Bruce27

Are there any tricks to seating problem tires?

Gezman

I always air a tire up some after I get the tires on the rims , then I bounce them gently on the ground rotating them with each bounce , always works for me , after ya ride some theyll seat on the rim .

Bruce27

Thanks Gezman. I just bought these tires. I've tried inflating and deflating (and bouncing) and the thread is all over the place. Later today I'll try riding a bit. PSI is supposed to be 100 but maybe I'll take it slow and start with 75 and go from there.

HillRider

One trick is to be certain no part of the tube is caught between the bead and the rim. Before inflating, push the tire inward away from the rim and work all the way around both sides.

rydabent

I use baby powder on the inside surface of the tire. I mount it, and inflate to half the pressure I will ride with, and check that the tire is evenly seated on the rim. Then I let the air out and reinflate to riding pressure.

mconlonx

Overinflate it, then back it down. 100psi max? Go to 120 or even higher. Bead will make a scary pop/snap, and once seated, back the pressure off to where you want it.

HillRider

First be certain the tire is seated and none of the tube is trapped or that "scary pop/snap" will be the tube exploding after it pushes a part of the bead over the rim.

Leebo

Are there patches on the tube? Running tubeless? Dinged rims? I like soapy water ( think dish soap) on the bead of the tire and on the rim. Inflate with a air compressor. Works for my mt bikes 99% of the time.

Looigi

As been mentioned, talc helps a lot in getting tires on and off, preventing pinching the tube during installation, and with seating the bead. Auto stores sell talc in the tire/accessories section. Example: https://www.bowessealfast.com/p-800-t...c-1lb-can.aspx

Baby powder works if you like the smell.

arex

Real men use Gold Bond.

FBinNY 

Yes, if you get comfortable furniture they'll seat themselves.

Seriously, tires are carefully made to exact diameters. Usually if one area is high or low, then others areas or whole sections are out of place also. Use the reference line molded into the tire as a guide, and see if it's equidistant from the rim all the way around. See if you can work tire to or from the low or high area to help.

Also the tire seating method depends on the type of rim. In an Endrich pattern rim, the tire seats on a shoulder and inflation will sometimes pop a tight tire out,but only if it's close already. OTOH, hook edge rims seat the tire under the hook. These will not pop out with overinflation.

I've seen the riding undeinrflated trick work, but usually only at very low pressure. Fill to 25-30psi and ride slowly and carefully so you don't dent the rim. Don't overdo this because it can creep the tire and you'll end up with the valve shifted and sticking out at an angle.

bkaapcke

To avoid pinch flats I inflate the tube enough to hold its shape and put it in the tire, then work the whole thing onto the rim. Work your way around the wheel, on both sides, squeezing the tire/tube and looking for parts of the tube caught under the bead. Then over inflate to seat the tire, let all the air out and re-inflate to spec. This works. bk

NatUp

If inflating fast and high doesn't help, I've found it can work to inflate really slowly while also pulling at the part of the tire whose bead wants to dive into the rim channel instead of seating on the hook. Works best on larger tires where you can get some purchase on the tread/sidewall.

JohnDThompson 

At Trek where we had to mount hundreds of tires daily, we'd paint the tire bead with a dilute dish detergent solution. This helped the tube slide into place inside the tire , and the tire to seat properly on the rim.

HillRider

That's pretty much what automotive tire dealers use. They all seem to have a bottle of soap solution and a small paint brush right next to the tire mounting machine.

Bruce27

Thanks for all the input. I'll try each suggestion until one works however now I'm questioning myself on my rim tape size selection as possibly contributing to my issue. The rim is an 80's Araya, the size is 27" x 1-1/4" and I'm putting 27" x 1-1/8" tires on. I started with 10mm rim tape and it looked too narrow. Then went to the LBS and bought 16mm velox. I'm thinking maybe the tire bead is getting hung up on the rim tape in a few areas as there was a little side overhang of the spoke groove with the 16mm rim tape. The reference line molded into the tire as a guide is not 100% equidistant from the rim all the way around. I can see that the tire bead is sitting deeper in the rim in a few areas.

hueyhoolihan

i've had more problems with rim tape than i care to remember. wrong size, bad installation, exposed spoke holes, poor adhesion, you name it. i've resorted to using adhesive tape (two wraps).

one contributing factor has been the difficulty experienced when trying to mount the narrow (20mm) kevlar beaded tires. in many cases there is absolutely no way they can be mounted without resorting to the use of two (or three) stout plastic tire irons. even when trying to get one bead on! the tape often gets pushed out of position making one or both beads, if i can ever get them both on, to sit high or low. god forbid i should get a flat in a remote area... good luck.

Retro Grouch 

The most likely place is right at the valve stem. Inflate the tire just enough to give it shape. Then push the valve stem straight down into the tire and pull it back out. That way the thick part of the inner tube adjacent to the valve won't keep your tire beads from seating.

ragtoplvr

RU Glide is sold at NAPA plus others. Dries sticky. A lifetime supply is like 15.

easyupbug 

Would Kool-Stop's Bead Jack help with this? When arthritis found my hands these tools help me greatly and at $10 each I have cut a little off the handle length and they are in all five of my seat bags.

Doug5150

Inflating the wheel with the bike (or wheel) laid on its side can sometimes help. This way gravity isn't pulling the tire off-center of the rim.

Even so, some tires and rims just don't work well together and getting the tire seated perfect can be pretty much impossible.

Bruce27

After working on these tires with deflating, inflating, over inflating, pushing in, pulling up, spraying diluted dish detergent, bouncing, riding etc... I'm finally feeling like the persuader. While not perfect, they are much better than 5 days ago. I'm going to add talc to my shopping list. Again..thanks all!

Doug5150

A lot of automotive places use silicone grease on the tire beads before mounting--but then, a car tire is a very different design than a bicycle tire.

A car tire is made with a far stronger bead (relatively speaking) that doesn't depend on rim friction at all to keep it on the rim. Bicycle tires depend on some rim friction to keep the bead on the rim, so it's not a great idea to put anything on a bicycle rim that will act as a permanent lubricant.

You see this problem demonstrated with people who try to use the DIY-tubeless MTB tire setups: the first time they try inflating it to a riding pressure, the tire bead snaps and the tire is ruined. A lot of times they report that they didn't even inflate it completely. ....What happens is the tire sealant makes the rim slippery, and then the bead wire is not strong enough to keep the tire on without that friction. It happens more with kevlar-bead tires, but steel-bead tires will fail this way too.

xenologer

I use this
https://www.bicycletool.com/tireseater.aspx
never fails

FBinNY 

This depends on the type of tire, but in both designs friction isn't relied on to keep tires from blowing off.

Endrich or straight side rims secure tires the exact same way as do cars and motorcycle, using an inelastic bead wire to establish the diameter smaller than the rim's OD then using a shoulder to locate the bead so the tire bead and rim diameters are concentric.

Hook edge, use the same concept of inelastic bead, but use a hook and pocket design to locate the bead and keep things concentric.

If tires depended on friction, there would be no way to ensure a reasonable amount of reliability. In fact tires do slip, and many of us see creep whereby the tire rotated around the rim, eventually ripping the valve off. Notice that these tires can slip along the rim, but not over the rim, thanks to the bead, and locating system.