Tire Mounting Lube and Bead Paste: What Tire Makers Allow and Rule Out

What the tire makers actually say

Advice on tire lube is mostly passed on by word of mouth. There is a written rule, though. The U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA), the trade body of the tire makers, covers bead lubricants in its Tire Information Service Bulletin Vol. 41, No. 4, and comes back to them in its mounting bulletin Vol. 46, No. 4. The table sums up both.

The bulletin gives three reasons for the exclusions. Silicone, petroleum and solvent-based products may cause the tire to slip on the rim, may have a harmful effect on tire, tube, flap or rim, and may create explosive mixtures of air and vapors in the tire. The workplace rule for large-vehicle wheels points the same way: 29 CFR 1910.177 calls for a nonflammable rubber lubricant on bead and wheel mating surfaces. That OSHA standard addresses employers servicing truck and bus wheels, not private users, but the wording shows that the rule is not a matter of taste.

Our pick: bead lubricantAd

Malco

Malco Tire Mounting Lubricant, 1 gal

A ready-to-use liquid bead lubricant with a rust inhibitor and without silicone, solvent or soap.

Why here: A purpose-made bead lubricant that is ready to use. According to the maker it contains a rust inhibitor and no silicone, solvent or soap, which matches what the tire makers ask for.

Best for: Home garages that want a purpose-made lubricant that is brushed on straight from the jug.

Type

Liquid bead lubricant, ready to use

Size

1 gal

Rust inhibitor

Yes (manufacturer)

Free of

Silicone, solvent, soap

Price class

Budget

What it does well

• Ready to use: no mixing or dilution, applied by brush or sprayer (manufacturer)
• Contains a rust inhibitor against rim corrosion (manufacturer)
• No silicone, solvent or soap, according to the manufacturer

Where it falls short

• A gallon is a lot for a few tire changes a year
• The manufacturer's page does not state the base of the formula

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Paste or liquid: which one for you

Which tool for which job

1. 1

   If you want to brush or spray it on straight from the jug, with no mixing→ Malco Tire Mounting Lubricant, 1 gal

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2. 2

   If you work on stiff beads or alloy wheels and want a paste that stays put→ Ru-Glyde Tire Mounting Paste, 8 lb

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3. 3

   If you want to know where the lube goes and how to inflate afterward

   Bead seating, step by step

This selection covers only products sold on Amazon. It is not a market overview. Products are compared by manufacturer and listing data, not by hands-on testing. How we research

Comparison: Malco Tire Mounting Lubricant, 1 gal, Ru-Glyde Tire Mounting Paste, 8 lb

Comparison	Our pick: bead lubricantMalco Tire Mounting Lubricant, 1 gal	Ru-Glyde Tire Mounting Paste, 8 lb
Type	Liquid bead lubricant, ready to use	Bead mounting paste, water-based
Stated size range	–	–
Setup	–	–
Weight	–	–
Price class	Budget	Budget
Best for	Home garages that want a purpose-made lubricant that is brushed on straight from the jug.	Stiff beads and alloy wheels, and anyone who prefers a paste that does not run.
	On Amazon*(paid link to Amazon, opens in a new tab)Ad · paid link · check price & delivery on Amazon	On Amazon*(paid link to Amazon, opens in a new tab)Ad · paid link · check price & delivery on Amazon

• Our pick: bead lubricantMalco Tire Mounting Lubricant, 1 gal

  Type

  Liquid bead lubricant, ready to use

  Stated size range

  –

  Setup

  –

  Weight

  –

  Price class

  Budget

  Best for

  Home garages that want a purpose-made lubricant that is brushed on straight from the jug.

  On Amazon*(paid link to Amazon, opens in a new tab)Ad · paid link · check price & delivery on Amazon
• Ru-Glyde Tire Mounting Paste, 8 lb

  Type

  Bead mounting paste, water-based

  Stated size range

  –

  Setup

  –

  Weight

  –

  Price class

  Budget

  Best for

  Stiff beads and alloy wheels, and anyone who prefers a paste that does not run.

  On Amazon*(paid link to Amazon, opens in a new tab)Ad · paid link · check price & delivery on Amazon

Malco Tire Mounting Lubricant, 1 gallon

The Malco tire mounting lubricant^* (paid link) is a liquid for mounting and demounting. Malco describes it as ready to use: no mixing, no dilution, applied by brush or sprayer. The manufacturer states that it contains a rust inhibitor against rim corrosion and no silicone, solvent or soap. A ready-to-use product also removes one source of error the tire makers name, the wrong mixing ratio.

Two limits. A gallon is a lot for a home garage with a few tire changes a year. And the manufacturer's page does not state the base of the formula; it refers to the safety data sheet for the ingredients.

AGS Ru-Glyde Tire Mounting Paste, 8 lb pail

The Ru-Glyde tire mounting paste^* (paid link) comes in a resealable 8 lb pail. AGS describes it as a water-based synthetic that is non-flammable and contains no petroleum, with rust and corrosion resistance for steel and alloy rims. The maker's point for a paste is that it clings to the bead where a thin liquid runs off. It is brushed onto both beads from the pail.

The limits: 8 lb lasts a home garage for years, so keep the pail sealed. You need a brush or swab; as far as the manufacturer's page shows, brushes are sold separately.

AI-generated

Where the lube goes

The mounting bulletin of the tire makers is specific about this:

• Both tire beads. The bulletin asks for lubricant on each bead from the tire's rim-aligning ring to the bead toe.
• The rim. The humps, the bead seating surfaces and the top of the flanges, so that the bead moves smoothly over the flange and seats completely. The sides of the drop well are lubricated too.
• Not the inside of the tire. Do not let lubricant run onto the inside surface of a tubeless tire or between tube and casing in a tube-type tire.
• No excess. Avoid excessive application to keep moisture out of the air chamber.

Lubricant is not only for mounting. The owner's manual of the Harbor Freight Pittsburgh changer, which we read as the copy on ManualsLib, has bead oil applied to the bead before the bead is broken and warns that removing a tire without lubricating can damage the tire. So the pail is opened at the start of the job, not in the middle. The whole sequence on a floor-post machine is on the page how to use a manual tire changer.

Why dilution and drying matter

A bead lubricant has to be slippery for a few minutes and then stop. The tire makers put it this way: when dry, the lubricant should not remain slippery.

With concentrates that you mix yourself, follow the lubricant maker's ratio. The bulletin names both errors. Over-diluted mixtures dry too fast and act as if no lubricant was used. Under-diluted mixtures do not dry soon enough, which may let the tire rotate on the rim and leads to balance and uniformity problems.

Dish soap, WD-40 and other substitutes

Dish soap. Soapy water is the most common advice online. The bulletin does not name household dish detergent. It allows “animal soap solutions” and asks that a water-based lubricant contain a rust inhibitor. A household detergent is not sold for this job, and nothing on its label tells you whether it meets that. We do not recommend it and do not present it as equal to a bead lubricant.

Spray lubricants. Multi-purpose and penetrating sprays such as WD-40 are not bead lubricants. The bulletin excludes petroleum and solvent-based products as a category; the safety data sheet of a spray shows what it is based on and whether it is classed as flammable.

Silicone spray. Ruled out by name.

Starting fluid, ether, brake cleaner. These are not lubricants, and they are flammable. The bulletin's wording leaves no room: never, under any circumstance, introduce a flammable substance into a tire.

Rubber “donuts” and bead sealers. The bulletin asks for care with mounting aids such as rubber O-rings, which can become trapped between bead and rim, and notes that bead sealer can impede seating if it dries before mounting.

Typical mistakes

• Lubricating the tire only. The rim needs it as well: humps, bead seats, flange tops.
• Too much. Lubricant that runs into the tire brings moisture into the air chamber.
• Guessing the mix. Follow the ratio on the label of a concentrate, or buy a ready-to-use product.
• Reaching for whatever is on the shelf. Grease, oil, silicone and sprays are excluded for stated reasons.
• Lubricating once and forcing the rest. If the beads are not seated at 40 psi, the tire makers' procedure is to deflate completely, reposition the tire, relubricate and reinflate.

Our recommendation

For a home garage, the ready-to-use Malco liquid is the simple choice: nothing to mix, a rust inhibitor in the formula, and none of the excluded ingredients, according to its maker. Take the Ru-Glyde paste if you work on stiff beads and want the lubricant to stay where you brush it.

Whether household detergent is a substitute is answered on its own page: can you use dish soap to mount tires. And what a lubricant must never be is covered under WD-40 and starting fluid for bead seating.

Lube is one item on the list. The tool that needs it first is the bead breaker: see tire bead breakers. The machines are compared under best manual tire changers, and the overview of the whole subject is on the manual tire changer homepage. For getting the old tire off, read how to remove a tire from a rim.