Many moons ago I used to work at a Goodyear tire shop and it was probably the hardest 10 hr shifts I ever did. Anyways when mounting a tire there's 2 things I remember to make it easier. 1 is to take out the valve core when seating the tire on the bead. We had a shop compressor w/125psi, when the tire seats on the bead [loud POP] QUIT adding air right away or your day can be ruined. Worry about proper tire psi after reinstalling the valve. Another thing is to grab the tire when seating with air at 2 opposite ends on the tread and squeeze the tire inward while airing up, that expands both tire beads outward to help in expanding and seating. Can't help with tubes that was before my time on cars. 1 other thing when initially putting a tire on make sure the 1st side of the bead your installing is sitting in the center of the rim and not on the outer edge [bead] of the rim. That gives you an extra 2 inches or so of room to install the opposite side. Also dish detergent helps a lot too and won't hurt a thing.