Tire Bead seating Techniques?

[sawtooth4x4]

So I took a spare Land Rover Alloy in a 16" flavor with a used 285/75/16 E tire to a shop near me to have it mounted and balanced.

They could not the outer bead seated. He said he used tire grease, which I don't know if I believe because there was no residue left anywhere. He said he only put 80 psi in the tire to try to seat the bead as well. he was scared to go over that.

I used to work at a small euro garage back in the low point of employment a few years ago. I've changed quite a few really hard low profile tires and never had this issue. I put tires on my Range Rover that were E range originally and couldn't get them to seat until I used some Starting Fluid. Poof, they seated.

So last night I soaped the hell out of the rim and tire bead and broke out the starting fluid. granted it was probably a 10 year old bottle of it. I only got one good ignition, but it would not totally seat it. I used large copious amounts of the product without a good explosion.

I then broke out a 20K lbs ratchet strap and tried again, no luck. I cannot for the life of me get it seated.

The tires are old and crusty stiff as hell Toyo's. I just wanted a full size spare. Any ideas. Is Discount Tire or Big-O better at setting these things?

The wheel has a weird ring inside where the bead sits. its almost like a bead lock. i've never seen anything like it before.

 

[jeeper]

I swapped tires out on a rover once... PITA. that bump in the rim was a freaking joke.

Try some good amount of lube on the tire and rim, put some air in it and let it sit for a while. It may work itself over after a bit.
I've got a tire machine if you want to come by. I don't know if it would help at all.

 

[sawtooth4x4]

Dang, i'll have to hit you up next week for the machine. I just need a spare tire for the weekend. With a Range Rover nothing is ever easy. Well, I lie, if you can get the parts when you need them its easy to work on.

 

[Gravy]

I welded an inner ring on a set of wheels once. 1/8" it was way too big. Had to have Victor's tires mount it for me. That was after Big O and Firestone (and I) all failed.
Half a can of starting fluid and a ton of bead lube... it was sketchy.

 

[sawtooth4x4]

i was scared with the amount of starting fluid I used. maybe I'm not using enough? I'll pick up another can. A lot of rover guys swear buy these wheels not losing a bead ever. but who knows. I'll just set it on fire and then it'll be warm enough to slide over.

 

[Gravy]

I believe it. That big inner bead can be a bear. A warm tire is significantly easier to deal with.

You could also try to use bead glue to seal the bead to the inner bump and lots of air pressure if the bead has any nicks in it so it wont seal on the rim lock and build enough pressure to push over it.

 

[Kiel]

don't they have a big air gun canister thing to do hard to seat tires. I saw les schwab use one once on a big rig tire. It was a huge high pressure canister that dumped way more air then a normal machine could

 

[Gravy]

bead cheatah^

 

[Seven]

If you have a tube big enough you can put that in the tire and air it up to where it is very tight in the tire and leave it overnight or a couple days and it should help stretch the tire a little.

 

[Unimog]

In my experience, more starting fluid isn't better. You need to get just the right mixture. Even in the 43" mog tires, it doesn't take a lot to get a pretty decent explosion. Warmer temps seem to help it burn better. A couple of failed tries can help warm the rubber up, though! Other than the unimog tires, I used to work for Rocky Mountain ATV in the early days when mail order ATV tires were just starting to take off. We would see how many we could line up and get to light off at once - good times! I've also personally witnessed it blowing a bead completely off the rim, so be careful out there...

 

[STAG]

I've used bearing/chassis grease on the tire bead (generously) with a lot better results than the tire lube that tire shops use.

 

[STAG]

And X2 on the "more starting fluid isn't necessarily better" statement. It's only the fumes that burn fast not the fluid. And you can only get so much fume in the tire. Usually a "3-Mississippi" while moving in a radius is about right.

 

[bryson]

I think you've got the right idea with your seating techniques, but do whatever you can to get the tire warm first - It makes a HUGE difference.

I've used bearing/chassis grease on the tire bead (generously) with a lot better results than the tire lube that tire shops use.

Yes, but tire lube doesn't last forever like bearing grease does... IIRC, tire lube is water based, so it mostly evaporates. Bearing grease stays there and lets your bead spin on the wheel...

 

[STAG]

That may be a possibility, but I've never had one slip and spin yet

 

[sawtooth4x4]

well, forgot to update this. turns out there was a chunk missing out of the bead of the tire. it wouldn't allow it to seat. so threw it away. Big O had a good tire in the size i needed and installed it for $30 cash. It went on fine, they still struggled, but at least it held air and let they were able to give it enough pressure to seat the tire. so $80 I have a spare. Should have just spent money on a new tire. oh-well, that's what happens when you try to be cheap.