fitting your own tyres.

hi all , so I decided to buy a budget tyre off ebay , after having a puncture on the rear of my xj600, and fit it myself, as I have tyre levers and a small compressor, and balancing weights e. t. c.
so tyre arrived , a Couger from M&P, in Wales,
got the old tyre off, with a bit of sweat, and new tyre on ,with more sweat, and using furniture polish to lubricate the rubber,.
but the tyre would not "blow" onto the rim, there is always a gap between the tyre and side of rim, and the air was just blowing out of the gap, no matrer how much I tugged, pushed , squashed, I even sat on it whilst trying to get it to pop onto the sealing rim, but no joy, (more sweat).
so I figured my compressor maybe, was not of sufficient volume to blast the tyre on the rim.
so my brother has a massive compressor, with a receiver about 5 feet long,
but this would not do it, (he,s experienced in fitting his own car tyres)
tried the same tugging, pushing , sitting , even ratchet strapping but to no sucsess.
so , eventually took the wheel (with tyre on) to a motorcycle tyre fitter ,locally
he tried first off, "NO",
he took wheel away in back, came out after quite a while, and said "you will have to leave it with us , we don't have time at the mo, cos we have a load of work booked in"
ok I said no prob , I don't need it , I,ll call back tomorrow,
ok he says , "the trouble is cheap tyres, I don't know why people buy them" he says.
oh, ok being somewhat told off, I returned at midday the following day.
and the tyre was fitted and blown up and balanced.
all good . the other guy I spoke to says he was at it about an hour, trying to get it to seat.
so he only charged £5 ,which was next to nowt.
so I have come to the assumption that the problem is with the way the tyres are supplied.
they are delivered wrapped I cling film, and I think squeezing the tyre inwards.
so the punctured tyre I took off ,I repaired myself , and refitted it to a spare wheel I have, and it popped right on.??
so any tyres I get in the future ,I will remove the cling film and sprag out the tyre for a day or two before fitting.
sorry for the long post, any thoughts on this (apart from "get them fitted in the first place")
stu

 

We do this often with Agricultural tyres, a lot of the time they are flat stacked which cause the same thing to happen, we put tubes in them and inflate them to push the beads apart

 

when i used to do car tires we had an inflatable ring like a hula hoop . wrap around tire inflate and it spread the tire to catch the bead. you could use a ratchet strap to do the same thing

 

one thing I've done to seat a tire is to remove the valve stem, this allows a much great volume of air to go in

 

This is what my brother does to seat the tire to the rim. He removes the valve core then uses an air gun with a rubber tip pressed to the stem. This lets the air in faster than an air chuck.

 

yeah I said "valve stem" when I should have said "valve core"

oh well, blame it on the beer

(actually not drinking atm)

 

I had tried it without the valve core in, should have said that, also as I said , tried with ratchet strap, but no way.
I have another one to fit soon, but I have it spragged out at the mo.
stu

 

you can always try this. I have never done it with motorcycle tires but I have done several car and truck tires. Works like a charm. Like they say, don't over do it.

https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf...ent=psy-ab#kpvalbx=_RmjpXq6gI8GbwbkP8rO62A430

 

Luckily I have this shop nearby
https://www.seattlecycle.com/motorcycle-scooter-tires/
If you do the work of just bringing them the wheel and not the whole bike they mount them for reasonable fee. Buy tires from them at a decent price for Seattle and its free.

 

My local dealer has reasonable prices on tires and mounts/balances free if I bring the wheel in. I wouldn't really save much buying online, at least not in the end. Good will with a local dealer is worth something.

 

yeh, seen the Sweed's do that ,going over the ice with their 4x4's.
wouldn't want to try it with freshly painted rims though.
stu.

 

I use starter fluid all the time to seat beads. Never had any problems even with freshly painted rims. I do take the valve core out , if you don't the vacuum created can suck the tire back off the bead. It gives a place for air to get in after the burn.

 

ok, so what's the procedure with bike tyres, do you squirt it through the valve, or around the rim gap, allowing fluid into tyre, and how do you light it, ?
with a long taper presumably,

 

There is a "safe" way to do this. I don't know what it's called, but it's just a big hand held tank with a 11/2 inch pipe, a globe valve (90degree)), and a wide flat nozzle on the end. You fill the tank to 100psi, maouver the tyre so there is only one place not on the rim, point the nozzle at the gap and slam the valve open.
There will be the loudest bang ever, tyre on the rim, ears ringing. Well mine were.

 

just squirt a little around about 1/4 of the rim. really not very much is required. squirt a trail out about 3 feet from the tire a light it there.

 

A 1 to 2 second squirt of starter fluid is all that is needed. I light mine with a self igniting propane torch held in my hand.
If I get too much starter fluid in the tire it will just burn, that's when I give it a blast of compressed air to give more oxygen. Then "poof" its on. It does the same as hitting it with a hammer like in the video.