Dish soap to the rescue - a tire mounting PSA

[AngryScientist]

Just a PSA, in case this tip helps someone along the way:

was trying to mount a tubeless tire today to a rim (using a tube, not tubeless setup...) and could not get the beads to seat all the way around. tried practically everything, even pumping up to over 100psi (tire sidewalls advised max 80psi)

bottom line was i could not get about 4 inches of the bead to seat to the rim.

after a bit of frustration, mixed a super concentrated soapy water solution of dish soap and water, and painted it on the tire bead with a foam paintbrush:



re-mounted the tire and wam! beads popped into place at about 35 psi.

very cool.

[Gummee]

Ruglyde

Mo bettah

M

[joosttx]

nothing better than soapy warm. Plus it really gets your rims clean.

[MagicHour]

Yes I learned this same trick, along with pushing tire bead down into the rim's center channel, this past spring after wrestling with a Panaracer GK for about an hour and tearing up my thumbs pretty good.

[scoobydrew]

For mounting tubeless, I always spray a liberal amount of Simple Green between the tire bead and rim.

[speedevil]

Originally Posted by scoobydrew

For mounting tubeless, I always spray a liberal amount of Simple Green between the tire bead and rim.

You might want to rethink that practice if you have alloy rims - Simple Green is corrosive to aluminum and aluminum alloys, unless it is thoroughly rinsed away. I'm not sure how you would rinse it away if the bead is seated and sealed.

Check the Simple Green website and click on "aluminum".

https://simplegreen.com/faqs/

Soap and water is much safer to use.

[scoobydrew]

Originally Posted by speedevil

You might want to rethink that practice if you have alloy rims - Simple Green is corrosive to aluminum and aluminum alloys, unless it is thoroughly rinsed away. I'm not sure how you would rinse it away if the bead is seated and sealed.

Check the Simple Green website and click on "aluminum".

https://simplegreen.com/faqs/

Soap and water is much safer to use.

Interesting. Thanks for bringing this up.

[Mikej]

Wow you should have dug up my post from 4 years ago😉https://forums.thepaceline.net/showt...highlight=Soap

[oldguy00]

Any tricks to getting a super tight tire onto the rim on the side of the road where soapy water isn't available?
I've been racing on HED Jet Black's and tires (conti 5000's) go on reasonably easy, but I just acquired a front H3+ trispoke, and tires are a complete bear to get off or onto the rim. I'm embarrassed to say it probably took me 20 minutes to get a conti 4000 tire the seller shipped it with, off of the rim.
Then putting another 4000 tire I had laying around, onto the rim, couldn't even come close to getting it on by hand or with normal tire levers. Had to resort to my kool stop tire jack and even that was difficult.
I'm not sure how I would ever deal with this on the side of the road.
Tips???

[Mikej]

Spit

[speedevil]

I have a pair of Compass tires that are very tight as well, and I've wondered how I would deal with a flat at the side of a road. I don't carry the bead jack, so it will have to go back on using a combination of tire levers and cussing.

Just a thought - what about face cloths? You get them wet and they make soap. If you have water in your bottle, you can make soapy water. I haven't tried this myself, but it should at least give you soapy water at the side of the road.

[gbcoupe]

Originally Posted by speedevil

You might want to rethink that practice if you have alloy rims - Simple Green is corrosive to aluminum and aluminum alloys, unless it is thoroughly rinsed away. I'm not sure how you would rinse it away if the bead is seated and sealed.

Check the Simple Green website and click on "aluminum".

https://simplegreen.com/faqs/

Soap and water is much safer to use.

This for sure! Even if you use it to clean your bike/parts, make sure you rinse thoroughly.

[echappist]

Originally Posted by oldguy00

Any tricks to getting a super tight tire onto the rim on the side of the road where soapy water isn't available?
I've been racing on HED Jet Black's and tires (conti 5000's) go on reasonably easy, but I just acquired a front H3+ trispoke, and tires are a complete bear to get off or onto the rim. I'm embarrassed to say it probably took me 20 minutes to get a conti 4000 tire the seller shipped it with, off of the rim.
Then putting another 4000 tire I had laying around, onto the rim, couldn't even come close to getting it on by hand or with normal tire levers. Had to resort to my kool stop tire jack and even that was difficult.
I'm not sure how I would ever deal with this on the side of the road.
Tips???

carry a spritzer bottle

i had a bottle like that, containing cedar spray. When i used up the cedar spray, I filled it up with soapy water

[DWColiins]

Windex is my go to for seating tires.

For tubeless if there is sealant in the tire already I use some diluted sealant.

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[DWColiins]

Originally Posted by gbcoupe

This for sure! Even if you use it to clean your bike/parts, make sure you rinse thoroughly.

And never undiluted in direct sun.

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