[Loghousenut]

I recently ran across a new (to me) way to attack the problem of tires that are hard to seat on the bead.

In my case it is mounting a car tire on a motorcycle rim. Don't start on me... I've done it before. It works.

So a car tire has a different bead profile than a motorcycle rim. Just like the problem of mounting an ATV tire on a TW rim.

This all leads to the rear wheel on my Yamaha Royal Star. I found the right car tire and had my favorite local dirt bike shop mount it up.

I am not a fan of superoverpressurizing a tire to seat the bead. I've known two good men who were killed mounting split rim tires and it makes me queezy about waiting for the pop. I asked them to leave it at 75 psi overnight.

I picked it up and neither bead had popped. I set it behind the propane pretend wood stove after airing it up to 90 psi. No pop after two days.

I broke the bead, spun the tire, lubed it up, and re-aired it to 90 psi. After two days, nothing. I repeated it again for two days.

I took it back to the bike shop and asked them to dismount it so I could grind the ramp of the aluminum wheel for an easier bead seat.

I know, aluminum wheel. Stay with me for the money shot.

The owner of the shop, a man I had never dealt with, said he could seat the bead without messing with the wheel. So he went over to his Coats Tire Machine,

COATS RC-45A RIM CLAMP TIRE CHANGER ( AIR).

He put the car tire on the machine and used the rim clamps to stretch the bead of the tire. This makes more sense to a tire guy.

He stretched a bit, loosened, turned the tire, stretched a bit, turned the tire, etc.

Then he did the same to the other bead, mounted the tire, and both beads popped with less than 60 lbs.

This whole operation spooked me. I am an old tire guy and I had never seen anything like this. He said he's been doing it for years and never had a failure.

I am 1,500 miles into this adventure and have not had a failure. I feel confident that this car tire will go 60,000 miles or more with no bead troubles.

I think if I had an ATV tire and worried about how it would bead up, I'd want to consider this way of loosening up the bead of the tire.

Yes, we are playing with the most important part of a tire, the bead. It is nothing to mess with. Personally, I would never grind a bead on a tire...but I'd try this.

 

[vhortykho]

Is the bead really stretching or is the bead cable starting to cut through the rubber? There can't be much give to the cable but the rubber could be displaced.

 

[Ski Pro 3]

Metal expands with heat. I wonder why folks haven't used direct heat to the bead on the tire to expand it. Not sure how much heat the rubber could handle though. How about chilling the rim? A can of freon would put a frost on that rim, shrinking it, along with a tire that has been cooking under a black plastic covering that allows the air inside with the tire to heat up to expand the metal cable in the bead.

I wanna see a photo of your car tire mounted on your bike wheel. Photos before the wheel is installed on the bike and after.

 

[Gruff54]

That makes a lot of sense, but I'd think it would require a delicate touch by the machine operator. Looks like it wouldn't be too difficult to go too far. Who wants to be the first to try?

Mike

 

[Workingman]

Loghousenut
I too have been riding on the dark side for a long long time.....
Starting way back with 16 inch bias ply vw beetle tires on hard tail choppers
In high school ....
What has worked best for me with aluminum wheels is
1, polishing the bead ramps on the rims to a mirror Finish.
2, putting the aluminum rim in the freezer the day before the tire install ..
3, leaving the tire on the dash of the car while I'm at work that day ..
I usually change tires when the weather warms up and the inside of
the car gets up over135 degrees.
Never had much problems getting the tire on the rim..
Or getting the bead to seat at sixty pounds or less....
I believe the key is to work quickly as possible ...
Getting the bead set before the tire and rim temperatures equalize.....
mike from NC

 

[Loghousenut]

Edited to get rid of stupid duplication. Thank You special British Moderator for catching it early before our servers ran out of server juice.

 

[Ski Pro 3]

I recently ran across a new (to me) way to attack the problem of tires that are hard to seat on the bead.

In my case it is mounting a car tire on a motorcycle rim. Don't start in on me... I've done it before. It works.

So a car tire has a different bead profile than a motorcycle rim. It is just like the problem of mounting an ATV tire on a TW rim. The tire goes on but the bead does not want to seat.

This all leads to the rear wheel on my Yamaha Royal Star. I found the right car tire and had my favorite local dirt bike shop mount it up.

I am not a fan of superoverpressurizing a tire to seat the bead. I've known two good men who were killed mounting split rim tires and it makes me queezy about waiting for the pop. I asked them to leave it at 75 psi overnight.

When I picked it up, neither bead had popped. I set it behind the propane pretend wood stove after airing it up to 90 psi. No pop after two days.

I broke the bead, spun the tire, lubed it up, and re-aired it to 90 psi. After two days, nothing. I repeated it again for two days. Yes, I whacked it with a hammer.

I took the warm tire and wheel back to the bike shop and asked them to dismount it so I could grind the ramp of the aluminum wheel for an easier bead seat.

I know, aluminum wheel. This is not an option for the TW. Stay with me for the money shot.

The owner of the shop, a man I had never dealt with, said he could seat the bead without messing up the wheel. So he went over to his Coats Tire Machine...

COATS RC-45A RIM CLAMP TIRE CHANGER ( AIR).

He dismounted the tire. Then he put the car tire on the machine and used the rim clamps to stretch the bead of the tire. Any tire guy will understand immediately what I am describing.

He stretched a bit, loosened, turned the tire, stretched a bit, turned the tire, etc.

Then he did the same to the other bead, mounted the tire, and both beads popped with less than 60 lbs.

This whole operation spooked me a little. I am an old tire guy and I had never seen anything like this. He said he's been doing it for years and never had a failure.

I am 1,500 miles into this adventure and there is not a hint of a problem. The tire is round and smooth an took very little weight to balance. I feel confident that this car tire will go 60,000 miles or more with no bead troubles.

I think if I had an ATV tire and worried about how it would bead up, I'd want to consider this way of loosening up the bead of the tire.

Yes, we are playing with the most important part of a tire, the bead. It is nothing to mess with. Personally, I would never grind a bead on a tire...but I'd try this next time for sure.

Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using Tapatalk

Unless you have one of the coolest garages I've ever seen, you have a very understanding wife. Unfortunately, my wife has a CCW and carries. Motorcycle maintenance on the dining room table is considered justifiable homicide in California. Or so she tells me.

BTW, this is a duplicate thread. Or nearly.

ATV Tire Cure?

I recently ran across a new (to me) way to attack the problem of tires that are hard to seat on the bead. In my case it is mounting a car tire on a motorcycle rim. Don't start on me... I've done it before. It works. So a car tire has a different bead profile than a motorcycle rim. Just like...

www.tw200forum.com

 

[Purple]

BTW, this is a duplicate thread

Threads merged .....

 

[Gullyjumper]

I recently ran across a new (to me) way to attack the problem of tires that are hard to seat on the bead.

In my case it is mounting a car tire on a motorcycle rim. Don't start in on me... I've done it before. It works.

So a car tire has a different bead profile than a motorcycle rim. It is just like the problem of mounting an ATV tire on a TW rim. The tire goes on but the bead does not want to seat.

This all leads to the rear wheel on my Yamaha Royal Star. I found the right car tire and had my favorite local dirt bike shop mount it up.

I am not a fan of superoverpressurizing a tire to seat the bead. I've known two good men who were killed mounting split rim tires and it makes me queezy about waiting for the pop. I asked them to leave it at 75 psi overnight.

When I picked it up, neither bead had popped. I set it behind the propane pretend wood stove after airing it up to 90 psi. No pop after two days.

I broke the bead, spun the tire, lubed it up, and re-aired it to 90 psi. After two days, nothing. I repeated it again for two days. Yes, I whacked it with a hammer.

I took the warm tire and wheel back to the bike shop and asked them to dismount it so I could grind the ramp of the aluminum wheel for an easier bead seat.

I know, aluminum wheel. This is not an option for the TW. Stay with me for the money shot.

The owner of the shop, a man I had never dealt with, said he could seat the bead without messing up the wheel. So he went over to his Coats Tire Machine...

COATS RC-45A RIM CLAMP TIRE CHANGER ( AIR).

He dismounted the tire. Then he put the car tire on the machine and used the rim clamps to stretch the bead of the tire. Any tire guy will understand immediately what I am describing.

He stretched a bit, loosened, turned the tire, stretched a bit, turned the tire, etc.

Then he did the same to the other bead, mounted the tire, and both beads popped with less than 60 lbs.

This whole operation spooked me a little. I am an old tire guy and I had never seen anything like this. He said he's been doing it for years and never had a failure.

I am 1,500 miles into this adventure and there is not a hint of a problem. The tire is round and smooth an took very little weight to balance. I feel confident that this car tire will go 60,000 miles or more with no bead troubles.

I think if I had an ATV tire and worried about how it would bead up, I'd want to consider this way of loosening up the bead of the tire.

Yes, we are playing with the most important part of a tire, the bead. It is nothing to mess with. Personally, I would never grind a bead on a tire...but I'd try this next time for sure.

Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using Tapatalk

Are you a Aburn fan?

 

[Loghousenut]

Is the bead really stretching or is the bead cable starting to cut through the rubber? There can't be much give to the cable but the rubber could be displaced.

My worry precisely. We may never know the answer, but we shall see if it is a problem.

Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using Tapatalk

 

[Loghousenut]

Loghousenut
I too have been riding on the dark side for a long long time.....
Starting way back with 16 inch bias ply vw beetle tires on hard tail choppers
In high school ....
What has worked best for me with aluminum wheels is
1, polishing the bead ramps on the rims to a mirror Finish.
2, putting the aluminum rim in the freezer the day before the tire install ..
3, leaving the tire on the dash of the car while I'm at work that day ..
I usually change tires when the weather warms up and the inside of
the car gets up over135 degrees.
Never had much problems getting the tire on the rim..
Or getting the bead to seat at sixty pounds or less....
I believe the key is to work quickly as possible ...
Getting the bead set before the tire and rim temperatures equalize.....
mike from NC

Welcome fellow Darksider, Mike. I think you have the right idea here, especially #1 and #3.

Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using Tapatalk

 

[Loghousenut]

Unless you have one of the coolest garages I've ever seen, you have a very understanding wife. Unfortunately, my wife has a CCW and carries. Motorcycle maintenance on the dining room table is considered justifiable homicide in California. Or so she tells me.

BTW, this is a duplicate thread. Or nearly.

ATV Tire Cure?

I recently ran across a new (to me) way to attack the problem of tires that are hard to seat on the bead. In my case it is mounting a car tire on a motorcycle rim. Don't start on me... I've done it before. It works. So a car tire has a different bead profile than a motorcycle rim. Just like...

www.tw200forum.com

Ski, are you sure your wife has a CCW and carries? I coulda swore I heard you live in California.

As for my garage. In better weather, my garage is out in the weather. The Boss decided years ago that I could bring some of the smaller mechanical projects (wheels, transmissions, engines) inside if I am quiet and clean up some of the mess. Here in sunny southern Oregon, there is a shortage of good husband material and it promotes better treatment of those of us who are.

 

[Loghousenut]

Are you a Aburn fan?

I thought it was AU... I'm a huge fan of the element AU.

Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using Tapatalk