Help needed tyre fitment

I have a cyclocross bike with tubeless ready 700 cc rims and as I use it primarily on the road, I purchased a set of Continental grand sport race tyres.. the original tyres are 33’s and the new ones 28’s..
these are literally impossible to fit..The last section of bead is way way too tight to pop over with levers. I’ve tried pushing tyre down and feeding around rim with thumbs, tyre levers and soap all to no avail..
Are these tyres any good or have I missed something in respect of sizing..?

Thanks
Will

Comments

  • reaperactual
    reaperactual Posts: 1,185
    edited August 2020
    Had a similar problem with fitting mtb tyres. Made them fit by making sure to place the tyre bead inside the central rim groove starting from opposite side of the valve and working my way up.

    This effectively shortens the overall rim diameter and should leave enough slack left on the bead to get the last bit over the edge of the rim along with a
    little washing up liquid on the last section.
  • Some tubeless tyres really don’t want to go over some rims. As was mentioned above, try to get one side of the tyre in the ‘trench’ in the centre of the rim, and then you should have more joy, a bit of soapy water might help. Another trick is to submerge the tyre your trying to fit in hot water for a while, then fit it whilst it’s still warm, or heat the tricky bit up with a hairdryer, it should go over a bit easier.