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Anyway to repair chunk missing from tire bead?

Cornflake

NAXJA Forum User
I bought a slightly used set of 33 inch SSR tires from a guy for a steal to find that one tire is missing a chunk of less than one inch on the bead of the tire. So America's Tires won't mount it on my wheels and told me there is no way to fix it which I find hard to believe. Is there a way to fix it or are there tire shops out there that will do it? It's a very small chunk on 200 dollar tires, am I out of luck? Thanks for any help.
 
I would go to a small shop or junkyard that can mount tires, tell them you just need the tires mounted temporarily to move a non-running vehicle around on your property. Oh wait a second, they probally won't balance them if you tell them that. nevermind.
Still, if you talk to a small shop that deals fair, You can talk to a small time guy who might understand your problem and be willing to try.
 
Thanks for the reply. We have a big Jeep Recycling place here who I've done business with that I'll try first. Any way to repair such things that anybody knows of?
 
Buy some tire bars and mount it yourself. That's what I did. I have a section of bead torn off (bought them used like you) of some BFG's. They looked like they would seal as-is, but I put some special silicone stuff on them (like E6000?? I think) just to be sure. I haven't mounted them yet, but they should be fine. Once you get them mounted, no one will know if you need to get them balanced or whatever.
 
take silicone caulking, rtv preferably, they make a high pressure rtv, good luck finding it, but take that and fill in the missing chunk, make sure its black rtv though, goop it on there thick, and trim with a razor once its dried, should be enough that most shops should mount em, just tell them to make sure to use bead sealer on the tires as well(used to work for tire warehouse and thats what we used to do)
 
Silicone will rip out on the tire machine most likely..the reason they won't mount the tire is liability...There is a large nationwide company called Bandag that repairs, remolds and recaps large tires, but i doubt they can do anything that small. If the rip is all the way to the steel bead reinforcement, i wouldn't run it on the street unless you can get it properly repaired.
 
When they, or you mount it, put the bad spot in the drop center first, that way, the machine, or your tire bars, never touch the bad spot and chance damaging it (or the repair) any more.
 
When are people going to learn that soap is not just for washing hands?
All it would have taken is for the guy to put alittle soap on the bead of the tire, and it would not have cut the darn thing in the first place...
I had sears tell me that my (31") tires were very hard to mount and they may not hold air because of the cuts to the bead...
I do my own tires now....who cares it it takes me 3 hours. its better than getting a brand new set of $500 tires hacked up.
 
I took it to a mom and pop tire place today and they mounted and balanced it for 10 bucks. He said there was no reason that America's should of handled it the way they did since it wasn't even a big thing. Thanks for all of the posts. I'll need to get some pics up when I mount them on my beast this weekend. Thanks again...
 
muduck18 said:
I do my own tires now....who cares it it takes me 3 hours.

Good news is, you have room for improvement. I can mount and dismount a set of 4 in under an hour with just a hi lift, 2 tire bars, and a 5 gallon bucket (and don't forget the soapy water). Not trying to brag, just saying that it can be done faster.
 
find any piece of spare rubber - chop into very fine pieces w/ a chef's knife and cutting board - mix rubber filings w/ all purpose epoxy - apply with a popsicle stick. Worked great for me - no worries of further damage to area.

john
 
Cut him a break... that was his first post! Just fyi JRS, digging up old posts is a bit frowned upon unless they have great value.
 
There is actually a glue used on tire beads to keep them from spinning.
 
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