Bead sealing HELP!

[KayLynn]

I just bought 4 tires (245/75/16) trying to put a tire on rim (rim is 16) and I can't get the bead to seal. When I go to put air in it about an inch or 2 a long the tire doesn't touch the rim. I've tried tightening a strap around tire, hammering the tire, attempted fire, but not sure put enough for flammable shit on it cause it sure didn't help seal it up.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Make sure the valve is out. And that you have lots of air volume. I usually coat the rim with sealer too. Cant remember the name but it's like liquified tire that dries quickly.

 

[fastpakr]

Lots and lots of air.

 

[Shran]

Flip it so that the back of the wheel is facing you and hold the tire/wheel at an angle while using your foot to push the wheel into the tire...basically you want to work your way around and end up with the back side bead seated most of the way or all the way. Once you have that done, turn it around and use your foot to push the front of the wheel backwards towards the front bead while you put air into the valve stem... if you get it just right, it'll catch and start airing up.

I am sure it goes without saying but you need to be incredibly careful while airing up the tire. Hands AWAY from the bead, 9 times out of 10 they will seat very quickly and violently... great way to lose a finger.

If you have not mounted tires before, consider yourself warned, it is very dangerous if done incorrectly.

 

[superj]

You need to make sure that strap is dead center and tighten some more. Than when airing it up try wracking that yread area with a mallet or something like that.

I have two more to out on and am not particularly interested in doing it. I need one of those manual tire machines and a bubble balancer. That would fix me up for tire machines

 

[lowspeedpursuit]

Second what Shran said. I always used to use just a ratchet strap for swapping old tires around, but new truck tires are so stiff, that doesn't do shit; it just deforms instead of sealing.

I still throw a ratchet strap on there, but if that's not enough, I start by laying the wheel face-up on my 5-gallon bucket of gear oil, so the bucket fits in the concavity. Then I hop up, hold on to something, and jump around on the tire until I manage to seat the inside bead in at least one place.

Then I lean the tire up diagonally against the bucket, still face-out, with the bit where the bead seated pointing up or down. Push against the wheel with one foot to make the seal, keep your hands well clear, and air up as fast as you can. If you're not already doing it, pull the stem and use a blower rather than a tire chuck.

If it still won't seat doing it like that, you just need a bigger compressor. My current pancake is big enough, but my old one wasn't.

 

[Uncle Gump]

You trying to put it on an aftermarket 8 inch wide wheel? Using a pancake compressor? It also helps to lube the beads well... soapy water helps.

That tire should pop right on a 7 inch wide wheel no problem.

 

[Shran]

Another little trick is to pull the valve core and stab a 1/4" quick connect air hose fitting onto it right from your compressor... rather than using the normal air chuck. This only works with medium and long length valve stems but you get a shit load more air volume that way than you do with the valve core in the way.

The manual bead breaker machines IMO are totally useless for anything bigger than a motorcycle tire. Cars/trucks, forget it. I put the tire under my front bumper flat on the ground and use a high lift jack to jack up on the bumper and break the bead that way... even that method doesn't work all the time.

 

[Jazzer]

I do what Shran and lowspeedpursuit do, set the back bead first. Then I turn it over on two short pieces of 2x4 so the rim can be pushed down with my foot, to seal the front bead while hitting it with the air.

-Jazzer

 

[dvdswan]

HOW TO: RESEAT A TYRE BEAD - JUST 4X4S

 

[don4331]

Does OP need to start 1 step back: Before trying to install the tire, make sure the rim is nice and smooth. No rust/aluminium corrosion, no flaking chrome, dirt, etc. Carefully smoothing down any roughness with fine sandpaper/buffing wheel goes a long ways to easy seating. And prevent rim leaks later.

I stealing the dish soap from kitchen sink before I install - a little soapy water, the valve core out initially and I've not had any issues.

When the kids were younger they got big thrill out of the pop when the tire seated; they've had health respect for the force involved every since.​

 

[don4331]

I am sure it goes without saying but you need to be incredibly careful while airing up the tire. Hands AWAY from the bead, 9 times out of 10 they will seat very quickly and violently... great way to lose a finger.

If you have not mounted tires before, consider yourself warned, it is very dangerous if done incorrectly.

You haven't seen dangerous until you've worked with split rim wheels. Wrapping wheel with logging chain, clipping the air line to the valve and then standing back as air pressure is applied.

 

[Shran]

You haven't seen dangerous until you've worked with split rim wheels. Wrapping wheel with logging chain, clipping the air line to the valve and then standing back as air pressure is applied.

Yep... guy at a tire shop in my hometown died while mounting a tire on one of those. The force of it coming apart bounced him off the ceiling in the building... bad deal.

Couple years ago a guy got hurt real bad at the shop down the road from me when a rusty tractor wheel broke in half while he was airing it up. I started being more careful with rusty wheels after hearing about that!

 

[Deiimos]

Yeah I do it basically like posted above on tires that are being difficult. Get the bead on one side seated as tight as you can, get a couple 4"x4" blocks under the tire so you can push the wheel down in the middle, flip it over, then while pumping a lot of air in with the valve core removed, push down to get the bead to touch on the other side. Can take a little fidgeting to not get the rear bead to pop back off before the front catches, but can usually get it. unless your trying to stretch a tire on to some super wide rim. I never had much luck with the ratchet straps. I've done a few dozen tires or more like this over the years.

I use a tire inflator that screws on to the valve stem so I don't have to push on it while trying to move the wheel around. And I've used smallish 4-8 gallon compressors, but you need to work fast the initial blast of air, and if you don't get it, let the compressor fill back up. Try to get the tire bead as close to touching the wheel as possible before you turn on the air, if using a small compressor.

On another note, a few years ago I was helping a neighbor put air back into a tire on their SUV that came off the rim on the front bead, did it on the car so you have to jack it up and work the tire around a bit (we were both grabbing it and pulling forward). The bead had just caught but the guy clearly didn't know about doing tire work, and started touching around the bead. He moved his finger, then instantly after the loud pop as the bead seated, he jerked his hand away real fast then. Happened before I could say not to do that, but he was lucky. Keep your fingers out of the bead area!

 

[4x4prepper]

I use real bead lube, I keep the valve stem core in, and hit it with my Bead Blaster. Usually seals fine the first time, as long as the back bead is properly seated, except with 16.5 tires. I usually start at 80 psi and work up to 120 psi if I have to. I can not vouch for this one, but, it looks fine, and better then spending the $250 for the more expensive ones.

Ironton 5-Gallon Tire Bead Seater — 90 to 120 PSI

https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200673910_200673910

I have literally mounted so many tires tires at dealerships, especially during the Firestone ATX recall, I can't even guesstimate it. I have done all the tricks listed here, and then some. But, I would NOT do the exploding gas routine to seat a bead, it is very easy to destroy a good tire or hurt yourself. Especially if you combine it with a strap. There are many reasons why they warn not to exceed 40 psi when seating a bead. Sort of like welding a wheel with the tire still on.

Just so much easier to mount a tire with a bead blaster.

I made my own one of these from white silicon bead (house) weatherstripping:

Ame International Passenger Tire Air Bead Seater — 14in. to 15in., Model# 21010

https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200434654_200434654

One thing that worked with mounting the 16.5" Interco SSR tires was leaving them out in the hot GA sun for a few hours, it made them just pliable enough to seat when all the other tricks I had tried failed.