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A front tire problem, never had one like this before . . .

I replaced the tube and now the bead is "uneven" around the rim. It's only about a 5" portion or so on the left side, then another 5" portion on the right side. The tire sort of tucks in more than around the rest of the rim. If I spin the tire you can see it from the side, and if I'm looking at the tire head on and spin it, the middle tread tracks a tiny to each side at those places.

I deflated it, sprayed in just a little WD40 and reinflated it to about 25psi and looks like it helped but only a little. I rode it on some blacktop and there's no question you can feel like (like that's a surprise).

Is it OK to overinflate some more? Maybe it will seat then. Any other tips? It's a Michelin so I seriously doubt if it's the tire.

Inflate to 50-60psi, that should seat the bead. Make sure your bead lock is loose also.

I've had problems like that before with my back tire. I inflated it up to about 50-60 psi and it still didn't go on. I ended up just riding it, lower pressure of course, and it worked its way onto the rim. I have had sucess with other stubborn tires "beading up" by filling them up to 50 or so and letting the air out then repeating it over and over. Sometimes it worked other times not. I was somewhat succesfull filling some up to about 8 psi and bouncing them onto the floor from over my head. Just be careful the rebound can be a little out of control .

I feel better realizing that I'm not the only one and something is not drastically wrong . . .

so one way or another, sounds like I need some extra force to push it in place?

Go steal Moms/Wifes dish soap when she's not look'n and squeeze some, OK a lot in an old spray bottle. Add some water and leave it in the shop/garage. Return Wifes/Moms "half empty" bottle of dish soap to the Kitchen.
Break your tire bead and squirt a bunch around the bead/rim and use a paint brush to lather that puppy up good. Re inflate and it'll go right on if you used enough.

Next time you change your tire grab your bottle of soapy water that's all ready to go, and use a bunch of it. I always like to use the paint brush to later it up.



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It's not getting held up by the rim lock, is it?

kelasaki wrote:It's not getting held up by the rim lock, is it?

It's not at the rim lock nor is it in the vicinity of the tube valve stem.

Lots of air pressure and lots of soap. Sometimes you will have to break the bead all the way around and lube it good. Then air it up. I can only remember one tire being that difficult. Had to lube...lube....lube before it finally seated properly. Also, sometimes the tube can get caught under the bead and cause issues.

JFI...a clean bead surface on the rim makes life much easier. Also, I find that the use of duct tape makes life quite annoying when changing tires. The glue seems to always find its way onto the bead surface of the rim. This makes the tire hard to remove and hard to get the bead to seat.

Mounted up a new front tire myself today and had a similar situation to yours, Jim . . . after the old wheel is off I almost always slap a wire wheel in my drill and "buff" the inside of the rim a bit. It amazes me just how much crud gets in there between tire changes! When it's a sunny day I lay the tire outside to get all warm and plyable. Then, as mentioned above, I apply the wife's dish soap to the tire bead. I gotta confess that I start over (break the beads and resoap the tire beads and the rim itself the more I get frustrated!!) if the tire hasn't seated by about 35psi. (Twenty-five years ago I worked in a shop when a split-ring motor grader tire came apart . . . since then I get spooked when I start pushing the psi up there. I know these tires aren't the same but . . . ) Anyway, today it took three rounds of break down the bead and resoap before she popped (even with a clean rim and a warm tire).!

LUBE, LUBE and MORE LUBE !!! I use WD-40.

I was told WD 40 was bad for the rubber...fact or fiction

I have gone up to 90psi..Check to see if your tube is twisted & re-check the bead lock

Depressurized enough to get some liquid soap in there, went up to 45 psi and one side popped out, deflated again, more soap, reinflated up to 50 psi and there goes the other side . . .

and back down to 14psi for the woods. Rode this evening with my son and the landowner's son (who now has my TTR230) - we had a ball in the timber.

Back in business, thanks guys!

She wrote:LUBE, LUBE and MORE LUBE !!!

Happiness is a warm gun! (..and a warm tire when it comes to being mounted).

Also, any tire will seat easier if the rim is clean. Wire brush it every tire change. Get all the old goo off..whether from the tube (especially a rubber tube) or the tire.

If it takes 90psi..preparation was not sufficient.

I was told WD 40 was bad for the rubber...fact or fiction

Use it all the time on kart tires....In fact it's great to condition them for winter storage (applied to the tread). Great for seating beads. On the kart tires they are tubeless, and we run them down to 4psi sometimes w/ no beadlock then throw 50hp at em.

fuzzy wrote:

I was told WD 40 was bad for the rubber...fact or fiction

Use it all the time on kart tires....In fact it's great to condition them for winter storage (applied to the tread). Great for seating beads. On the kart tires they are tubeless, and we run them down to 4psi sometimes w/ no beadlock then throw 50hp at em.

I won't mess with soap anymore!

4 psi and 50hp??? dang!

Sounds like a Banshee.........

If anyone gets a chance to drive one of those karts, take it!! I drove one that made much less power and it's amazing. After 10 minutes I was already tired from the G's, but I made it through the first race. Those things are a blast.

canyncarvr wrote:
Happiness is a warm gun! (..and a warm tire when it comes to being mounted).

Also, any tire will seat easier if the rim is clean. Wire brush it every tire change. Get all the old goo off..whether from the tube (especially a rubber tube) or the tire.

If it takes 90psi..preparation was not sufficient.

FWIW-

I'll add that I have gone to using strictly baby powder (the talc-based kind) both inside the tire and on the tube, and on the beads. I run my fingers around the bead to spread it out. It works as well on woods tires (Dunlop 952, Kenda Milville and Washougal), as it does on desert tires (IRC VE 33, and Maxxis Desert ITs).

No liquids.

Colorado Mike wrote:If anyone gets a chance to drive one of those karts, take it!! I drove one that made much less power and it's amazing. After 10 minutes I was already tired from the G's, but I made it through the first race. Those things are a blast.

I've got a friend with a shifter cart, a 2003 Rotax RM-1 Kart. I've been pestering him to let me drive it and he's agreed, but I haven't been able to head out to a track with him. He said that he has driven it up to 85mph and he's a really big, he never said that that was the top speed!