Fighterhawk

I got a question for you guys, I want to change both of my tires. Called a local shop in Philadelphia, they quoted me $80 for both. I asked the owner does it come with balancers, and he told me that he never use it. He always on point and is a wasted of money to put weights on the bike. what do you guys think of that ?

saige

unless it is zeroed out on balancer,its good to have them on.
it does make a difference in performance and tire wear at speeds.
i always get them checked for balance.
the least you should do is dyna beads.

skokievtr

Wheel weights (I prefer the clip-on type over the stick-ons) are usually necessary and recommended by the tire manufacturers.

What rubber are you going with?

BTW, $40 per wheel to mount & balance is not a bad price (for a stealership or some pro shops) if the hoops are on the vehicle; a fair bit high but not outrageous if the wheels are delivered sans SH.

smokinjoe73

You should insist on balancing but be a bit suspect if the shop protests alot.

Why? I have balanced motorcycle wheels that were 2oz off balance! (granted it was a vfr wheel) but given the bike potential for high speed and likelyhood of attaining those speeds often, they should ALWAYS be balanced

7moore7

+1,

Why would you not balance them? That's trusting zero irregularities in the rubber and casting of your wheel and predicting the weight of your valve stem. None of which is likely to all line up in the real world. Like Joe said, I'd even be suspicious of a shop that recommends not balancing.

BTW you can do it on your own pretty easily. Just need a smooth rod that fits through the axle and a couple of supports such as jack stands.

Stixx

I just mounted new road attack 2's myself and put dyna beads in for balance. Around 300 miles and I have no complaints at all.

aja

Definitely balance. I just put a new front on and it only needed 1/4 oz, but the one I took off needed 1.5 oz. I mount tires myself and use a balancer like this http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewi...id=63684082158. If I don't have the time I can have them mounted and balanced for $20 each, on or off bike, which is really cheap but there are good deals to be had. I would stay away from someone who is cocky enough to say he doesn't need to balance them.

jay956

+1 to all of the above. It doesnt take long at all to balance. The shop is telling you you are not worth 2 minutes.

Fighterhawk

I got the Pirelli Diablo corsa III, $40 per wheel with out balance and I got a shop $50 per with balance. is that a good deal? or anyone know a shop in philadelphia?

Fighterhawk

Aja, where do you live?

NHSH

+1 as well, these guy's are full of it, beside the fact they are wrong with their claim for the most part, it seems they not very friendly either, the above is correct, it takes 2 minutes to balance on average.

aja

San Luis Obispo CA

superdutyd

When i used to polish and chrome out my bikes and didn't want the ugly weights on the rims, i would rotate the tire on the rim until it was balanced. I used the axle on jack stands method to balance and it worked great. Not exactly an easy process, buy worth it for chrome or polished rims.