[Closed] Park tool tyre seating tool - anyone used one?

I had a heck of a time getting my HDs on as well. My guess is that the sidewall reinforcing material makes it harder than regular tires. Finally used wide plastic tire levers (Pedro's, I think) and some steel core plastic ones. Once on, they sealed up almost instantly with Stan's.

Worth it in the end, though as the tires are fantastic.

do you mean you can't get them over the rim wall even to get started, or have you got them on but can't get the beads to seat rpoperly ?

A little soapy water round the rim and pump it up harder?

I've got one of them. It does the trick, but it's not too kind to the anodised finish on black rims. I normally just go for blasting it up to 120psi, that works most times.

scaredypants - Member
do you mean you can't get them over the rim wall even to get started, or have you got them on but can't get the beads to seat rpoperly ?

Yes I have them on the rim but can't get the bead to seat properly, so the tyre is wonky.

bencooper - Member
I've got one of them. It does the trick, but it's not too kind to the anodised finish on black rims. I normally just go for blasting it up to 120psi, that works most times.

The new rims are carbon so don't fancy going to 120psi!! 😯

Do you think they will help seat the bead?

as bigdugs said, have you used lots of thinned fairy liquid all round ? - lets the bead seat much easier IMO

Yep, tried that. Doing my nut in but I won't give in. Its just a foot long section which has fallen into the centre channel and won't pop out to seat the bead, pita 👿

Inflate to tyre to approx 15psi or until tyre is still soft and can be rolled either way on the rim, place the unseated section on the floor, stand on the edge of the tyre where the unseated bead is, get someone to inflate the tyre with track pump as you stand on the bead and flex the wheel up and down till the bead pops into place - hard to explain but i'm sure you'll work it out

your fancy carbon rims will be fine at high pressures.

Carbon is not fatally fragile.

Cheers all. Not so fancy if I can't get tyre beads to seat! Their the cheapish chinese carbon rims so still not fancy if I do get them to seat properly.

Will give the standing on it approach a go tomorrow, sounds like it works the same way as the expensive park tool will.

If you can get hold of one of those ratchet straps that are used to secure items onto a roof rack, then you can wrap it round the circumference of the tyre and tighten it up.
This distorts the tyre, all the way round, in the same way as sitting on a bike distorts the tyres at the bottom.
This helps to provide enough of a seal all the way round, to allow inflation to begin.
Once inflation starts, the sidewalks are the most likely part of the tyre to move, and the beads get pulled into place.
Remove the strap and adjust the pressure to your requirements

Once you've seated them, it'll be easier next time.

Moto-X bead cream -a waxy, soft soap with a sponge to wipe it on with- works well on tight tyres that don't like seating easily. Also used wax chain lube on some tyres that wouldn't seat when away from home/workshops.

That's a helluva lot of money to pay for a pair of water pump pliers with some plates welded to the jaws 😯

Typical of Park Tools stuff really 😉

So are they specifically for tubeless seating and are just to do the same job as strapping up the tyre to attempt to seat easier? Some rope, straps etc will do the job and could get that for £1.

Not that I've had any success with these kinds of tricks. Tried almost the lot. Soapy water, strapping the tyre, going round the tyre with levers and carefully seating as best I can, seating with an inner tube and pop the bead to pull out the tube, etc.

Though I don't have removable core valves which may have made it easier to get them going with a track pump. Then again having seen someone have issues on the trails when trying to inflate a burped tyre and the core just pops out and deflates entirely makes me think twice about them.

What worked... CO2. Half a cartridge to inflate and seat, then deflate, pop the bead a little and pour in sealant. Track pump to seat it or I found a little more CO2 to pop it back, then deflate and pump with the track (don't leave the CO2 in as apparently it messes with the sealant).

Compressor is the other easy one, but I'm not spending that kind of money on one and don't want to rely on going to an LBS to use one.

Or... UST tyres, apparently. But they cost more and weigh more, so I like to make it hard for myself 😀

If you don't have a ratchet strap just tie some thick rope around the middle of the tyre to squeeze it out.

stumpyjon - Member
That's a helluva lot of money to pay for a pair of water pump pliers with some plates welded to the jaws

Bit of a con from park tool I think. Probably cost them a tenner at best!!

20psi, stand on tyre &ever upwards. Up the pressure if its still stubborn.

Airline from compressor, fairy liquid and pair of ear defenders for if it blows off!

I managed to get a little more of the bead to seat by sticking the tyre in the tumble dryer and heating it up, problem is it cooled a little to much by the time I had put fairy liquid on it and mounted it. I will heat it up more on the next attempt and hope I don't ruin the tyre.

I would be worrying about the rim tolerances if you need that much effort to get a tyre seated, stretching the bead a lot could cause failure if you have a tubeless setup.