A few years back I found a correct space saver rim, and after a lot of searching I finally managed to buy a correct BFG compact spare tire off eBay. The tire was tired but never inflated. A friend of mine who owned an auto repair shop offered to help me out installing the tire. We went through loads of grief trying to install the tire and get it to seat. A buddy of his from a nearby GoodYear shop even stopped by but still we couldn't get the tire to seat.
Finally he looked online and found this thread from here:
https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/553647/how-to-mount-space-saver-tire.htmlI really was wary about inflating the tire completely, but the tire was far from perfect and I hadn't paid a lot for it, and we were out of ideas. So we inflated it, it seated, we quickly deflated it and it returned to correct shape. The tire even looked better installed than loose! Thanks to the late Jules for his advice.
I have the original space saver for my T/A project and the rim needs paint. I'm not too enthused about removing and reinstalling the tire, so I'm interested in hearing ideas on painting a wheel with tire mounted too.
