Don’t use dish soap or automotive grease instead of lubricant. The dish soap does not offer enough lubrication and grease can be extremely difficult to clean off of the wheel. You can purchase tire lubricant at your local auto parts store.
Adding a little tire lubricant to the valve stem will also help get it through. The design of the valve stem won’t allow it to pass all the way through or pop out in any direction other than backward, so all you need to do is ensure it’s pulled through the hole and is seated tightly.
Most tire machines have two pedals: one to engage the press and another to rotate the rim. If you’re unsure which pedal does which (or if there is no pedal on your particular machine) refer to the tire machine owner’s manual or the manufacturer’s website for guidance.
It’s important to start with one bead beneath the rim’s edge and enough space for the mounting arm to be slid into the gap created by the angle.
The mounting arm serves as a sort of pry bar to force the rest of the tire over the lip of the rim, so it needs to start in a place where the tire has already made it past that lip.
Often, the way the tire sits on the rim to allow for the mounting arm is already at the right angle. If the tire falls off the rim, it’s not angled properly.
The tire will look like it’s halfway mounted when you’re done, with most of the tire on the rim. The tire’s top bead will be all that stops it from setting all the way onto the wheel.
You may need to use a pry bar to press the tire’s top bead down over the lip of rim in that spot. The tire will once again sit at an angle once the mounting arm is lowered into place.
The tire is now effectively on the rim and just needs to be inflated.
Any piece of your body or clothing caught in the space between the tire bead and rim’s edge will get pinched as the tire expands under inflation. Once inflated to the proper air pressure, the tire is mounted.
Be sure to pull the stem until it’s snugly seated in its hole in the rim.
Spray the lubricant on or apply it by hand. Make sure the entire top and bottom beads on the tire and entire edge on the rim are both well lubricated and reapply more lubricant as necessary.
The tire will sit on top of the rim, with its bottom bead meeting the rim’s upper lip. Unlike with the machine, try to make sure the tire sits on the rim flat.
You may need to hop a bit to apply enough downward force to push the tire bead over the lip. Do not do this without a friend to help with balance or you may fall.
The bottom bead won’t need any more lubricant.
You’ll need to create enough space between the upper bead of the tire and upper lip of the rim to slide a pry bar into the gap. You may even need to use the pry bar to create the gap. If so, keep it in place once you’re done.
Press the pry bar into the bottom side of the rim’s upper lip, so it is not scratching any visible metal on the rim. When you make it all the way around the wheel, both the tire’s upper and lower beads should be completely past the rim’s lip.
Once the tire is inflated, you can move on to the next one.
