tire mount cost

Sailboat13 · Post by **Sailboat13** » Tue Jul 02, 2013 5:39 pm

I am having to pay $70 bucks to have a rear tire mounted. I realize that its a rear tire and it may be a little more labor than a front tire,,,but wow! Maybe that's the going rate.

Tazio · Post by **Tazio** » Tue Jul 02, 2013 5:47 pm

Ride over to my place and I'll do it for $35.

Sailboat13 · Post by **Sailboat13** » Tue Jul 02, 2013 5:53 pm

I bet I could change it, but I'm 71 and everything hurts on this old body. $70 dollars is a bit much when one is living on a small pension.

schroeder · Post by **schroeder** » Tue Jul 02, 2013 7:31 pm

most shops charge by the hour or half hour. If they feel the job is more than 31 minutes, they will charge 1 hour labor. Which in your case is probably 70 dollars.

I had my belt and rollers changed and they charged me 70 dollars which is one hours labor. I watched someone on you tube do the job in about 10 minutes. I would have done it myself but you need an impact wrench to remove the variator nut.

Shops need to make money or they end up going out of business. What is worse... high rates for labor or no scooter shop in your area?

WileE · Post by **WileE** » Tue Jul 02, 2013 7:33 pm

If you take the tire off the bike yourself and take it in they probably won't charge you as much.

A scooter friend bought a tire changer from Harbor Freight and did it for me. Both tires for $20.

kungfooren · Post by **kungfooren** » Tue Jul 02, 2013 8:35 pm

Shop I go to charged me 65 for the front AND rear.

bgwss · Post by **bgwss** » Tue Jul 02, 2013 8:59 pm

That is why I bought tire irons and change my own tires. First time was hard but with practice I am getting better.

SonnyD · Post by **SonnyD** » Tue Jul 02, 2013 9:16 pm

I think I paid about 100 for both...plus 100 for tires...but they do a lot of stuff for me for free, so I don't mind......

Sailboat13 · Post by **Sailboat13** » Tue Jul 02, 2013 11:09 pm

Thanks everyone. I'm heading up to Cleveland tomorrow from Massillon Oh. about 51 miles one way. Dealer here can't change it until next week and I will be leaving for Ocean City before that. Glad they got me in at Pride of Cleveland. PS> dealer here charged $45 to change it the last time (two years ago). Thanks again for the replys.

Post by **ericalm** » Wed Jul 03, 2013 1:08 am

$70 is actually pretty low for labor in some areas. A tire + change can run $200 around here!

You can do it yourself but a lot of people who have wound up with scratched rims and messed up valve stems.

That said, I may go to Tazio's place next time I need one done.

SonnyD · Post by **SonnyD** » Wed Jul 03, 2013 3:15 am

ericalm wrote:$70 is actually pretty low for labor in some areas. A tire + change can run $200 around here!

You can do it yourself but a lot of people who have wound up with scratched rims and messed up valve stems.

That said, I may go to Tazio's place next time I need one done.

It's 100 per hour here for good shops....

Tazio · Post by **Tazio** » Wed Jul 03, 2013 10:16 pm

Hey Sailboat,

I'm 76 and suffer from the Old Racer's Syndrom and still change my tires on 2 scoots, 2 cars and 1 sidecar rig.

Old Racer's Motto:
Old breaks ache.
The pain is chronic.
The glory is long faded.
Where did all the chicks go?

charlie55 · Post by **charlie55** » Wed Jul 03, 2013 10:53 pm

Tazio wrote:Hey Sailboat,

I'm 76 and suffer from the Old Racer's Syndrom and still change my tires on 2 scoots, 2 cars and 1 sidecar rig.

Old Racer's Motto:
Old breaks ache.
The pain is chronic.
The glory is long faded.
Where did all the chicks go?

Notice he said "change", not "mount". That's because he's just prowling around at 2 A.M. and swiping the rims and skins off other folks' vehicles.

Sailboat13 · Post by **Sailboat13** » Thu Jul 04, 2013 1:27 am

Got tire done and more today up at POC. Went around the corner and had a cold beer while they worked on my scoot. Got oil and all the other stuff done also. Took a chance on a new Vespa for ten bucks. All in all a good day. Lookout Ocean City MD. here I come.

DanielPerrin · Post by **DanielPerrin** » Thu Jul 04, 2013 2:07 am

It cost me $40, done while I waited. I brought in the tire that I bought online. I was tempted to do it myself, but it was my first time, and there were some potential gotchas, like damaging the valve stem. As for balancing, the best that I could find was that there was not usually a huge need for that, especially if you match up the valve stem with the dot on the inside that indicates the "lightest point on the tire". As others have said, I could probably have done it myself and saved some money, but I still don't have the confidence with this repair yet.

JHScoot · Post by **JHScoot** » Thu Jul 04, 2013 8:08 am

its $50 for the rear at my local powersports shop, $40 for the front, i believe. or maybe its a bit more, idk? but $50 for the rear for certain

found a place locally that does it for $40 front or back and $70 for both. very, very reasonable imo. but its a motorcycle shop. do they do scooters? idk but if so....yup

labor is also listed at $70 an hour with a half hour min. again, very resonable. hope they do scoots

charlie55 · Post by **charlie55** » Thu Jul 04, 2013 2:46 pm

I do my own and can understand why some folks don't want to. What I don't understand is this "messing up the valve stem" issue. You always install a new valve stem with a new tire, so what's the problem?

If it's a question of damaging it during installation, then why not just go with bolt-on stems that don't need to be pulled through the rim? For example:

http://kurveygirl.com/shop/index.php?cPath=27

DanielPerrin · Post by **DanielPerrin** » Thu Jul 04, 2013 3:45 pm

charlie55 wrote:I do my own and can understand why some folks don't want to. What I don't understand is this "messing up the valve stem" issue. You always install a new valve stem with a new tire, so what's the problem?

That was my issue. I didn't plan to replace the valve stem, so when I sat down with the new tire and service manual to replace the tire, I didn't have a new valve stem. Next time I will put that on the list of things to prepare for, so I have the new valve stem to replace.

charlie55 · Post by **charlie55** » Thu Jul 04, 2013 4:25 pm

DanielPerrin wrote:
charlie55 wrote:I do my own and can understand why some folks don't want to. What I don't understand is this "messing up the valve stem" issue. You always install a new valve stem with a new tire, so what's the problem?
That was my issue. I didn't plan to replace the valve stem, so when I sat down with the new tire and service manual to replace the tire, I didn't have a new valve stem. Next time I will put that on the list of things to prepare for, so I have the new valve stem to replace.

OK, understood.

If you choose to do the tire and stem in the future, always check the stem hole in the rim for rough spots, sharp edges, corrosion, rust, blistering, etc. The better the surface, the better the seal, and the lower the chance of the rim chewing away at the stem. For that matter, it's always a good idea to check the inner part of the rim, especially where it mates with the tire's bead.

Sailboat13 · Post by **Sailboat13** » Thu Jul 04, 2013 6:05 pm

Reading these posts makes me think I might try to change the tire next time. The front will need done in maybe a year and that one would be the least difficult to do. Yup, might just try it. I was a blacksmith about a hundred years ago and I forged a couple pieces of iron to use for changing tires. Their just laying in my tool chest somewhere. If I get in trouble I will just haul it back to POC and get another beer while I wait.

DanielPerrin · Post by **DanielPerrin** » Thu Jul 04, 2013 11:06 pm

Sailboat13 wrote:I was a blacksmith about a hundred years ago and I forged a couple pieces of iron to use for changing tires.

What do all of you think about this idea: I have a 5" vise that the tire will fit into. I could use the vise to unseat the tire, and then I would do some fiddling to slip the tire off the rim. I think that I can get the tire back on easily enough without any tools. Inflating the tire will seat it on the bead. Can the vise be the only tool that I need to replace the tire? I have motorcycle tire irons, but tool-less would be nice.

charlie55 · Post by **charlie55** » Thu Jul 04, 2013 11:32 pm

DanielPerrin wrote:
Sailboat13 wrote:I was a blacksmith about a hundred years ago and I forged a couple pieces of iron to use for changing tires.
What do all of you think about this idea: I have a 5" vise that the tire will fit into. I could use the vise to unseat the tire, and then I would do some fiddling to slip the tire off the rim. I think that I can get the tire back on easily enough without any tools. Inflating the tire will seat it on the bead. Can the vise be the only tool that I need to replace the tire? I have motorcycle tire irons, but tool-less would be nice.

The tricky thing about using a vise is that you need to have one side of it against something that doesn't give way. In other words, if both sides of the vise are resting on rubber, all you're going to do is squeeze the rubber on both sidewalls. Often times, this doesn't give you enough force to break the bead. If you can place the tire on the edge of a workbench and rig the vise such that one end is on a sidewall and the other is hooked under the table, you'll have a much easier time of it.

Also, if you have irons, use them. You'll make your life a lot easier. You'd be surprised how difficult it can be to get the beads over the edge of the rim. Ordinary Windex makes a great lubricant for this.

An extra bit of advice.....

It is sometimes very, very difficult to get the beads to seat when first inflating the tire, especially if you don't have a source of high-pressure air to give them an initial blast. What you can do to ease the process is loop a ratchet strap around the circumference of the tire (i.e., all around the tread) and cinch it down firmly. This helps create an initial seal that allows the pressure to build up enough to pop the beads into place. It also helps to remove the valve core during the seating process.

After the beads have seated, just replace the valve core and inflate as you normally would.

DanielPerrin · Post by **DanielPerrin** » Fri Jul 05, 2013 5:42 am

charlie55 wrote:
DanielPerrin wrote:
Sailboat13 wrote:I was a blacksmith about a hundred years ago and I forged a couple pieces of iron to use for changing tires.
What do all of you think about this idea: I have a 5" vise that the tire will fit into. I could use the vise to unseat the tire, and then I would do some fiddling to slip the tire off the rim. I think that I can get the tire back on easily enough without any tools. Inflating the tire will seat it on the bead. Can the vise be the only tool that I need to replace the tire? I have motorcycle tire irons, but tool-less would be nice.
The tricky thing about using a vise is that you need to have one side of it against something that doesn't give way. In other words, if both sides of the vise are resting on rubber, all you're going to do is squeeze the rubber on both sidewalls. Often times, this doesn't give you enough force to break the bead. If you can place the tire on the edge of a workbench and rig the vise such that one end is on a sidewall and the other is hooked under the table, you'll have a much easier time of it.

Also, if you have irons, use them. You'll make your life a lot easier. You'd be surprised how difficult it can be to get the beads over the edge of the rim. Ordinary Windex makes a great lubricant for this.

An extra bit of advice.....

It is sometimes very, very difficult to get the beads to seat when first inflating the tire, especially if you don't have a source of high-pressure air to give them an initial blast. What you can do to ease the process is loop a ratchet strap around the circumference of the tire (i.e., all around the tread) and cinch it down firmly. This helps create an initial seal that allows the pressure to build up enough to pop the beads into place. It also helps to remove the valve core during the seating process.

After the beads have seated, just replace the valve core and inflate as you normally would.

Thanks for all of this guidance. Thinking through it, I understand the point about pushing against the edge of something that doesn't move. Also, I would never have thought about using a ratchet strap to get the tire to initially seat, but that sounds like a brilliant solution.

Modern Buddy

tire mount cost

tire mount cost

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