A guy I know used to have trouble with wide race tires. The ones at the bottom of the stack were sometimes really hard to mount because they could not get them close enough to the rim to set the bead
If you do have to destroy the dust covers to remove them, you can get replacements on ebay! http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=244450606
Hmmmm, Funniest 'dustcovers' I ever saw.... believe we were talking about the front hub bearing covers, eh? These are the steering rack gaiters.... different animul...... Cheers, -- Bob Norway Rockle