The tires came strapped together tightly so they were distorted in three ways. They were triangluar, the sidewalls angled inward, and except at the triangle peaks the tread was a deep valley. There was about an inch between the bead and where it needs to touch the rim to seal (when the other side was just touching). I had no luck with any sort of pushing because it would just fold the tire along the valley and the sidewalls wouldn't respond. I put a rope around it and used a screwdriver to twist it nice and tight. The beads showed no interest whatsoever in moving apart. I didn't even attempt to send air into it because the gap was so huge.
After an hour of scratching my head as to how to make the "contraption", I stuffed a deflated basket ball into the center, inflated it, then put it in the oven. I preheated the oven to maybe 150 and let it sit overnight.
The next day, I removed the basket ball and it held the new shape. I inflated it with a bicycle pump easily. My wife is concerned with the taste of our food though.
jt