Did I ruin this tire?

I have a replacement tire and am going to take another run at it. This time I want to use real tire mounting compound - I want every advantage I can give myself here. Why does the stuff have to be purchased in such huge quantities? In my lifetime I'd never be able to go through even the smallest quantities I see available.
Try to find another GTAMer in a similar situation that will sell you a small container.

I needed grease to rebuild the gearbox in a kitchenaid mixer. Smallest container was a pint. I have enough gearbox lube for 10 lifetimes.
 
Funnily enough, ChatGPT recommends asking shops and seeing if they'd give/sell me a small amount.

Anybody in the downtown/East end as far out to Pickering who could sell me a bit?
 
Try @adri. He seems handy.
He's a Vespa guy too if I recall ? @adri - you holding?

Honestly, it's only $25 for a 2.2lb tub. $43 for 8 freaking pounds of the stuff.

I don't want a tub that's going to be alternating between whispering "Throw me away" and "Keep me in case you need me". For the rest of my life.
 
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I struggled using Dawn the first time. Probably other things I did wrong, but like I said - I need every advantage here.

That product from Napa is right-sized for me. Just not sure if it's safe to use with Ride-On sealant/balancing stuff. There's some blurbs about which tire compounds are compatible or not. ChatGPT identifies it as likely petroleum based and thus not ideal.

According to ChatGPT - Murphy's / Ru-Glyde / CounterAct mounting paste are its recommendations for the Ride-On product.
 
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I have a replacement tire and am going to take another run at it. This time I want to use real tire mounting compound - I want every advantage I can give myself here. Why does the stuff have to be purchased in such huge quantities? In my lifetime I'd never be able to go through even the smallest quantities I see available.

noooo-star-wars.gif


You have a perfectly ruined tire you should be practicing on. Mount the bad bead first, then practice mounting and unmounting the good bead before you ruin another new tire. It's not the lube, especially if you're using spoons - it's the technique. Keep the opposite side of the tire in the drop center to give room for the tire to slip over the rim.

That said, I use NoMar paste because it makes less mess. It comes in a 1pint jar or a 7lb pail, but I get the pail for the price difference.
 
There's also this, but there is such a thing as too much lube and your tire will spin on the rim if applied improperly:

 
I have a replacement tire and am going to take another run at it. This time I want to use real tire mounting compound - I want every advantage I can give myself here. Why does the stuff have to be purchased in such huge quantities? In my lifetime I'd never be able to go through even the smallest quantities I see available.
When I was changing lots of track tires,I used wd40. Some will say it hurts the rubber. Never had a problem.Reciprocity taught me.
 
noooo-star-wars.gif


You have a perfectly ruined tire you should be practicing on. Mount the bad bead first, then practice mounting and unmounting the good bead before you ruin another new tire. It's not the lube, especially if you're using spoons - it's the technique. Keep the opposite side of the tire in the drop center to give room for the tire to slip over the rim.

That said, I use NoMar paste because it makes less mess. It comes in a 1pint jar or a 7lb pail, but I get the pail for the price difference.
That's a good thought. I DID get my old tire back on without much drama, but maybe the sidewalls are less stiff on that. I was hoping that with mounting 2 tires now behind me, I'd be able to do it without a problem. But that's only one more tire than I had done when I ruined my new one. I do just wanna be done though.

I went to a local bike place near me - which I had never seen before - to see if I could buy a small quantity of tire mounting paste. They said they don't use it because they have a machine. Every tire mounting video I've seen shows using paste - even when on a machine?
 
I went to a local bike place near me - which I had never seen before - to see if I could buy a small quantity of tire mounting paste. They said they don't use it because they have a machine. Every tire mounting video I've seen shows using paste - even when on a machine?

On the trails, I bring a sachet of hotel shampoo, mix it up with some water from my CamelBak and smear it on the tire.

Dirt bike tire, so YMMV.
 
He's a Vespa guy too if I recall ? @adri - you holding?

Honestly, it's only $25 for a 2.2lb tub. $43 for 8 freaking pounds of the stuff.

I don't want a tub that's going to be alternating between whispering "Throw me away" and "Keep me in case you need me". For the rest of my life.

Vespa tire? Come over. I'll let you use my tire machine and get you lubed up real good :sneaky:
(Everything seems cringey as hell when you add a winky face at the end lol)


Alternatively, maybe Pegasus can dust off his axle sticks and show you how it's done 😂



Waiting for you @NuggyBuggy :sneaky::sneaky:
 
I didn't end up needing @adri's generous offer of help. Thank you @adri.

All things considered, things went pretty well today. I stuck the tires out in the sun, and it was a nice warm sunny day. Had to remove my exhaust and swingarm to remove the wheel.

I bought the MotionPro BeadPro. It did work pretty well to break the bead, not as quickly for me as in their videos, but a lot easier than using a scissor jack against my hitch, and it will work in the middle of nowhere. I used the tire irons at the other end of the tool and they worked fine too. Sweated buckets trying to get the tire off and the new one on, but all things considered it was easier the second time around. I think having tire lube might have been the difference. Put swingarm and exhaust back on, and once everything was zipped up I realized to my horror I had put the tire on the wrong way. I triple checked that thing and had seen a million videos saying not to make this mistake, and still I made it.

It was getting later in the day and noticeably cooler, and I was worried the tires might be too stiff, but decided to race against the clock. Removing and reinstalling the tire (this time, the right way) was much faster the third time around. I'd say each time I did it, I reduced my time down by between 1/2 to 2/3.

I was pleasantly surprised that my little StopNGo compressor was able to set the bad both times. Everything I had read online suggested that was unlikely. I did use the ratchet strap trick the first time, didn't do it the second time.

It may have been the most expensive tire swap I will ever do. My bill ended up being:
- 1 replacement tire ($150)
- 1 wasted replacement tire ($150)
- Motion Pro BeadPro ($120)
- 2" ratchet strap ($30)
- zip ties ($1.50)
- Rim Protectors ($22). Found they got in the way.
- lube. I was able to buy DRC Zeta tire cream in a 40g container for $8. I thought it would last me the rest of my life, but I ended up using it all when I knocked over the container.
- Motion Pro Trail Bead Buddy ($13)- couldn't tell if the trail version only worked on spoked wheels. Turns out it does. Still should be handy in my dirt bike kit.
- cotter pins ($3)
- valve core tool

None of that included my time which I estimate was about 10 hours. LOL. All to save $25, and that's not even balanced (I'll probably be putting in the Ride-On product).

BUT, now I know how to do it, and I know that I have the tools to do it. If I end up needing to do this in the middle of nowhere, I could. My rims are definitely worse for wear though.

Thank you everyone for your advice and suggestions here. They all helped.
 
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It was getting later in the day and noticeably cooler, and I was worried the tires might be too stiff, but decided to race against the clock.

Glad you got 'er all sorted out.

Didn't realize it was the rear tire! Yeah, on a Vespa, that's a freakin' process. The upside is, with the single sided front end (no traditional front forkS on a Vespa, the front end uses 1940s airplane landing gear design), it's faster and easier to change the front tire than it is on any motorcycle I can think of.

As for the temperature part, just use a heat gun, or, if no heatgun, borrow the wife's blow dryer :)
 
Glad you got 'er all sorted out.

Didn't realize it was the rear tire! Yeah, on a Vespa, that's a freakin' process. The upside is, with the single sided front end (no traditional front forkS on a Vespa, the front end uses 1940s airplane landing gear design), it's faster and easier to change the front tire than it is on any motorcycle I can think of.

As for the temperature part, just use a heat gun, or, if no heatgun, borrow the wife's blow dryer :)
Honestly, by the 3rd time I'd taken the exhaust and swingarm off and put them back on again, that part was a piece of cake. The big problem the first time was pulling the swingarm off; I needed to borrow a puller. I put some anti seize on that and now it's no problem.

I've got the process down pat now and could probably get them off and back on again in 5 minutes, if I didn't have to keep looking up Micbergsma's video to get the torque values.
 
I thought Vespa boasted about having single-sided wheels on both ends for easy tire changes?

If you have 35 seconds, watch from 6:05 to 6:40 and you'll see the work that goes into replacing front vs rear tire on the Vespa GTS 250:

 
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