michelin commanderII bead seating

[tbird]

Put a  rear michelin commander II on my 07 ultra yesterday, stock wagon wheel. Had a hell of a time getting the bead to seat. Fought that sob for over an hour. Finally got it but there was no pop and any noise indicating it made it home. I had put an old  aired up tube  in the tire 4 days prior and left in warm house. Anyone else had a issue with that tire? I've mounted well over 200 tires and that was one of them that got the best of me

[Coff 06]

Lube is your friend.Ive changed a lot of tough ones and they don't always pop.But rubber lube is a must.
                 Coff 06

[fbn ent]

Once in a while you get 'em... ...not manufacturer specific.

[Hossamania]

I saw one guy put his tire on the dash inside his truck to warm it in the sun, softens up the stiff sidewall for easier install.

[motorhogman]

I'm on my second Commander II on the rear.. One of the reasons i went with a second one wwas the first one mouted and sealed so easy. Rarely ever needed air..

Same experience with the second one..

btw,, way back a very long time ago when i went to a tire clinic ( Michelin )  the instructor was very atonement about tire should never be inflated beyond the max psi on the sidewall to mount.. That big pop can actually cause damage to the bead.. His instructions were, clean the rim and use a good tire lube. 

Another trick you can try in the situation where it won't come all the way up on the bead if Bounce and rotate it a few times on cement or pavement. 

[SP33DY]

I have had good luck using a Cheetah bead seater.

https://buytsi.com/product/ch-5-2/

If you shop around you can find much better pricing than this link shows.

As others stated, clean the rim and use tire lube. Dish soap mixed thick with water will do it if you don't have any rubber glide lube or similar.

They also make an open flow lock on tire chuck that locks on the valve stem. You have to remove the valve core to use it. It puts the air in a lot faster!

https://www.amazon.com/d   SHORTER LINK  2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

Using the open flow chuck usually does the trick.

[wolf_59]

Had the same issue with the rear tire on my 06 Ultra awhile back it was a absolute PITA!!!!
I run dynabeads so I didn't use any tire lube ended up using a little WD 40 as lube and a ratchet strap around the center of the tire to get it to take air and seat with no pop at all

[HogMike]

Had a real challenge with a Michelin on a custom 21" forged front wheel. Shallow drop, narrow rim and a low profile tire, ugh!
Just did a 2019 cvo 19" front with a Dunlop AE tire, also low profile. Learned my lesson and took my time with Murphy's mounting paste.
No problems and seated with a small thud.
Some of the newer tires with low profile seem to be very stiff and hard to seat unless warmed up a bit and a good lube.
JMHO

[smoserx1]

I used to change my own.  Had a cheap HF tire changer and it worked pretty good.  One thing I found was to always make sure the gap around both sides of the wheel and tire was the same, IOW no places where the bead had already started to "seat itself."  If so I would go around it with the bead breaker again before attempting inflation.  And for initial inflation I removed the core and used the rubber tip of a blow nozzle till the bead seated, then let the air out, screwed the core back in and inflated to 40 PSI.  I almost never had one pop.  Usually it would seat and there would be 3 or 4 inches that didn't want to go.  Sometimes I had to let the air out and try again, usually it seated all around the second time.

[kd]

I have used a ratchet strap (and even a twisted rope) around the circumference of the tire in the center of the tread. As it pulls down on the center of the tire tread, the bead moves toward the rim edge and starts to seat.  With the valve core out, you can add air quicker than with it in and it will move the bead out and seat it.  Remove the strap and install the valve core then fill the tire.   

.... Or you can do this you decide

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=m6ZzzEIb2Bc&feature=emb_logo

[Skin]

Summer time we lay them out in the sun, winter time we hang them in front of the heater, in between, they can be a bitch but a good set of straps works. Good tires but can be a pain to bead up. Helps to make sure the rim/wheel is clean

[guido4198]

I;ve been riding the same FXRS for 35 yrs. Over that time, for no particular reason I've (intentionally) tried a pretty wide variety of tires, with mixed results.
A few years ago...I had a pair of Michelin's put on my bike when I was on a road trip out of town. (FWIW: 1985, tubeless cast wheels.) Never did get the front to stop slowwwwwllllyyyy leaking. Back tire was fine. When it needed to be replaced I found that two local shops refuse to install them. Both said the pressure necessary to reliably seat the bead exceeds safe limits.
Just passing on what 2 separate shops told me.
I went back to Dunlaps...no issues.

[SP33DY]

Thanks to "FSG" for cleaning up my long link!