front wheel removal and tire replacement

[boo]

Recently I checked at my local bike shop about replacing my front tire. It has 13,000 miles on it and is starting to cup. The shop quoted me $150. for a City Grip installed. I thought that was a bit steep. They charged me $150. to replace my rear tire awhile back, which I thought was reasonable because there was more work involved. I ordered, and received the tire from Bike Bandit for $79. The shop said they would charge me $20. to mount and balance my new tire if I brought the tire and wheel to them. Sounds reasonable.
My question is this: when I remove the front wheel, pinch bolt, and axle rod, how do I keep my brake pads from over extending while the wheel is removed?. I watched a video that showed a guy using a flat blade screw driver to spread the brake pads before re installation. Is that all there is to it, or do I have to watch out for something else.
I`m assuming the brake caliber does not have to be removed to remove and replace the front wheel.
Any tips or advice will be appreciated.

[jeeves]

Recently I checked at my local bike shop about replacing my front tire. It has 13,000 miles on it and is starting to cup. The shop quoted me $150. for a City Grip installed. I thought that was a bit steep. They charged me $150. to replace my rear tire awhile back, which I thought was reasonable because there was more work involved. I ordered, and received the tire from Bike Bandit for $79. The shop said they would charge me $20. to mount and balance my new tire if I brought the tire and wheel to them. Sounds reasonable.
My question is this: when I remove the front wheel, pinch bolt, and axle rod, how do I keep my brake pads from over extending while the wheel is removed?. I watched a video that showed a guy using a flat blade screw driver to spread the brake pads before re installation. Is that all there is to it, or do I have to watch out for something else.
I`m assuming the brake caliber does not have to be removed to remove and replace the front wheel.
Any tips or advice will be appreciated.

You can remove the caliper if you want, it's not difficult to take off.
 If you don't touch the brake lever it will be easy to put it back on.
If for some reason you do pull the brake you will, as you said,  need to use a flat screwdriver or flat piece of metal to widen the gap between pads.

[Tromper]

I eyeball the size of the rotor and just shim the pads usually.
You just need to be close, not perfect for that.  I've used everything from wood to cardboard to a small plastic shim normally used for leveling toilets.
I found the cardboard folded over a couple times to be best.
Of course if they do over extend they're not that tough to put back in place, a bit fussy at times, but not too bad.

[vgrafx]

Does anyone have more detailed instructions on procedure for removing front tire from dt300i
In order to take to shop for mounting and balancing New tire

[de dee]

use a large flat  screw driver to pry the caliper back pry slowly as it does not move fast.  after that remove hex bolts ,  I use 2 x 6  stacked to hold front end under the rad. nail them to- gether ,  that will hold the wheel off the floor,. now your wheel can come off ,. hex bolts just loosen rear hex bolt , as all it does is pinch the axel bolt, so it does not move

[Iahawk]

when I removed my front wheel for tire replacement there was no issue with the caliper..just don't squeeze the brake lever and your wheel and rotor should fit right back in place.

[Kymsec99]

Stick something into the brakepads gap, fairly tight fitting, whilst wheel is removed, then theres no worry about accidentally pulling the brake lever.

[mousejunks]

You can push the brake caliper pistons back in with your fingers and a bit of effort.