on the subject of seating beads...I dunno, but whenever I have a problem seating the bead at the valve stem, it is because the tire bead is on top of the tube right at the valve stem patch. While the tire is completely deflated, push the valve stem in as far as you can get it to go. This will move the tube in past the bead. Inflating will go much better.

We really need to see pictures...