants to assist in mounting the tire, which may cause the aluminium rim to corrode internally. Probably won't cause a leak this time around, but it might be difficult to clean up the rim the next time the tire is changed.

Roger that! If you're spooning on your own, I may be able to offer something on this, having done it for many many years, eventually making up my own full complement of custom tire spoons and bead levers out of delrin stock (the best tire spoons I've ever used, and never left a mark ). But I digress. . .

 

After trying and failing with many different mounting lubes (don't ask ), I came upon the following, which worked like the bee's knees for well over 2 decades. The eery, suspicious-looking green pool that you see the Tire Wallah (that'd be a Roperism) splashing around in under the tire machine -- that's this:

 

"Home Brew" Ru-Glyde

 

water/Murphy oil/antifreeze

 

ratios - 13/2.5/1 (in US oz, it's a commonly available, handy, 16.5 oz, spray dispenser size)

 

[Tom M]

I use a small independent shop too. When I brought in a set of tires that I bought from swmototires.com a few years back the owner politely asked me to check his pricing before ordering from the internet the next time I need tires. A couple years later I did just that and he came very close to the internet price. I'm happy to always give him my tire business now, and I try to buy other moto stuff from him too.

 

If you have a good local shop try to support them, even if they cost a little more, if you want them to stay in business.

[docc]

Try Southwest Moto Tires: www.swmototires.com

 

Free shipping if you buy a pair.

 

Mounted more than a few tires myself as an employee at an independent BMW shop. No injuries to speak of, but these days my time & leisure are worth more than the mounting cost.

 

 

This is where I got my last few. I believe it is a link to Dennis Kirk, no? They do have free shipping options even on single tires. (Much to my postman's chagrin as he rides HD and is always ribbing me about my "furrin' thang")

[emry]

For changing tires I am old fashioned, spoons and a gravity balancer.

 

Gravity balancer page

 

Tire changing tools

 

This should work for motorcycle tires, if not you can find ones similar pretty cheaply.

 

As for buying the tires I do try to buy locally, at least I give them a chance, as for letting them change them. Not so much. If I was forced into letting someone else do it I would probably look for a BMW dealer, they should be competent enough to be able to handle it.

[mznyc]

I have done my own changes in the past,with a special hand tool bead breaker.It wasn't a breeze but a big money saver.Last few years ,been busy with work so when I needed a change,I would have my local shop do it in NYC.Most of my bikes are in upstate New York,60 miles from the nearest Guzzi dealer.one that doesn't have a great service record and about 15 miles from a Honda dealership.My other 3 bikes are all Hondas.

I have no problem giving the local shop my business,but have a problem paying labor for the change/balance but add that to near-list prices for the tires and NYS tax and rubbering 4 bikes gets very expensive.Ive seen changers advertised and thought this may be an option for me.This one is $1300.00 at a savings of say $200 per change it pays for itself in @ 6-7 changes,4-5 years.Ive also seen less expensive changers in the 6-$700 range which would make it a no-brainer if they do the job easily.

http://www.eagleequip.com/Merchant2/mercha...8CFRssawodWgO6d

I thought I would take the lowest price on the web,bring it to them,let them know that I'm thinking about buying my own changer.If they can match the best price and add say 15% to that,(they do have more overhead than a guy doing business in his bedroom),I'll give them my business.They make a little on the tires and they get their full labor rate.So with a least a set a year they'll make some money off of me.If they dont match it,I'll buy the changer and save a couple of hundred $ a year.

[Dan M]

My Avons are knackered,time for a new set.May try Z6's.What do you guys recommend for price/reliability for online dealers?

Thanks.

Michael

 

 

I've used this place several times. http://www.tiresunlimited.com/default.htm

[Guest ratchethack]

Gents!

 

As long as we're mounting tires and pinchin' pennies here -- (nothing wrong with THAT, is there?)

 

Here's a sub-topic that I b'lieve hasn't been much addressed for quite awhile.

 

WHEEL BALANCING

 

It's been my observation that the idea in itself is generally poorly understood, and carries a fair amount of mystery and mythology with it.

 

If the idea of not being able to balance one's wheels as well as a Pro stops anyone from saving the cost of mounting and balancing themselves, you might take another swag at it.

 

Having both mounted and balanced my own tires on both dirt and street bikes for decades, I find that it's nothing close to a "precision" requirement. If you set the wheel between sawhorses on its spindle and find the high point, then add wheel weights to more or less neutralize a consistent resting point of rotation, you're about as spot-on as necessary -- certainly close enough where you'll never notice an imbalance on the road. Off road, I find it's not necessary at all, front or rear, unless the wheel itself is out of true, in which case the wheel needs tuning. With the front wheel of a road bike, it's slightly more critical to get it "in the ballpark" -- but not much more critical, and static balancing the same way has always worked fine f'er me.

 

Just my

 

Maybe Greg or one of our other Forum Pro's will add considerably better quailfied intelligence.

[Dan M]

By my experience, dealers are happy to mount tires as a service along with more profitable business, but unless they get the markup on the tire, they really, truly DO NOT want this kind of work, so they do their level best to discourage it. . .

 

There are smaller service shops just about everywhere, a few of which are glad to have tire AND mounting business, and make a priority of demonstrating that they want you back next time. If you order the tires from them, they use their mfgr. discounts to considerably offset the low cost of Web tires (and shipping), and I get MUCH better prices with the small sevice shops than at the MEGA MOTO MARTS. The difference here between Web shopping and paying for mounting is a few dollars more per tire, but again, the Main Thing is that since they actually WANT your business, they tend to do Top Drawer mounting -- without scarfing up your wheels.

 

Got a little moto shop like that close to me that consistently does the best tire work I've ever had.

 

Just my take. Hope this helps. Good luck.

 

 

 

The larger shops don't want to mount "carry in" tires mainly because they don't want the liability of possibly damaging and subsequently replacing a tire they made no money on to begin with. The possibility of said damage to tire & wheel is far greater in the big shop because they are shoving this kind of non technical work on their least experienced employee.

 

In the smaller independent shop it is far more likely to have an experienced tech or even shop owner doing the job. The thought of damaging a tire while mounting is usually not even a consideration.

 

edit: I use this rig for balancing, low friction, works great. http://www.beemerbalancers.com/standbalancer.php

[Dan M]

The Hrbor Freight changer is the best value. If securely mounted, it'll do the job. The only really ubstandard part is the actual wand. With some grinding and a re-paint, it can be made servicable, too. Keep in mind, though, that some modern tires have extremely stiff sidewalls and can be a nightmare to mount. And you can get injured doing it. I know of more than a few broken fingers and rotator cuffs torn up by do-it-yourselfers. Then, you have to balance the times, which takes more gear. I did it for several years for myself and friends in my own garage. I now just pay the guys in the shop to do it. My left rotator cuff's bad enough already.

 

 

If you do it manually and have a sturdy mount like the one Greg mentions from Harbor Freight or a Coats like I use, this guy makes an iron with replaceble nylon ends for scratch free mounting. I picked up one up last year and recommend it highly.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/prestondrake/mojoweb.htm

[mznyc]

Just to clarify,in case someone misinterprets my post.I'm trying to give my local dealer business,I just want to pay,what i think is a fair price for parts.especially ones like tires that are easily available at a discount.I understand that they have higher cost to run their business, so I take that into consideration when trying negotiate a price with the local shop.I just feel that list price on tires is unfair.Look a Tower Records.They didn't embrace online sales quickly enough and what was once the king of the retail music world,is greatly diminished with most of their flagship stores closed.All brick and mortor businesses have to adapt to the times.

And RH, no offence taken but I'm pinchin' hundreds till I hit the lottery!