Did i destroy these tires on install?

there are steel cables in that inner belt, should be ok, inflate and monitor for leaks, if it's keeping you awake at night, get a new replacement tyre, and donate the damaged one to people doing burnouts

You got all the correct answers. I would add. The tire needs to be as hot as possible to make it more pliable, especially for a very stiff one. Also helps to use C clamps and 2x4 pieces and force the beads together to soften up the stiffness a little.
There are numerus threads here about tire changing, what lube to use, what mounting bars if you use a changing machine.
A cold stiff tire without lubricant is the kiss of death. Put a hot air source inside the tire before mounting, better still a sunny hot day and put the tire into the sun for a while.

Conditioning of a Dunlop Trailmax, also fairly stiff:

Thank you to everybody for the replies! The tires are toast sadly, will be buying a new one.

Rick was bang-on, the bead of the tire was high on the rim and as soon as I lowered the bead of the tire to be in the valley of the rim, it went on like cake. Super easy.

I used Mothers Detailing Spray as lubricant which, while it isn't a tire Lube, it helped a lot and I used generous amounts. I used it on all parts of both sides the tire where it contacted the rim in hopes that my tire levers would create enough leverage to get the tire to slide where it needed, but alas. That's the pooled up running liquid in the picture. I used it on both sides of the tires and probably used 25% of the bottle, I sprayed a ton but alas, because of how the bread was positioned on the rim, it was only going to help so much.

I also heated up the tire with my Pocket rocket stove since it's something I'll be carrying with me on the upcoming trip. Heated it up many times and it helped a bit but not enough to overcome the poor positioning.

IF using tire irons stiff wall tires will go better if you have help.

3 short tire irons and a couple clamps to like below to squeeze the opposite side of the tire into the drop center while working very small bites of the tire bead that is properly lubed.

If you are using excessive force and are hearing or seeing ripping and/or tearing STOP and regroup as you are doing it wrong. Even stiff walled tired are not that much harder to install verses soft walled sport tires. It's all about the technique.

enumclaw said:

Windex use a great lube too, I've been using it for years.

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RCinNC said:

I've always used Ruglyde, which is made specifically for tire changing. It's around $20.00 for a gallon at places like NAPA. On a per ounce basis, it's about the same price as Windex.

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Windex and dish detergent are very corrosive. If there's a little nick or scratch in the powder coat, these can cause a surprising amount of corrosion in the aluminum. I see this a lot on vintage bikes; you can often still smell the Windex or dish detergent, and the inside surfaces of the wheels are crumbly and look like they've been chewed by badgers.

Just use a real, live tire mounting lubricant, not whatever slippery stuff you have lying around. Ru-Glyde is cheap, easy to find, safe, and very effective. It's a simple soap solution (NOT a detergent) with anti-corrosion additives.

The widespread resistance to using tire mounting lube has always been very puzzling to me. No one would dump, say, cooking oil into their engine, yet thousands of motorcyclists are absolutely dedicated to using anything but tire mounting lube when mounting tires.

If you're trapped in a cabin in the woods or something, a weak solution of Murphy's Oil Soap or saddle soap is probably a decent substitute if you absolutely must raid the cabinet under the sink.



Another point: use rim protectors (plastic pieces from a milk jug or shampoo bottle are the best and free). Metal tire levers are not compatible with your powder coated alloy wheels. Even if you don't care about the appearance, the coating is important for protecting the wheels.


Anyway, glad OP got it figured out. You have to learn about the drop center issue through experience, I guess. But like all other mechanical things, it's very important to STOP before applying excess force and damaging things. If a tire won't go on, you can't force it; stop and figure out what the problem is.

I just mounted tires on two of my bikes this weekend using tire irons. It's near freezing in my garage, but other than keeping the new tires in the house until I needed them, I didn't bother with heating the tires. Just take smaller bites and they'll go off and on just fine, even very stiff tires. In the summer I put new tires in the sun while removing the wheels, and it does make things a little easier, but it's not essential.