The old reseating a tire bead with lighter fluid trick. Bad idea?

Metcalf

Expedition Leader
I have had more than one tire fail to seat without the introduction of air at the proper time.
More starting fluid could have provided a bigger 'pop' but I have always had really good luck with just a small shot and adding air right after.

I have seen people try and introduce the air too early displacing the starting fluid vapors generally toward their face...

Just my take on things....not saying right or wrong.
 

emmodg

Adventurer
Look at the vid clip I posted last page? :coffeedrink:

Silicone spray? The bead never seated in the first place. The bead would have to seat first to actually then become "un-seated"

It looked like your boy squirted something all over the top of the inside of the rim surface and NOT along the cavity between the rim and tire. There was flame-up but no actual explosion. I've done truck and tractor tires that size laying them on the ground. I would no more stand where that guy was than fly to the moon! Your boy didn't look like he knew what he was doing in the first place. If you squirted as much "fuel" as he did and you STILL didn't get explosion you're using the wrong fluid. That much starter fluid/ether would have seated 2 tires.
 

off-roader

Expedition Leader
A word of caution when doing this kind of bead reseating... you should do your best to stand as far away from the tire as possible (at least arms length if not longer). Even though the guy lighting the starter fluid stood arms length away (we even poured/sprayed the fluid out from the rim to the to the outer edge (tread) of the tire), he still lightly singed his eyebrows and forearm hairs from the blast. :Wow1:
 

grizzlyj

Tea pot tester
Silicone spray? The bead never seated in the first place. The bead would have to seat first to actually then become "un-seated"

It looked like your boy squirted something all over the top of the inside of the rim surface and NOT along the cavity between the rim and tire. There was flame-up but no actual explosion. I've done truck and tractor tires that size laying them on the ground. I would no more stand where that guy was than fly to the moon! Your boy didn't look like he knew what he was doing in the first place. If you squirted as much "fuel" as he did and you STILL didn't get explosion you're using the wrong fluid. That much starter fluid/ether would have seated 2 tires.

So what would you say has happened later on in the clip then, using the same spray? Seated with a pop, then safely inflated perhaps? It seated in the first place but the airline came off!

"Your boy"? :mad: Did you read that post? Do you know what the profile of a Unimog wheel looks like, to know where the spray is actually going? Obviously not. "Overland Expert"? If you say so :rolleyes:
 

emmodg

Adventurer
Relax there son.

I do know what a 'Mog Wheel looks like - I've handled them before. Again - I use ether. I've NEVER had one de-seat, NEVER. I've had one not seat beacuase I either didn't use enough fluid or I was too late with the flame. Maybe some have had that problem, I'm just trying to figure out why.

That "pop" you speak of was a flame up and not an explosion. You can see in the first attempt that it never seated. Don't get bent out of shape.

As an aside - try and not immediately attack a man's knowledge of his livelihood. It's somewhat immature and "common". Learn to take some advise and critique. (I'm "expert" enough to know that that was 3 or 4 bad attempts at that exercise and you or your boy were standing too damn close to a combustive process.)
 

grizzlyj

Tea pot tester
Relax there son.

I do know what a 'Mog Wheel looks like - I've handled them before. Again - I use ether. I've NEVER had one de-seat, NEVER. I've had one not seat beacuase I either didn't use enough fluid or I was too late with the flame. Maybe some have had that problem, I'm just trying to figure out why.

That "pop" you speak of was a flame up and not an explosion. You can see in the first attempt that it never seated. Don't get bent out of shape.

As an aside - try and not immediately attack a man's knowledge of his livelihood. It's somewhat immature and "common". Learn to take some advise and critique. (I'm "expert" enough to know that that was 3 or 4 bad attempts at that exercise and you or your boy were standing too damn close to a combustive process.)

If you'd read what I said you would see that I too use ether. The first time I did it though I used the spray that someone who does it for a living had just successfully used himself.

If it wasn't an explosion then why did the tyre seat? If it didn't seat then why did it take air normally (hissed air out of the valve only until the airline went on) until I let the airline off? How you can say you can see it didn't seat, when a) it did, b) you weren't there and c) in your comprehensive list so far in this thread of what you have seated, you have never actually done that size radial on those rims?

Having done that size tyre and wheel many times (but only them, so I won't presume to know anything about how any others go on), I know that they will fall straight off again unless you give it air within a few seconds. If I stood further away I wouldn't be able to get the air on quickly enough. Thank you for your concern though.

If you still insist that I'm not seating it or it wouldn't fall off, then there would be subsequent movement of the tyre toward the wheel rim as the tyre pressure rises, but there isn't. So, if you are correct, every time I've done it, and all the driving I've done on those tyres since, they must have been unseated all the time. The only thing you could accurately say is perhaps the tyre is too narrow for the rim, but both are a suitable match according to Merc.

Attacking? I'm strongly disagreeing with you, when telling me my experience is somehow wrong. So, thats my experience, take the advice, those tyres fall straight off those rims unless you act quickly.
 

youwillforget

Adventurer
I re-read this thread last night and wouldn't you know it today at work I go in the garage and there is a tire for an off road fork lift on the floor with a strap around it and the air hose next to it. I asked if they had any starting fluid they said no so I set it up on a 5 gallon bucket pushed down to set the rear bead then put on the air hose. Of course it was leaking around the bead just enough to not set. I took a large hammer and started hitting the tire on the tread with hard blows in 3, 12, 9 and 6 o'clock positions. I hit the tire about 6 times total with the air flowing. The bead set so we opened the strap and added air up to 60 PSI. I have found this works with tires that have been off the bead long enough to cause the tire to be miss-shaped from the vehicle or trailer sitting on it and the strap alone wont set the bead.
 

kchristian

Adventurer
OP here. I'm up at my in-laws ranch in Wyoming with temps hovering around 0-5 degrees. I had a tire lose it's bead when I aired down to head out in the snow. I didn't notice until the next day and I tried all the tricks; Strap, hammer, WD-40, etc... Nothing worked until I thawed the tire out a bit. Pretty sure my in-laws didn't appreciate the muddy tire in the bathroom.
 

youwillforget

Adventurer
What did you finally do to set the bead after you removed it from the bathroom? Or did you set the bead in the bathroom?
 

Hill Bill E.

Oath Keeper
........... Pretty sure my in-laws didn't appreciate the muddy tire in the bathroom.

Brave man! I like to breath, so I would never try that at my in-laws!

I have blocked the axle up, and used a heat gun to get the tire back in shape. If they sit flat in the cold, they stay that way, as you found out.
 

Northern_Touch

New member
If you have those heavy duty multipiece (spoke) wheels don't even try it. Those things are deadly dangerous without any backyard shenanigans. On a regular 1 piece disc style wheel fill your boots just use good sense. Don't dump 3/4 of a can of ether in there or anything like that. I've worked as a mechanic in automotive as well as heavy duty and highway tractors and I've never seen an issue with the fire method. We had to use it on every set of tires we got from one supplier cause they stacked the tires on top of each other and the air pressure and tie down strap method would not work. Wear your PPE and watch your fingers.
 

micko

Member
I’d be the first to admit that the crew I travel with a pretty proficient at coaxing even the most recalcitrant of 4x4 tyres back onto rims following outback tyre repairs. Not all of these methods are mainstream or orthodox to say the least. As a general rule of thumb, the larger the tyre (and the more robust the construction), the more difficult the donut is to reseat. Naturally, when you encounter monster truck tyres, you’ve got to rethink the normal processes.

Here are seven techniques we used over a morning trying to reseat a couple of big Michelins on Larry’s Unimog truck. Naturally, the successful one was the method first contemplated but last tried, principally because of the violence involved. It did work and work well however, as with the use of all flammable liquids and naked flames, there is an element risk involved.

Butane, my personal favourite, wouldn’t work on a tyre of this size as we were unable to get sufficient concentration of the gas into tyre to allow ignition. We don’t endorse the techniques but it does give you an idea of methods tried and discounted. Use at your own risk.

(Next time we’re taking a bloody great “bead-bazooka”)

[video=vimeo;61169818]https://vimeo.com/61169818[/video]


Also, here's a little of few bush remedies for overcoming donut difficulties in the outback. I don't endorse this method but it does work. The later sections reveal the minimum I travel with these days to overcome outback tyre disasters.

[video=vimeo;8861766]https://vimeo.com/8861766[/video]
 

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