Tyre fitting problems

[deejayen]

I'm struggling to get tyres seated evenly on the rims - they're a bit higher in some places and lower in others. Is there any easy method to sort this?

Also, with a Schrader valve my Blackburn track pump is doing that thing where it's hard to pump air into the tyres, and it's giving a higher PSI reading than the air pressure in the tyres. They're new Conti innertubes. Is this likely to be something I'm doing, or could there be a problem with the pump head?

 

[Pat "5mph"]

I can't help about the tyre fitting issue, there are too many rim/tyre variables, some combinations are harder to fit than others.
There is a chart that someone more in the know than me will soon post
About the pump not pumping, try to push the valve down to let some air out first (like you do with Presta) by using a screwdriver or the hook of your tyre lever.
This has worked for me in the past, I was able to inflate my tyre.

 

[Dorset Boy]

I'm struggling to get tyres seated evenly on the rims - they're a bit higher in some places and lower in others. Is there any easy method to sort this?

Also, with a Schrader valve my Blackburn track pump is doing that thing where it's hard to pump air into the tyres, and it's giving a higher PSI reading than the air pressure in the tyres. They're new Conti innertubes. Is this likely to be something I'm doing, or could there be a problem with the pump head?

Have you tried spinning and bouncing the wheel on the ground a number of times?

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Check the rim tape does not ride up the rim wall.

 

[deejayen]

Thanks very much for the suggestions. I'll try \ check them tomorrow night.

I've tried partially deflating the tyre and squeezing the beads towards the centre of the rim and putting a bit of pressure on the tyre, plus other attempts at general manhandling. I also had a squint at the inside of the rim - I couldn't see rim tape (or innertube!) but that doesn't mean the rim tape isn't getting in the way. In terms of width, how wide should the rim tape be - ie where should it stop in relation to the well and the hook of the rim?

The tyres are folding Panaracer Paselas 559-42, and the rims are old Wolber ones which are fairly narrow.

 

[Sharky]

How many places are there that the tyre doesn't seat?

Are these new tyres, or ones where this has just been noticed?

Won't necessarily help, but try marking both the rims and the tyres at the point where it's not seating. Then remove the tyre and replace, such that the marked point on the tyre is now at a point on the rim where it was seating correctly.

If the non seating stays with the mark on the tyre, then could be a weakness at that point with the tyre.

If the tyre seats correctly where it had been marked, then the tyre must be ok.

If the non seating stays at the point where the rim was marked. May indicate that the rim has a problem, or something in the technique used to fit the tyre.

Good luck

 

[november4]

I can honestly share, dish soap aka fairy liquid saved the day for me, rub a little neat into the bead at rim and inflate. Shocking it on with a tubless air tank, or bouncing inflated can help too.

But the dish soap trick I've done a couple of times, and basically free

 

[FrankCrank]

All of the above suggestions are worth a try. Had a couple of occasions where no matter what I tried, the bugger refused to seat properly. Can only imagine some tyre/rim combinations are particularly troublesome, but don't want to deflate (ha ha) the Ops attempts in any way. I recently got myself a battery powered tyre inflator with some decent grunt, hoping this might persuade even the most stubborn ones to comply

 

[Gunk]

I can honestly share, dish soap aka fairy liquid saved the day for me, rub a little neat into the bead at rim and inflate. Shocking it on with a tubless air tank, or bouncing inflated can help too.

But the dish soap trick I've done a couple of times, and basically free

Just done this on an older Brompton and it definitely works. I used a paint brush and liberally applied a strong soapy solution, pumped up to 110 psi and the tyre has now perfectly seated itself. You do have to leave a while to settle, but overnight it should be seated perfectly.

 

[Dorset Boy]

Never heard washing up liquid called dish soap before.
Is it an americanism?

 

[TomDW]

i had a new pair of Panaracer Agilest Duro and one of them just would not fit. I tried different inner tubes, wheels which improved things a bit but always bulged at a certain point. Gave up in the end as if i'd had a puncture and was refitting by the road side quickly it would've bulged more. Needless to say the other tyre fitted perfectly, weird ! Went with the equivalent Schwalbe One 365, no problems!

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Never heard washing up liquid called dish soap before.
Is it an americanism?

Yes - we should never have let them go before they learned to talk proper!!

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Never heard washing up liquid called dish soap before.
Is it an americanism?

Never heard fairly liquid called that but the soap dish, aka a dish to put your soap in, in between uses, used to be common before body wash took over the world.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I have a problem where the pressure read very high when it isn;t

In my case I generally reckon it is due to having "goo" in the tyre and when it gets old it clumps up a bit and forms blockages
and the pressure build up in the gap and only leaks out slowly

If you don;t have goo in your tyres this this is probably irrelevant - but just thought I would mention it

 

[T4tomo]

The tyres are folding Panaracer Paselas 559-42, and the rims are old Wolber ones which are fairly narrow.

this might be an / the issue as you should have at least a 21mm internal rim width to run a 42mm tyre, and "old wolbers" will be more like 17-18mm* (this is a massive guess)