Device and method for mounting a tyre

The apparatus has a wheel rim support to support a wheel rim. A tire mounting head (3) has a tire bead deflector to deflect a tire bead of a tire around a wheel rim flange of the rim. A signaling arrangement (20) detects the existence/non-existence of minimum spacing distance between head and rim, and provides a signal to a controller in response to a contact unit which comes into contact with the rim. An independent claim is also included for a method of mounting a tire on a wheel rim of a vehicle wheel.