I've got new tires now...

[seamax]

Do I need to remove (is it necessary)  the front rotor and rear rotor and sprocket before taking to the tire place for them to dismount old tire and mount on my new ones?

[tkm433]

Do I need to remove (is it necessary)  the front rotor and rear rotor and sprocket before taking to the tire place for them to dismount old tire and mount on my new ones?

If you are going to a motorcycle shop the answer is no.

[Kerry]

Rear Wheel:  Once you have

* pulled the axle
* dropped the chain off of the sprocket
* rolled the wheel out from under the fender[/list:u]you can pull the rear sprocket right out of the cush drive in the hub.  You certainly don't NEED to do that, but if you're paranoid about the shop losing parts or something it's an option.

[Stephen072774]

I wrapped thin masking tape around the front hub to hold the bearings in the wheel.  I forgot if it did that to the back or not. :dunno:  Local auto tire shop changed them cheap.

[seamax]

Rear Wheel:  Once you have

* pulled the axle
* dropped the chain off of the sprocket
* rolled the wheel out from under the fender[/list:u]you can pull the rear sprocket right out of the cush drive in the hub.  You certainly don't NEED to do that, but if you're paranoid about the shop losing parts or something it's an option.

What about the rotors? They are really bolted tight onto the wheel. Do I really need to remove them?

And I'm going to a regualr car tire place, not a motorcycle shop.

[Kerry]

What about the rotors? They are really bolted tight onto the wheel. Do I really need to remove them?

And I'm going to a regualr car tire place, not a motorcycle shop.

I have NEVER removed the rotors to have a tire changed, not even when I had a local car place do one of my wheels (I believe it was the rear, but I could be wrong).  They were dirt cheap - something like $12? - even though they had to do it all "by hand".

Unfortunately they had no way to balance the wheel afterwards (yeah I know, balancing is overrated...) so I ended up spending the same in the end as if I'd taken it to the motorcycle shop in the first place.  Then again, my local shop only charges ~$20.

[Rema1000]

I left my brake rotor on when I took the wheel to the shop, but I was worried  about what would happen if something knocked against the rotor while it was at the shop (nothing did).  If you get the tire back and find that the rotor is warped, you can complain, but they can point-out that maybe you warped it when you carried it in your car; or maybe you took in a tire with a warped rotor on purpose, hoping to get a new rotor in the bargain, etc.

That's one reason to change the tire yourself: if you warp the rotor, you know whose fault it is.   It's much less stressful to put-up with your own mistakes, than it is to argue with a shop about theirs.  The fact that there is only one rotor on the front also makes it easier to work-around.

[dgyver]

I never leave my wheels at a shop to have tires put on. I always wait for them. It only takes minutes to mount & balance them...if they are competent.

[seamax]

Just talked to my local Suzuki dealer. $25 for dismount, mount and balance for each wheel and I can leave the rotors on. Is this a good deal?

[Kerry]

Depending on where you live, that's a very reasonable price.

[BRB96Z34]

IF you're going to a tire place then they should not have to do it by hand.  The rims will fit on the tire mount machine.  When I took mine in to get changed the guy fought with it by hand and eventually tried it on the machine and voila! It worked.  They thought that the rims were too small to fit on the machine.  BTW, they scratched the crap out of my front tire trying to mount it by hand.  DONT let them try to mount it by hand.