When I tried to air it up the bead would not set, I was concerned but not mad, so I took it to discount tire and they could not get the bead to set either! now I am really, REALLY pissed! what does this mean? I know the pr!ck that sold them to me was fully aware of this, the bead will set completely on about 85% of the wheel, and with around 30 psi in the tire you cant tell by looking at it, but who In their right mind would want to run an et street at 30 psi??? Can I still use this tire at the track? The tread is damn near brand new? I am heading to the track in a few hours!!!
Thanks,
Steve

 

leaving in 45 minutes... i need to know if i can still drive on these!

 

Not seating well is fairly common. I use tubes and rim screws because they would unseat sometimes. ET streets are not suitable for street use. I'm not saying you couldn't make it a few miles, but I am saying that they are not designed for street use and the heat from driving them on the street will use up the oils in the rubber and they won't hook as well. Also, they have a tendancy to roll off the rims due to the soft sidewall construction.

 

It took almost 60 pounds to get my bead to set. I am guessing you are trying to put them on stock 8" wide rims. That is my guess why they are taking so much pressure to set them. Lube it up good and take the psi up but just be careful doing so.

EDIT: Just use the PSI to set the bead. Then let out all that air to what psi you want to run. Just making sure you know. lol.

 

I just helped a friend put some on and we had to take the psi up to almost 40 to get the beads to set. It says that you can do that in some packet Im pretty sure. Just dont take it up too high.

 

the guy at discount tire had 55psi in it and it still wouldn't set? would you try more than that??

 

It took about 60psi to seat mine. I second what Fred said: these are not street tires.

Rich Krause

 

Too bad Ted said it.

I honestly don't think they are a "bad" street tire. I drive to/from the track on them; about a 12 mile straight trip. Of course you don't take corners fast on them, but the car seems to drive just fine on them.

I'll take a little extra wear over me having to mount/dismount them at the track; what a PITA. I did that when I lived further from the track, and lugging those damn things around, swapping at the track, carrying the jack and all that BS was a royal PITA. Mine are not on a stock rim though; 26x11.5x16's on 16x9.5 Centerlines, no tubes, with rim screws. Never had a problem with them.

 

>It definately took over 55 psi to seat the bead on to the stock rim , and you need to be very very very generous with the "tire slime" so it can slide up the rims lip .

 

I too would guess your mounting these on stock rims. The problem is that the sidewalls are so flexable that they just stretch and they wont seat. If its not fully seated and your not using tubes... dont use em, its not exactly safe. As already mentiond they really are not a "street" tire.

I mounted mine on a set of stock rims. Lube them up with A LOT of rubber lube, and they sometimes do require alot of air. Mine took 75 psi before they would seat. Oh and thats not exactly safe either. If you have to go that high, I would highly recommend taking them somewhere and cage them when trying to seat the bead with that much air.

Another method is sometimes if you lube them up, put a strap around the tread, and fill em to about 40-50 psi and let them sit. Sometimes after a few hours they will pop on by themselves.

 

It was pretty funny when we put these on. We were trying everything. Got slimy stuuf all over, were hammering on that tire, bouncing it around, etc. I was wearing a welders mask and heavy jacket in the hope it would protect me if it blew up. Kinda nerve wracking, I felt like I was on the bomb squad!

If you drive consevatively on dry roads for a coupla miles to the track (like Joe), it's one thing. But I repeat, these are not street tires. If you are gonna do that, be sure to inflate them to a reasonable amount, not the 12-15psi you will use at the strip.

Rich Krause

 

Mine took more the 50 psi to seat. Discount had a hell of a time. They were not sure if they should go higher on the air but I said give it hell and pound on the tire.. They seated then...