Tires: replace one or both?

tempalte · Post by **tempalte** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 1:53 pm

The rear tire on my blur is starting to show some wear. I have about 6,000 miles on it. The front tire looks in better shape.

Should I just replace the back tire, or is it best to replace them in pairs?

thanks
chad

DennisD · Post by **DennisD** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 2:01 pm

My front tires have always lasted through two rear tires. They don't match. I can't tell any difference. So, every other rear tire change also gets a new front tire. Also I'm not very picky and pay no attention to insignificant differences (to me) in handling. Opinions will vary, kinda like mpg. To me it makes absolutely no sense to get rid of a perfectly good tire because it looks different, but then, people jump out of perfectly good airplanes also. Hmm, I might want to try that.

docutech · Post by **docutech** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 3:13 pm

I changed both tires on my scoot at 6000 miles. The rear showed quite a bit of wear and even more when it was removed from the rim. My front tire looked good. Regardless, I upgraded to Michelin S1's and wanted to have a matching set. The Shinko's that come stock are okay but the S1's are a heckuvalot better IMO.

For future tire changes I plan on replacing the front every other rear tire change.

docutech · Post by **docutech** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 3:14 pm

DennisD wrote: people jump out of perfectly good airplanes also. Hmm, I might want to try that.

...lol, I've done that a time or 100...

DennisD · Post by **DennisD** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 3:36 pm

I've only not done two things at my wife's request. One is skydive, the other scuba dive.
Skydiving is on the list for my 65th birthday. I thought she was going to have a stroke when I pulled off the road once at the hang gliding school on top of Lookout Mountain along the parkway.

Tried to talk her into a detour on our camping trip but that just was not something she could find a place for on her agenda.

tempalte · Post by **tempalte** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 4:28 am

What does the labor for a typical tire change cost?

gearhead · Post by **gearhead** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 3:59 am

tempalte wrote:What does the labor for a typical tire change cost?

you can do it yourself. some places charge a lot if you don't buy the tire from them and some dont even service you if you don't. it's funny bc with motorcycles, it's the opposite. the front tire gets changes twice for every rear

pugbuddy · Post by **pugbuddy** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 3:12 pm

Has anyone posted a step-by-step process (with pics) for changing the tires?

bluelghtning · Post by **bluelghtning** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 3:56 pm

pugbuddy wrote:Has anyone posted a step-by-step process (with pics) for changing the tires?

I haven't attempted a scooter tire change yet, but I've been changing my own motorcycle tires now for 6+ years with the Harbor Freight tire changer.

I don't think the Blur tires will be too bad at 13". I have a feeling the little 10" buddy tires are going to be a nightmare though.

I have a tire changing 101 with lots of pictures for doing motorcycle tires. This might help you - http://bluelghtning.smugmug.com/gallery/6303251_WUkim

Just a few pics from my tutorial.

Post by **jmazza** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 3:58 pm

I changed both even though my front tire looked pretty new. But I had the Shinko whitewalls which I just hated, and I was switching to Michelin S1's which have a sport tread and are not whitewalls so it made sense to do both.

I bought the tires myself, not from my dealer, and they ended up charging an hourly labor rate. It wasn't cheap as it took about 1.5 hours if I remember correctly.

redcass · Post by **redcass** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 7:15 pm

I hated the shinko's too, so I got Conti's.

I see the michelin s1 has a tread basically running down the middle of the tire. I'd worry about getting pushed around whenever running over tar strips. Has that happened to anybody with these tires?

DennisD · Post by **DennisD** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 7:16 pm

gearhead wrote:
tempalte wrote:What does the labor for a typical tire change cost?
it's funny bc with motorcycles, it's the opposite. the front tire gets changes twice for every rear

That's a new one on me. What kind of riding are you doing? Right now my mc tire is bald, bald, bald and my front is still at about 1/2.

broke · Post by **broke** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 7:34 pm

bluelghtning wrote:I have a tire changing 101 with lots of pictures for doing motorcycle tires. This might help you - http://bluelghtning.smugmug.com/gallery/6303251_WUkim

That is a really cool tutorial. I imagine someone with a lot of bikes can save themselves some cash by investing in that tool...

Modern Buddy

Tires: replace one or both?

Tires: replace one or both?

about the michelin S1 tires