Glued down tire?

Jonahhobbes said:

.. I come to take the back tire off and discover its been glued down on to the rim on one side by the mechanic?

Why do this? ?

Some tires, particularly foldables, can have a quite loose fit against the rim, and it can be worse for some rim/tire combos than others. That can cause the tire to slide around the rim (specially when braking) to the point where the valve is ripped from the tube.
One way to keep the tire in place is to make sure you inflate to quite high pressures, which may lose you some traction in certain conditions.
Another way that doesn't interfere with traction is to glue one side of the tire to the rim. You can still get to the tube, so it's not really a problem until you have to replace the tire.

Jonahhobbes said:

.. How the [censored] do I get the tire off without trashing the rim?"

Well, hopefully the glue in question is the same as gets used to glue tubular tires to some road/race bike rims, in which case it certainly should be possible to remove it w/o damaging the rim. Damage to the tire may be harder to avoid.
Offhand I'd suggest gentle prying at one spot th create a gap, and then to sort of peel the rest of the tire off by working from the gap. You could always try a google for "removing tubulars" or something to see if there are other more definite suggestions available.

Thank you for the reply dabac, will give it a go after work🙂

dabac said:

Well, hopefully the glue in question is the same as gets used to glue tubular tires to some road/race bike rims, in which case it certainly should be possible to remove it w/o damaging the rim. Damage to the tire may be harder to avoid.

FWIW. If the glue IS the same type as used for tubulars, then if you HEAT the glue, it will soften enough for you to pull the tire away from the rim (NB: NEITHER is a recommended way for removing an actual sew-up tire from a tubular rim!).

You can either use HOT water (closer to boiling is probably better, just down splash the water on yourself/anyone/anything) OR a heat gun (or, put the wheel in your car on a warm & sunny day with the car IN the sun, of course) ... let most of the air out of the tube before you "warm" the rim.

You can use ACETONE to clean the rim's bead ... don't be sloppy with it since it is a solvent & will ruin paint and/or dissolve decals!

Cleaning the glue off the tire's bead is another issue which someone else will have to address (I would just dust it with talc & worry about it at some point in the very distant future).

Are you sure the shop didn't use some STANS sealant/latex on the rim?

alfeng said:

FWIW. If the glue IS the same type as used for tubulars, then if you HEAT the glue, it will soften enough for you to pull the tire away from the rim (NB: NEITHER is a recommended way for removing an actual sew-up tire from a tubular rim!).

You can either use HOT water (closer to boiling is probably better, just down splash the water on yourself/anyone/anything) OR a heat gun (or, put the wheel in your car on a warm & sunny day with the car IN the sun, of course) ... let most of the air out of the tube before you "warm" the rim.

You can use ACETONE to clean the rim's bead ... don't be sloppy with it since it is a solvent & will ruin paint and/or dissolve decals!

Cleaning the glue off the tire's bead is another issue which someone else will have to address (I would just dust it with talc & worry about it at some point in the very distant future).

Are you sure the shop didn't use some STANS sealant/latex on the rim?

I have no idea, all I know is that it is impossible to get the tire off so far and I've busted the wire beading, and I've even scratched the rim big time and it will need some work smoothing it out.

Good news is I was informed that the bike shop had folded in the last couple of weeks but I've just found out they are still trading, but not answering the phone, so the wife is dropping it in in the morning for them to sort out.

I knew roadie tires did this gluing thing, no idea someone would do it to a mountain bike rim. I have followed the advice from dabac and others but I am just messing up the rim big time. I had considered acetone or some sort of industal remover until I found out the LBS is still open - bottom line they can deal with it.

I think these race lites will struggle with clincher tires so I'm looking for a pair of cheaper rims/wheelsets that will take the Geax Evolutions as my commute involves some off road and some rotting old roads and pavements. Obviously running semi-slicks on road is I need them pumped up so would prefer to run tubes rather than tubeless.

Thanks for taking the trouble to reply - I've certainly learned a thing or to. (Including I have some serious anger issues when dealing with [censored] like this 😄 :o )

P.S. the tire is a complete goner and the rim is a mess :o 🙁

Jonahhobbes said:

... all I know is that it is impossible to get the tire off so far and I've busted the wire beading, and I've even scratched the rim big time and it will need some work smoothing it out.

....

I don't want to sound Pollyannish, but you should be thankful that you didn't get a FLAT with that glued-down tire while you were on the trail!

alfeng said:

I don't want to sound Pollyannish, but you should be thankful that you didn't get a FLAT with that glued-down tire while you were on the trail!

Nice one!😄 Small mercies and all that.

alfeng said:

..you should be thankful that you didn't get a FLAT with that glued-down tire while you were on the trail!

As long as it's only one side that's glued down it's not a problem. Except for the very minor issue of not being able to choose which side to remove/replace the tube from the rest of the puncture repair process is entirely business as usual...