Seating Continental Terra Speed Tubeless

I fitted some new Terra Speeds yesterday. They were a very tight fit and seem to pop on with an almighty loud bang and I thought the job was done. However it seems like there is a reasonably large kick/wobble to the tyre. I’m pretty sure it’s not the rim as I didn’t notice it with my previous tyres, I can’t seem the rim kick out while spinning and if I hold something against the wheel it doesn’t seem particularly out of true. The line above the bead looks to be even and I can’t obviously see a problem anywhere.

Has anyone else experienced wobble Continental?
Can a tight fitting tyres cause this problem? Should I remove an extra layer of rim tape I have in there that I installed to fit a previous, looser tyre?

Are you SURE the bead is seated all around the rim fully? You can often get a few pops per bead when seating them. How high pressure did you go to seat them, and did you stop pumping immediately after the first pops? I usually put another 20+ psi in after they seat to make sure.

Deflate and reinflate a few times.

Did you already put in sealant? If not, try soapy water through a spray bottle. If so, the sealant can act as a lubricant.

Careful with overinflating gravel tires. Pay attention to the max pressure on the sidewall. I know people who have blown them off their rims before from overinflating. They let their guard down because they were used to road pressures. Ears were ringing for hours.

Are these new or used tires? I’ve had a wobble on a remounted Terra Speed.

I’ve also had issues where there was a uneven tape on the interior sidewalls causing a wobble. Do a complete retape.

They’re new tyres and I’ve gone up to the max pressure (won’t go higher) there is already sealant in. I’ll try examine the tape and see what that does.

Why dont you want to go over the max pressure? I’ve literally never looked at psi on the sidewall of a tire…

I mean I’m not recommending pumping gravel tires up to 120 psi and bombing down a mountain with your eyes closed. Just to pump up well past what you would ride at, and past when you first hear bead pops to make sure they pop up on the shelf all the way around. Drop the psi after.

Also regarding the tire looking an equal distance from the rim all the way around…IMO that can be a bit deceptive. Depending on the rim, the bead when unseated is probably pulled more horizontally into the center channel than vertically, so there may not be a large obvious deviation with the line in the rubber above the rim. And I’ve 100% had tight fitting tires when the final bead pops occurred at significantly higher pressure than the first.

Everyone elses suggestions are valid and could be the cause. But IMO a portion of the bead in the center channel is both the most likely, and the easiest to remedy.

It’s 100% not that a portion of the bead still in the central channel as I can see the bead pushed up against the wall of the tyre all the way round when it’s deflated. My reference to it looking even is the line tyre manufacturers put just above the bead, often you can see it if the tyres isn’t on properly.

I’ve had a tyre blow off a rim before and I very, very, very much don’t want to do that again so I won’t pump higher then the max pressure, which in this case is also the max pressure of the rim. I could very easily damage some £££ equipment by doing that.

Ok fair enough, if you check the bead carefully with the tire deflated that should rule out it not being seated.

Broken threads inside the tire/defective then? I’ve hit a couple potholes with tires that made them very visibly deform and have a wobble. Assuming this is a brand new tire…sounds like a manufacturing defect.

I’m hoping it’s not a defective tyre as I have an A event in less than 2 weeks but I’m starting to think it might be.

I think I’ll look at the tape and maybe retape, if that doesn’t fix it I think it’s defective. Unfortunately I got the tyres shipped from abroad so returning them might be a real PITA.

Might be worth taking the tire off, make a mark on the tire and rim where the wobble was, then remount with the marks not matching up. See if the wobble matches the mark on the tire, rim, or maybe it just goes away. If you move the tire relative to the rim and the wobble stays with the tire mark…tire is toast IMO.

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They simply can’t take the pressure.

Force = Pressure * Area. A gravel tire, with a lot more surface area than a skinny road tire, will be subject to significantly higher force for the same amount of pressure.

Pumping a 46mm gravel tire to 100 psi, even momentarily, is like pumping a 23mm tire to 200 psi. You risk blowing the tire right off the rim. Happened to a friend. Said it sounded like a gunshot going off indoors. Ears were ringing for a day and he got sealant everywhere. Could’ve been worse… could’ve gotten smacked in the face with the rim under the right conditions.

I see you were near my back yard a couple of weeks ago!

That bang is LOUD.

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You’re not going to get a 2nd bang at 40, 50, to 80psi. The problem is that Conti loosened their bead a bit, which gives the tire an option to not sit right on the rim. Cleaning the interior sidewalls and maybe adding another layer of tape should limit the tires options.

Loosened? It was an absolute fight to get it mounted. I really can’t imagine getting anywhere close to mounting it if it was any tighter. Definitely the hardest of the 5 tubeless tyres I’ve recently fitted.

Over the cliff- hard… but I’m talking about inside the channel

Sorry, I don’t follow what you’re talking about?

All my Terra Speeds have the wobble (have seen it on at least three sets now). It’s the way the casing is joined into a circle, and once you work out what’s going on you can actually see that seam cutting diagonally across the tire.

It’s definitely less noticeable on a first-mount than a re-mount, but they all have the wobble to some degree and it does seem to exaggerate as the tire ages.

First time it concerned me so much that I took it to my mechanic and he removed and re-installed the tire, inspected it for defects, etc. and determined that it’s just the way it’s made.

I found the same with most of my terra speed over time. From my experience its just that the tire is so fragile that if twisted when putting it on or off the rim it becomes deformed. I have to open the tire from the rim to add sealant and sometimes this makes them deformed, i even only use my hands to put them on. Super annoying, other then that they are great tires.

I contacted Continental and the company I bought from and have now had a full refund. I’ve ordered to S-Works pathfinders instead.

Wanted to try the Terra Speed’s and put on a pair today. Both the front and the back have a significant wobble as well. Didn’t have any issues putting them on and haven’t had anything like this with any other tire. Disappointing after the positive reviews.