Jim’s Tech Talk
By Jim Langley
For anyone who doesn’t know what it means to “seat” a tire, let’s start with an explanation. To “seat” or “seating” a tire is one of the final steps taken when installing most tires on bicycles and motor vehicles, too.
Seating is important because it ensures that the inflated tire is fully and properly installed. If tires are not properly seated they can have low and/or high spots, twists in the tread and with the worst seating mistakes (high spots), they can blow off the rim.
Is a Bicycle Tire Seated?
To tell if a tire is seated properly (even old tires might not be fully seated), you look at the seat line that’s molded into every tire (photo). When a tire is properly seated, that line sits right on top of the rim, equidistant from the rim for 360 degrees around the wheel and on both sides.
The most common seating issue is having the seat line get stuck below the top of the rim (shown in the photo), what’s called a low spot. This can occur at only one spot or in several different spots.
When this happens, if you ride on the wheel, you’ll probably feel the low spot(s) in the tire each time you roll over it. And, because the tire is too low in one spot, it’s possible to damage the rim if you hit something at that spot.
To help, here are seven tricks for seating tires that refuse to. We’re talking about low spots, not high spots (see Tip). And for both standard tubed tires and tubeless.
Tip: High spot seating issues usually only occur with tubed tires and result from getting the tube stuck beneath the tire’s edge. To greatly reduce the chance of this happening, be sure to inflate the tube just enough to let it take shape before installing it in the tire. It’s easy to inflate Presta valve tubes up to the right amount for this by blowing into them like you do with balloons. Just remember, you need to make sure the valve is open first..
7 Bike Tire Seating Tricks
Roll the tire out with your hands
CAUTION: Do not put massive lateral force on the wheel when doing this “move” – or you could warp your wheel. Only put force on the tire.
This is the quickest and safest way to seat a tire and it works most of the time once you’re good at it. But, you have to do it a few times to learn how to do it and if you’ve never done it before, to even believe you can do it. Because it can take a few seconds of work before the bead slowly pops out or it might come right out, too.
You do it by holding the wheel between your legs and gripping the tire right at the low section. You want to use your hands however works for you to put maximum pulling force on the tire to try to roll the stuck seat line up and out from under the rim. I use the heels of my hands and rock them in an up-and-over action.
Air pressure
This is the way car guys and gals seat tires and a lot of bike mechanics do it, too. It’s kind of fun because as the tire seats it makes loud snapping or popping noises. But, there’s always a risk of blowing tires off the rim, which can be dangerous and expensive. I wrote about such an incident a while back: https://www.roadbikerider.com/overinflation-explosion-a-cautionary-tale-about-very-wide-tires/.
So, if you want to use this approach, use only your hand pump (air compressors put too much air in too fast) and very gradually increase the pressure. Give the tire a minute or so to see if it seats before adding more air. And, don’t ever inflate a tire way past the maximum pressure (it should be written on the tire sidewall).
Soap
Speaking of motorheads, they typically have a big tub of tire soap next to their tire mounting machines so that they can slather the slippery stuff on before inflating the new rubber. While there are tire soaps made for bikes, like BullSnot https://amzn.to/2nSud9T , common dishsoap works just fine.
To apply it, find the low spot(s) on the tire and keep track of it – because you’re going to deflate the tire next. You could mark the spot(s) with chalk if needed.
Deflate the tire. Then put a little soap on a brush and push the tire out of the way at the low spots enough so that you can get the soap between the tire and rim. Or you could drip it on the tire if you don’t mind risking making a mess and having a lot of clean-up.
When you pump up the tire, the low spots should pop out. If not, clean and dry the tire so that you can grip it and try to pull any remaining low spots by hand. The soap should still be between the tire and rim and with luck, the low spots will come out. If not, repeat the process one more time.
Use the ground
CAUTION: Do not put massive lateral force on the wheel when doing this “move” – or you could warp your wheel. Only put force on the tire.
If you’re on a ride and you have a low spot after fixing a flat (common problem with tubeless tires), hold the wheel in both hands so that the low spot is facing the ground and at 6 o’clock with 12 o’clock at your stomach.
Holding the wheel like this you can tap the tire’s low spot on the ground to put a pulling force (more like a jolt or blow) on the tire. This will sometimes get the tire seat line to come out from under and seat the tire. Just go easy.
Riding and waiting
Sometimes it just takes more time than you expect for the low spot to rise up to make its way to where it belongs. If a tire won’t seat, if you give it a chance, it might be seated the next time you check it. This can happen out on a ride. You just have to be willing to put up with a “funny” feeling of a low tire spot for awhile and baby the wheel and not risk hitting anything.
Tire seating pliers
The photo shows my Park Tool Tire Seating Pliers, which I have made great use of for decades: https://amzn.to/2mpy5Pp . The only thing is that you need to be careful to grip only the tire with this type of tire pliers. But they work well for many seating issues.
Vise
People are always surprised when I use this seating trick so I saved it for last. Don’t use it if you have any concerns.
The trick is to use a vise to grip the tire (tire only!) low spot and rock the wheel to pull the low spot out. Woodworking vises like mine have soft wood jaws that won’t harm tires. You can also use a metalworking vise by putting blocks of wood in place of the jaws.
You tighten the vise just enough to hold onto the tire (never allow the rim to get between the jaws!) and you then gently rock the wheel so that the vice can tug on the tire and get the low spots to pop out.
There you have it. I hope these tricks cure all your tire seating issues.
Ride total: 9,417
Next Article: 10 Tips to Prevent Saddle Discomfort
Jim Langley is RBR’s Technical Editor. He has been a pro mechanic and cycling writer for more than 40 years. He’s the author of Your Home Bicycle Workshop in the RBR eBookstore. Check out his “cycling aficionado” website at http://www.jimlangley.net, his Q&A blog and updates at Twitter. Jim’s streak of consecutive cycling days has reached more than 8,000. Click to read Jim’s full bio.
Don’t use the “air pressure” method if a bit of the tube is caught..
You don’t need straight detergent.. Just a little soapy solution in a spray bottle. After you are done, rinse the tire with plain water and you have washed the rim,too.
Kool Stop tire mounting tool..
Thanks, Mark. That Kool Stop tool is not for seating tires. It’s actually for putting tires on the rim. When I teach people how to put tires on I always emphasize to only use your hands to put tires on. Because when tools are used it often results in puncturing the tube. But, there are super tight tires – and tubeless tires are often tight (with no tubes) – Kool Stop’s Tire Jack is for helping with those situations – but you still use it carefully. Here’s a link: https://amzn.to/2OjpDwn where you can see a photo and learn more.
Thanks!
Jim
Any tool or techniques for those of us with arthritis in thumbs and hands,?
Linda, using the soap technique and gradually adding more air should get the tire to seat without you needing to use your thumbs and hands too strenuously. Depending on how bad the tire is stuck down inside the rim, you might have to try it a couple of times to get enough soap down and in the right place – or even need to try different soaps – something really slippery is what you want. But, it should do the trick.
The tire seating tools might work for you, but you have to have the hand strength to squeeze the tool to keep the jaws “biting” the tire, and also tug on the tire with the tool. That might be harder to do with your arthritis.
The vise technique would work for you since you rock the whole wheel which only takes pushing on it. But you need a vise and soft jaws.
One more idea: I only saw this once but I did see a cyclist do this one time and it worked. They used their feet to get a tire on. I’m not making this up. So maybe, you could rest the low spot on the ground, stand on the tire and roll the wheel down to get the clamping action of your foot against the tire against the ground to grip the tire and pull it out and seat it?! If it works, please let us know 😉
Good luck!
Jim
I carry a small, snack size, zip lock with talc, or cornstarch. If I need to change a flat on the road, I apply the talc to the tube, and to the bead area of the tire. On the tube, the powder will form a layer that minimizes the tube “bonding” with the inner surface of the tire. On the tire, the talc makes the bead slip over the rim easy, like the soap mentioned in the article, bt it easily transportable. It is also great to have handy of body chafing problems that may arise!
Thanks, Dragonman – that’s a great tip I forgot. Good one! Thank you,
Jim
I put my spare tubes into a snack Ziploc bag and add a couple of tablespoons of talc, then seal the bag. The vibrating of riding distributes the talc all over the tube, and it will slip right over the rim and into the tire. Sometimes it’s not the tire that makes seating difficult; sometimes it’s the rim. I have a set of Shimano wheels that are really, really hard to install and seat tires, and the same tires simply pop onto Mavic rims.
Several times I have not been able to get a tire to seat when fixing a flat on the road. The first time I had this happen, I just decided to suck it up and ride home with a lumpy tire. But as the article notes, you can just ride it out and that is exactly what happened. After a couple of miles, the forces of riding helped the tire seat and it was smooth as glass.
I’m happy to hear that the “wait for it technique” worked for you, too, Kerry! Thanks for the comment!
Jim
I too use talc on installing new tires/tubes. Old roadie, riding since the 80’s and just stumbled on an almost unbelievable solution for installing my continental grand prix. I’ve tried heating the tire with heat lamp, using tire Jack type tool and some times it jturned into an hour project. Even sometimes get one on 99% on and come back the next day to fight with it.. Then one day I put on some cheapy work gloves (rubberized fronts, cloth backs). They grip the tires so well ya think your hands are 5x stronger! I’m 76 and I do suffer from arthritis in my hands but now I can usually install a couple tires in 15-20min. A pair compresses down pretty small and I carry a pair in a baggie in my bike bag.
Thanks for sharing that great tip, John. I’m sure that’ll help people out. Appreciate it!
Jim
I am a bit surprised at the problems. I just let air out, play with the tire a bit, and reinflate, a little bit at a time. It is not hard to “pop” the bead at low pressures. If you wait to check it at riding pressure, you may have a problem, at 1/2 or 1/3 or even 1/4 or riding pressure, it is usually pretty easy
Some tires are much harder to install and seat than others. If you find yours difficult you might try a different tire. I bet your shop mechanic can tell you which ones go on easily.