How Much are tires these days?

[Lazymechanic]

A friend of mine works for a tire distributor. I figured $25.00 per tire for cheap uniroils was fair. So then I'm going around to the hole-in-the-wall mechanics and they all want another $25.00 per tire just to put them on, of course using their expensive AMMCO tire changer. Yea, O.K. So then I see these non-hydrolic tire changing stands on ebay. Item #290226566159 FedEx damaged the box first try so it took more than a month to get it. Anyway, the bead breaker is the only thing I ended up using from it. It turns out that car tires are easier to change than motorcycle tires. I've had a good set of 15 inch tire irons that I paid top dollar for at the harley dealership years ago that were well worth the money. I get a warm feeling inside every time I see a friend struggle with a bike tire and cheap irons. The thing about car rims is they have a nice deep well in between the lips (not like bike rims) that you can sink the bead into on the opposite side as where you're working. So I put all four tires on sitting in front of the TV watching nascar. I'll still shell out for balancing, but no more $100.00 a pop for me each new set of tires. At least 'til I wear out the low profile stickies on my drifting car. . .

[takza]

I bought the HarborFreight (wouldn't you know) tire changer and put my current set of Kumhos on my Terc. I found about the same thing...that it's probably almost as easy to use some tire irons as the changer...the changer is mostly used as a stand...but helps a lot. The job is mostly technique...gotta do things in just the right way...NO alum wheels allowed!

I also have a HF balancer that works OK...but just OK. Found that the Kumhos almost balanced themselves...though I put some lead on them.

Do your own toe-in?

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=111

The last method is the one I use now.