DIY changing tire with ziptie and a jack

[Old Rider]

I guess i have been addicted making writeups so here is another writeup on changing tires with the ziptie metod and using a jack to break the beads.I found everything on youtube .Not sure it what is best: to deliver the tire at a shop and pay a little or doing it yourself. .I like doing things myself so i did this time to .This time i struggled more than i have done before so mayby it would have been the best to get it done at a tire shop since my health has been bad the last months.But one time i delivered a wheel to a tire shop they had placed the red dot on tire in wrong place and the wheeli also had lot of vibration  . so then i took the wheel it off and checked the balace it was completely out of balance so had to rebalance it my self.So that is another example how some workshops not always doing a good job

[Motofun]

I've got to give to ya...you've got more patience than me.
By the way, the smaller weights are most likely the old style made of lead whereas the new ones are made of iron.  Both are 5 grams.   

[T Legg]

I still do it the old way with a small hand held bead breaker and long tire spoons but I've often wondered how well the zip tie method works.
    Don't assume that the valve stem is the heaviest part of the rim. After I have removed the old tire I remove the old weights and put the rim on my balancer without the tire to find the heaviest part of the wheel. More often than not the heaviest part is not adjacent to the valve stem so I mark the heaviest spot and place the red dot there.
  I use super fine steel wool to clean the lip of the rim . It works very fast and doesn't damage the rim .

[Pat Conlon]

    Don't assume that the valve stem is the heaviest part of the rim. After I have removed the old tire I remove the old weights and put the rim on my balancer without the tire to find the heaviest part of the wheel. More often than not the heaviest part is not adjacent to the valve stem so I mark the heaviest spot and place the red dot there.
 

Right on Travis!

I've learned to check the balance of the rim without weights and tire, mark accordingly. I have found this to be important especially after polishing the rim. The removal of aluminum in the polishing process slightly alters the balance point of the rim.
Every little bit helps...

[Old Rider]

I've got to give to ya...you've got more patience than me.
By the way, the smaller weights are most likely the old style made of lead whereas the new ones are made of iron.  Both are 5 grams.  

You may be right about the weights .Last time i bought some weights from yamaha dealer they looked like the big i put on this time .This time they sold me the small ones i will take
a closer look at them when i get down in the garage

[Old Rider]

I still do it the old way with a small hand held bead breaker and long tire spoons but I've often wondered how well the zip tie method works.
   Don't assume that the valve stem is the heaviest part of the rim. After I have removed the old tire I remove the old weights and put the rim on my balancer without the tire to find the heaviest part of the wheel. More often than not the heaviest part is not adjacent to the valve stem so I mark the heaviest spot and place the red dot there.
 I use super fine steel wool to clean the lip of the rim . It works very fast and doesn't damage the rim .

Hello Travis
This is confusing im not sure what is right I have not checked where the heaviest point of the rim is before when installing a tire .Many different opinions on that, some say that where the valve sits on rim is the lighthest spot  and some say it is the heaviest spot on the rim.The red dots should indicate where the heaviest point is on a tire and that is the point
to align with the valve on rim the lightest spot.It is confusing, but i think the tire manufacturer mark it with red dot to align with the valve so that
least amaount of weights is needed to get the wheel balanced.I only needed 20 gram total to get the wheel balanced this time.I think it is not a big problem
if the red dot is placed elswhere on the rim ,but then it will maybe need more balancing weights to get it balanced. Then there is tires with yellow dot to.....

Pat i:  can see you are a master in polishing that rim and front end looks beautiful just tell me if you want too swap it out with mine  

[T Legg]

After reading your reply I looked around on some websites and I see sites that state the red dot is the lightest part of the tire and web sites that say it is the heaviest part of the tire and others that say it is the "highest part of the tire" .
I have always gone with it's the lightest part of the tire . Most of them say the dot should be aligned with the valve stem also stating that the valve stem is the heaviest part of the rim. Since most agree that the valve stem is supposed to be the heaviest part of the rim I'm going to stick with the red dot being the lightest part of the tire . I have no method to check what is actually the lightest part of the tire but I can definitely find the heaviest part of the rim so I do.
 If you only needed 20 grams of balancing weights I think your in good shape. I've ended up needing 5 to 25 grams of weight on most tires. I've not had one that needed no weights yet.

[red]

I believe the dot on the tire can mean different things, depending on the brand of tire.  Check with your manufacturer.

I think the best plan is to ignore all dots.  Balance the rim (with no tire).  Then mount the tire.  Find and mark the heavy spot of the tire. Rotate the tire on the rim until the heavy spot of the tire is located where the rim weights are located.  Remove all balance weights, then balance the rim+tire.
This plan does not depend on where the manufacturer says the heavy spot may be, for the rim OR tire.  Some extra work, yes, but you should end up with a balanced wheel using a minimum of balance weights.  HTH.

[Troyskie]

Good one Rolf.

If you ever need to replace a tyre valve, here's a link to show how it can be done without removing the wheel from the bike...

https://fjowners.com/index.php?topic=19890.0

[Old Rider]

Good one Rolf.

If you ever need to replace a tyre valve, here's a link to show how it can be done without removing the wheel from the bike...

https://fjowners.com/index.php?topic=19890.0

Thanks Troy for reminding my teflon brain about that tread .Looks like that method is even easier to brake the beads .I think i will have to buy some of those clampy grips 

[slowpoke2]

Wow! I admire your patience and determination! Nice write-up!

[Old Rider]

Thanks Slowpoke it isnt so much work changing tire With zipties it should have been easier ,but run into some difficulties since the rim was so sticky plus the tirebeads was stubborn this time

[Old Rider]

I've got to give to ya...you've got more patience than me.
By the way, the smaller weights are most likely the old style made of lead whereas the new ones are made of iron.  Both are 5 grams.   

Motofun : You are right  i checked the balance weights now with a magnet .The big ones are magnetic and the other is lead.