i just picked up my tire today from the local stealer. first, they pissed me off when they said it was a half hour of labor to change the tire ($39.50) + any weights they needed to add. the guy told me, no more than $45.00 out the door. then when i picked it up, there was an additional $12.00 "shop fee" they never told me about.

Now, i used to work at a shop where i mounted and balanced MC tires on a daily basis. i didnt notice until I loaded the tire into the car that they had put 3 ounces on the wheel, even though they told me it was only 2 ounces. i did mostly sportbike and metric cruisers, never any harley tires. they put 1/2 ounce on each side of the wheel and 2 ounces over the center of the wheel. i took it back in and asked why they needed so much weight to balance the tire, as this doesnt seem right. they assured me it was normal, which I am still skeptical about. i never needed that much weight on a tire, and if it was that off balance, i would break the bead and move the tire until i needed less weight.

check out the pics. should i go back in tomorrow and have them re-do it, or is this normal?

 

Even though, these weights are not mounted nicely, as long as the tire is balanced, a few ounces of difference is not a big deal.
Buy a balancer at HF, and balance the tires by yourself. It takes less than five minutes to do it.

 

There has got to be a less ugly way to balance that wheel!
Those weights are fugly!
Sorry

GSF

 

Dyna beads and toss the weights . You take it back they are just going to charge you more or not do it correctly.

 

lol no offense taken! i know they dont look great but im not all that concerned with someone coming up and saying the weights on my wheels look bad. im more concerned with the safety aspect of it.

 

not a bad idea at all. ive never used dynabeads before.

 

Looks like the dealer took the lazy way out. That's a lot of weight. I mount and balance my own tires. I balance the wheel alone first. I find the heavy side of the wheel and mark it. The I mount the tire with the light part of the tire, which is marked from the manufacturer with a yellow or green dot to the heavy part of the wheel. I then only have to use a very minimum weight. I just mounted a Dunlop Elite 3 this way last night and only used 3/8 of an ounce. It takes me about 5 minutes to properly balance the wheel and the tire.

It looks like your dealer just mounted the tire any old way without paying attention to the light part of the tire.

I have a no-mar Pro tire changer and a balancer. with three bikes it saves me time and money and I know the job is done right. Check out this link for some good info on mounting and balancing motorcycle tires.

http://www.xs11.com/faqs/18-mounting...-home-faq.html

I thought about using the Dyna beads, have read both good and bad reviews on them. I contacted Dunlop about the Dyna beads and they said that putting anything inside the tires would void any warranty you may have on the tires. That alone didn't wouldn't stop me from using them but if you compare the cost of a Dyna bead kit at $14.95, I can but enough lead weights to last me several years for $4.99.

 

i figured they were just being lazy. the guy came back in and said, "yeah it's balanced, you can come in the back and check it out if you want." I said, "no **** it's balanced, but you put 8 pounds of weight on the tire. It just seems like it could have been mounted better." He then told me they lined the dot up to the valve stem, since of course that's always 100% accurate...

The thing is, I dont mind paying a little but of money for someone to do it. it saves me time and headache. i wrench as much as possible and do as much around the house as possible, but when i needed a new roof, my fat *** wasnt going up there to do it, lol.

 

I am adding on to the garage so I can have some shop space and am considering setting up to do my own tires........good link!

I use the beads with good results, but you are right about the price difference. I wonder if you couldn't use marbles???? They use a device with ball bearings in semis.

 

Even though the cost a little more..I will continue to use the Dyna Beads. I HATE seeing an ugly weight on a chrome wheel. I t really detracts from the look in my opinion.

Besides...once you buy the 14.95 kit, you will only have to buy the beads after that first time..they are not that expensive...hell, I waste more money in a day than they cost me once a year to put into new tires..