curttard

I bought some new tires, Continental Terra Speed 35mm. They are replacing G-One All-around 38mm on 28mm rims.

I mounted the tires and went for a ride. The front wheel was wobbling side to side like crazy. I flipped the bike over and spun it and the wheel seemed badly out of true.

Took the tire off and spun just the rim and it was fine. Put the tire back on, wobbling again. Put the old G-One back on, no wobble.

Is this a defective tire? Or do I somehow keep repeatedly mounting it in the same bad way? Seems unlikely especially since no problems with the rear or the old tire.

Tubes are 700x30-43 btw

t2p

could be a bad tire ?

or ...

tire (bead) not seated correctly ?

issue with rim strip or rim tape ... bead contacting the strip or tape ?

79pmooney

Did you check the bead seat? (The reference line the just shows above the rim.) A tight tire can have a portion of the bead slipping down into the center channel, causing usually both an overall low and a wobble of the tire center to that side.)

I always pick up wheels with fresh tire mounts, hold by the axle and spin, looking at that line for wobbles on both sides Sometimes I have to work the tire or deflate, adjust and try again to remove the wobble. Then there are also bad tires. Best returned.

curttard

I think the reference line was not consistent distance from the rim. How do I fix this if mounting the tire twice ended up with the same problem, but only with this tire? It seemed lined up correctly but as I inflated the tube (both times) it ended up askew.

Moe Zhoost

Try inflating to 10 psi and massage the tire until the witness lines are straight. Then add 10 more psi and massage again. After 10 more psi you should stop and check, but you'll probably be ok.

Sometimes a tire will never seat right.

bikemike73 

I have had this happen to me once or twice. Maybe not as bad as yours ( no video).

As above have said, make sure the tire is " seated"

I have had to use Windex to help a tire " seat" properly. And in most cases I pump the tire over 20 lbs maximum !!!

That usually does the trick. Sometimes I have to ride the bike for a few minutes.

If all else fails, return the tire and get a NEW one

SurferRosa

You could upload a 10-second video to Imgur and post it here.

Iride01 

If you aren't getting the witness line even all around then that might be your issue. You can also put soapy water on the rim and tire before you install it and that will help you seat it.

If this is a tubed tire with a crochet bead, then I wouldn't have an issue inflating it to 125% percent of the max pressure rating and seeing if you get the pops that tell you the tire has seated. I have gone to as much as 150%. But at that pressure I have blown some tires off the rims. And if your hand is holding the rim where it comes off, then you'll be saying a few cuss words. Might should wear safety glasses too! Or better yet, just don't do it if anything like this is nothing you've ever experienced and is new to you.

This might be a "hold my beer" type situation. But it's worked plenty of times for me in the past. Though in the last 10 years I've seldom needed to resort to that.

Also, take a real good look and be certain it's not that they didn't just put the tread layer on crooked. Which may not even affect your riding.

curttard

Thanks for all the great suggestions! Tomorrow I'll try soapy water, incrementally inflating/adjusting, and potentially overinflating.

I should have mentioned that I never got the "pop" when inflating to 50psi (max is 75 iirc), which I thought was weird since I did get the predictable "pop" when I put my years-old and stretched out G-One back on at 40psi.

delbiker1 

I had this happen with a Panaracer GK, but not so much wobble. When eyeballing the spin, I could see there was a bit of non-conforming where the sidewall seam can be seen. I tried the tire with different psi, remounting, different wheels, always the same result. It is a fault with the tire. I can still use the tire as it feels like a small bump, but really not noticeable when pushing pedals or riding on surfaces that have a bit of roughness. Using it on the front, it seems to lessen the feel of the bump.

KerryIrons

Baby powder works too. Dust the tire (and the tube) before mounting. With enough pressure it should snap into place when you pump it up.

grumpus

I also suggest ear protection when adding pressure in excess of the recommended maximum (although manufacturers probably leave a wide safety margin) having been near tyres that went pop quite loudly.
But how else do you gain experience? We all started somewhere (and some of us should have stayed there, I know).

Iride01 

I just don't want to assume any liability for any mistakes of the person trying to gain experience. I don't know if the OP has had the same previous experience I had to take the same few precautions I did.

Good catch on the ear protection, one of the times I blew the tire off the rim my ears were ringing for quite a while after! All these tires by the way were 27" x 1¼ tires. The ones that blew off the rim were being put on a smooth bead rim. I'm quite surprised they got almost to 150 PSI. Never have blown a tire off a crochet rim. But I seldom have had to go to those extremes to mount tires.

flangehead

Be careful exchanging. I got a bumpy tire from an on-line retailer. I had it exchanged for the same SKU and the second example was defective also. It is likely they were from the same batch.

I got a refund and bought a different tire.

curttard

Belated update: With soapy water and inflating to 85psi, got the guide line evenly spaced all around the rim. There's still some wobble but it's much much better, guess I still need a few spoke tweaks. Thanks everyone!