In the next 1000 miles I will be taking my '03 F4i into the shop to have it's 8,000 mile checkup performed and I will likely be in need of new tires. I am curious what the majority do when tire replacement time comes. Do you walk into the shop and pick from their stock selection and say, "Put those on my bike."? Do you purchase tires elsewhere, before hand, carry them in and say, "Put these on my bike?" Purchase other tires not currently at the shop, through the shop?
The science of buying new tires
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I buy mine online from www.swmototires.com and spoon them on in my garage. It's cheap and very easy. I go through quite a few tires per season and save hundreds of dollars this way. You can save enough on one set to buy all the tools you need to the same.
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I always find a better price on the internet (even with s+h) so I buy them and have moto-rider mount them. South side of Des Moines. Heard of them?
+1stoinkythepig said:
Me and my brother have been doing ours for about a year now and have probably saved $400+ easy already.
Also for The Wraith, I would reconsider having a shop do an 8k mile service on your bike. They will probably charge you an arm and a leg for little more than an oil change and a "once over". You can do that yourself for next to nothing. Big stuff like valve checks aren't necessary (for your bike, at least) until at least 16k miles. Most people don't find out of spec valves until over 25k+ miles.
I've stopped by Moto-rider several times last year. They always seem to have inventory issues, were pending new shipments of "really cool stuff" coming in, etc. etc. I think I stopped by 4 or 5 times before I grew tired of just flipping through a catelog with them saying they could order anything I needed. Didn't realize they did tire mounting and/or service work, too.Josh Lassiter said:
The only problem with that is that in order for the Honda warranty (or extended warranty) to remain valid, all keypoint checks need to be performed by a "qualified service center", to which, I'm not. The service check is more of a formal paper trail for warranty, to me. I intend on supervising the local Honda shop's work because I neither trust them, like them, or feel confident all necessary work will be performed. I know they'll want me to drop my bike off at 8am and pick it up anytime in the afternoon - but that just isn't going to fly.
I'm all about micromanaging the monkeys.
I intend on taking the "8000 mi. service checklist" from the Honda manual and going line item by line item. I've informed the service center I will be supervising, reviewing and approving all work performed as to ensure it complies with my own interests as well as Honda warranty compliance.
To quote an uncited government source, "In God we trust, all others we monitor."
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NSA perhaps?TheWraith said:
Let me give you my take on buying tires online vs dealership.
1) check the see what the price is from the dealerhship + the charge for mounting and balance.
2) check your local shops on how much they charge you if you bring your own tires.
I got caught in that nasty trap. I bought tires online reallly good price and took them to a dealership to be mounted. $160 when it was all said and done (not includign the cost of the tires). Around here if you bring your own tires its $75 per tire. Some will charge you $15 - $25 per tire if you take the rims off yourself and bring them down to the dealership.
So even though the dealer tire maybe $150 vs online $115 .. check the mounting and balancing also
1) check the see what the price is from the dealerhship + the charge for mounting and balance.
2) check your local shops on how much they charge you if you bring your own tires.
I got caught in that nasty trap. I bought tires online reallly good price and took them to a dealership to be mounted. $160 when it was all said and done (not includign the cost of the tires). Around here if you bring your own tires its $75 per tire. Some will charge you $15 - $25 per tire if you take the rims off yourself and bring them down to the dealership.
So even though the dealer tire maybe $150 vs online $115 .. check the mounting and balancing also
Yep, I did the math and still saved $80.00 over having the dealer do it all. Dealer only offered half off mounting and balancing if I bought through them. I ended up pulling the rims and getting them done for $15.00/each. A little more sweat and a good bit less money that way.
There are a number of "independents" around here that stock/order/mount tires for reasonable $$. Bring in the wheels and buy the tires from them and mounting/balancing is $12-15 per wheel. Tire prices are only slightly more than online with no shipping charges. They do charge sales tax though.
Check out TireQwik. They sell a complete setup for mounting/balancing tires for about the price of a new rear tire. There is also a great instructional link on their site which goes through the process in detail.MoO_coW said:
Yes, it is a bit of work, but if you've got the tools and the time you can save yourself A LOT of dough if you're racking up the miles.
By the way, a third tire iron and a helping hand will make things a helluva lot easier.
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