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Message: [QUOTE="rmc_olderthandirt, post: 1393873, member: 68872"] How big were the tire irons you were using? I have 12" irons and I really don't think that I could apply enough force with those irons to break the bead on a tire. I have never even heard of that happening. After it snapped, was it really easy to get it the rest of the way on, or did it still take a bit of work? Let me define a few terms so we are talking the same language, or you can at least translate. Note that these terms my not be technically correct, just how I refer to them: Rim: The largest diameter of the wheel. This is what you need to pry the tire over. Bead: The smallest diameter of tire. This is what you are prying over the rim Bead Seat: The part of the wheel where the tire eventually sits. About a 1/4" or so smaller in radius than the rim. One thing that is somewhat essential for getting the tire over the rim is to keep the opposite side bead OFF the bead seat. If the tire is off the seat then there is an extra 1/2" or so that it can slide in the direction you need it to go. There is a little tool called the "Bead Buddy" that is useful for this, although just giving the tire an appropriate squeeze now and then will accomplish the same thing. I am thinking that the "snap" you heard was actually the bead popping off the bead seat, where it needed to be in the first place. Once you have both beads of the tire inside the rim of the wheel you will need to get the bead onto the bead seat. This is referred to as "seating the bead". The easiest way to do this is to over inflate the tire and let the air pressure force it up on the seat. Many tires will have a maximum air pressure specified for the purpose of seating the bead. I would expect a bead seating maximum pressure to be around 45 PSI. it is common to have the bead NOT fully seat, which can have your tire be 1/4" out of round and not symmetric side to side. This would be very noticeable when you rode. If it won't seat with the maximum pressure then there are two courses of action: 1) deflate the tire, push the bead away from the seat and apply a generous amount of soapy water. Inflate, and hopefully the lubrication will allow the bead to slip into the bead seat. 2) With the tire inflate to maximum pressure, bounce it. I will bounce the tire like it is a basketball, getting the section that isn't seated to hit the ground. A motorcycle wheel will bounce pretty good when it is inflated to 45 PSI! It generally doesn't take very much, just a few bounces and the flexing finishes the job. Just be sure to drop the air pressure down to normal operating pressure as soon as you are done. I have made the mistake of leaving the tires at 45 PSI and going for a ride. It didn't go well...... And like Indy said, $105 for a tire is a lot! The last tire I bought was $80 and that include mounting and disposal of the old tire. Rod [/QUOTE]

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