An apparatus and method of setting a bead ring against the plies of a tire carcass on the shoulder of a building drum includes a carrier member with a retractable bead support flange. As the carrier member pushes the bead firmly against the carcass plies, the bead support flange is also pushed against the carcass plies, and the flange partly retracts under the pressure. Then, a fluid operated piston drives the support flange further away from the carcass plies, leaving the bead ring almost unsupported, but pressed firmly against the carcass plies on the building drum. The carrier member then retracts away from the building drum, leaving the bead ring in place on the building drum shoulder and ready to have the carcass ply end portions wrapped around it.