Abstract: A tire bead retainer for mounting on a wheel rim in which a locking member is located adjacent a bead seat of the rim. The locking member is depressed by the beads during mounting of the tire on the rim and is moved back into the locking position for retaining the bead after the bead is seated in the bead seat. The bead retainer may be mounted on a rim prior to mounting of the tire and either the locking member or the complete retainer may be removable for removing the tire from the rim. Several retainers may be spaced around the wheel rim to engage the tire bead at several spaced-apart positions at one side of the rim.