Tire won't seat properly

[sjbraun]

Good morning,

I'm having a problem getting tires to mount properly on tubeless rims. If you look at the attached picture, you'll see how the bead does not set consistently around the entire circumference of the wheel. This results in a low spot and wobble when I'm riding. When I carefully deflate the tube, it appears that the bead of the tire hasn't fully moved into the hook of the rim. I've had this problem on two different wheelsets, Boyd carbon and Rolf Primas with different tires, Michelin Pro Endurance and Schwalbe Ones, respectively. Anyone have thoughts on what I might be doing wrong?

[p nut]

Two questions:

Did you use tubeless tape?

Did you spray some soapy water onto the bead/rim before inflating?

[Spdntrxi]

what PSI are you getting too ? I think the tire might need to see a little higher PSI to make it seat all the way.

[Matthew]

I've had this same issue on my Crossmax mtb wheels. I used soapy water and inflated to high pressure. Had to do it a few times though. It's not 100 percent perfect but I can't feel it while riding. It's weird because looking at the tire it appears the bead is even the whole circumference of the tire. I would keep trying and use soapy water or maybe windex and hopefully it will pop in place.

[cmbicycles]

. Anyone have thoughts on what I might be doing wrong?

Sure, you didnt get the tire seated all the way. ;)

Are you running these tires tubeless or just have tubeless ready rims? Usually you will just need to inflate tires up to a normal or slightly higher riding pressure and then grab the tire and rotate it upward to get the bead to pop into place. The firmer the tire, the easier it is to move, IMO. Park makes a modified channel lock tool for this, but I've almost always done it by hand except some beastly tires when working in a shop that had the park tool.

[slowpoke]

Had this happen where the tire bead seemed to be caught on the grippy tubeless tape.

Like p nut said, use soapy water to help glide the tire over. Also, don't be afraid to pump up the tire to a higher PSI to get it to seat properly.

[ColonelJLloyd]

Looks like a relatively narrow tire. Have you taken it to 80+ psi? Probably gonna take that.

[sjbraun]

Some clarification-

I'm not running the tires tubeless.

The wheels use tubeless tape, not rim tape.

I've inflated the tires to 100 psi.

The soapy water/windex tricks don't help me when I get a flat while riding.


Will the tire work its way into pace simply by riding it?

[yinzerniner]

And say soapy water and higher pressure just to seat the bead is an effective remedy for most situations.

But here's a question that might prove relevant - are the tires you're trying to seat tubeless ready or clincher? Also, are you inflating them with or without tubes?

A few times when trying to use tubeless tires with tubes they've failed to seat properly, but then when I removed the tubes and use the compressor they seated fine. Similarly, with some tubeless rims that came pre-taped I tried to use regular clinchers with tubes and they didn't seat, but when I removed the two layers of thick tape and retaped them they seated just fine when inflated.

Hope you get this figured out.

[robt57]

The soapy water/windex tricks don't help me when I get a flat while riding.

Therein lies the real potential issue. I have rims that certain tires are happy to get on and off. I use those combos only after getting blood blisters changing a flat on a fast group ride with a less co-operative combination. I can change a co-operative flat in 2-3 minutes most. This one took me 5 min and 2 guys stayed off the back with me.

The front of the chase group pulls I felt obligated to take.. Well, polished me off quick to get back up the the main group...

I wound up riding the last 8 miles of that ride alone...

[sjbraun]

Maybe I should just go back to Velox rim tape???

[robt57]

Kapton is all I use for tape anymore for years. That flat above had velox which is history for me...

[p nut]

Maybe I should just go back to Velox rim tape???

Not sure why you’d go to something with more grip.

Soapy water usually does the trick. Flat on the road? Spray some water there or ride home and get it seated properly.

[robt57]

Not sure why you’d go to something with more grip.

Not to mention a tape that takes up the most room VS lots of other choices....

Suggest to all, eBay Kapton Tape and look for the width you can use for your rims. I have rolls hanging on the wall in the shop.

Kapton-Tape Polyimide is also High Temp, so rim brake wheels in theory should have less tape creep from heat under extreme braking..

1 mil polyimide film & 1.5 mil silicone adhesive.

Yes, each layer is 2.5 mil. You could put a lot of layers before you approach a fraction of the bed thickness of VeloTape.

I use at least 3x for tubed setups, and for tubeless 2x and one layer blue Pacenti Tubeless tape [until I run out off a huge roll of that I have]

[p nut]

Not to mention a tape that takes up the most room VS lots of other choices....

Suggest to all, eBay Kapton Tape and look for the width you can use for your rims. I have rolls hanging on the wall in the shop.

Kapton-Tape Polyimide is also High Temp, so rim brake wheels in theory should have less tape creep from heat under extreme braking..

1 mil polyimide film & 1.5 mil silicone adhesive.

Yes, each layer is 2.5 mil. You could put a lot of layers before you approach a fraction of the bed thickness of VeloTape.

I use at least 3x for tubed setups, and for tubeless 2x and one layer blue Pacenti Tubeless tape [until I run out off a huge roll of that I have]

I will have to check that out. What about removal? Does it leave much residue?

[robt57]

I will have to check that out. What about removal? Does it leave much residue?

I understand they use this for powder coat masking.. That an answer?

[DfCas]

My experience has been once a tire is seated and aired up for a week or so it is much easier to seat a second time, so flats are not much of a problem.

I'm not sure if tubeless has taken more than its given. Big rims and small tires are just so much fun.

[ColonelJLloyd]

Have you tried wrestling it back and forth around the area where it won't seat while it has as much air pressure as will allow you to do that?

Wrap some adjustable plier jaws tightly with an inner tube and try to pull it up (makeshift Park PTS-1)?

[eddief]

I just put one in my feed bag after seeing mate get really angry at his tire.

[scoobydrew]

I will have to check that out. What about removal? Does it leave much residue?

I understand they use this for powder coat masking.. That an answer?

Doesn't leave any or much residue from my experience. It's commonly used for R&D testing in my industry.

[Jeff N.]

-

[Jeff N.]

never mind.-

[pdonk]

I ruined a rim because a tire would not seat properly. Ultimate solut ion was to switch tires.

Shop suggested all the tricks here, soapy water, thin and slippery tape, yet I could not make the tires work properly with tubes after I'd do home tests.

[PacNW2Ford]

This was an issue with early Velocity Synergy rims and Compass tires. In that case the distance from the bead shelf to the bead hook was too big and it could be alleviated by using thicker rim tape. Google “Velocity Synergy Compass” to get to Jan’s blog on the subject. Might apply here.

[unterhausen]

Park makes a pliers to seat tires. At home, I often use channel lock pliers and a rag. Deflate down to 20 psi or something like that

[kiwisimon]

The soapy water/windex tricks don't help me when I get a flat while riding.




when you install the tire at home use lots of soapy water. on the road punture repair use some spit or water from you bottle and then really crank up the pressure till iy pings into place, then back off the pressure and ride on.

[dustyrider]

hmm...that picture makes it look like you could force that bead on with enough air pressure(hard to do roadside) and your fingers or palms and wrist roll.

There is the park tool referenced above, but that won't help on the side of the road either. I've seen the drop technique used before when seating motorcycle tires on rims. Basically you just bounce the inflated tire and rim on the ground like a basketball until the tire seats...not sure how that works with a bicycle rim or if it's even an approved technique for moto rims.

What does the inside of the rim look like with out the tire installed?

[R3awak3n]

I have no advice because I had a tired I could not mount. Challenge tires are famous for that, I will not buy challenge again because no matter what I could not mount the bead properly. I think tire was defective because I tried EVERYTHING. It was so damn frustrating.