calrockx

i'm looking at buying some allied 16" black beadlock wheels (with 285 MTRs), but wanted to get some advice first.


1. why exactly are they illegal? and is this reason still relevant to this product today?

2. how is the ride of beadlocked wheels on road? any persistent trouble balancing/aligning?

3. i do a lot of highway driving, and while i do enjoy wheeling the runner, it realistically only happens a few times a month. would beadlocks be worth it for me?


there are times i know i'd like to take advantage of them, like wheelin on the sand at pismo, and the harder trails i know i'll be taking on once i get locked. but i was set on just black steel rockcrawler wheels up till today. since these popped up, i'm considering them...

roktoy84

I think pretty much the only reason they aint street legal is because a beadlock is not D.O.T. approved.

as for how they are on road. I couldn't tell you. I've never had problems with a tire popping a bead. I just run an 8 inch wheel and a 12.5 inch tire. a narrower wheel will help keep the tire's bead on the wheel.

ldivinag

1. cause the outer locking rim MIGHT come off... remember the bolts are not permanently fastened...

2. ride is about the same as long as you find a competent installer and balancer...

1 thing you can do is buy a set. trailer them or bring them with you. get a power tank and a impact wrench. small jack and you can swap out tires when you get there...

runnerboy97

bead locks are not DOT approved because of the retaining bolts. they must be checked and tightend regularly or they will leak air/ come undone.
as for the road ride, they arent bad. they do require alot more weight to balance, if i had a set, i would probably stick some BB's in it when i mounted them. Most tire shops will not mount tires on a beadlock rim due to liability. But they should be able to balance if you want them to.
As for if you need them, unless you are popping beads everytime you wheel, i probably wouldnt mess with the beadlocks, jsut cause they require alot of maintenence.

Flygtenstein

Without sounding like too much of a smart alleck, if you do not know what they are, you do not need them, period.

If you are concerned about ride, balance, etc. then you can probably do without.

How low do you usually air down to?

I have not yet lost a bead as low as 10 psi in rocks with 12.5" tires on 8" wide rims.

calrockx

i know exactly what they are, just seeing if they make sense for me. i didn't know they were hard to balance till i did some research.

I've never lost a bead, just the idea of having the peace of mind of knowing i won't is appealing. Lowest I've gone to is 4psi (on the dunes). I usually go down to around 15psi, depends on the situation.

I'm just gonna go with the rockcrawlers. Beadslocks sound cool, but I can't justify them for the way I'd use them.

BruceTS

1) The retaining bolts can come loose, but if torqued down properly they'll be fine. I've checked the torque on my bolts regularly, but to date none have come loose. As for mounting, I did that myself and then balanced them at a friends shop. With all the abuse they went through this past weekend, they are still in perfect balance.....

2)Agree they are not D.O.T. approved, but then again, the odds are you'll never get hassled for it, considering all the fake locks out there. The ride on the street has been better than my BFG AT's, as for getting them balanced, if they were manufactured properly, it shouldn't take anymore than a normal rim. Example my wheels took 2.5, 4.25, 4.5, and 4.75 oz with 35" MTR's. My stock rims, and the BFG's took way more than that! It's the tire and not the rim.....

3) Need vs. BLING, for me it was cheaper to get my extra set of free stock rims beadlocked, versues buying a new set of 16x8 rims.

MNBOY

Several times now on different threads people have mentioned that there is one beadlock that is DOT approved. Anyone know which one, or is this another urban legend of the wheelin world?

roktoy84

There are street legal beadlocks on the market. The military Humvee's use a type of beadlock wheel that is D.O.T. approved. And a few others are. Haven't seen any out there. Maybee thats cause they cost a lot more than a normal beadlock.


My cousin and I were talking bout this the other day. The only reason I can think of for them not being street legal is cause they aren't D.O.T. approved. But what if you was to take a D.O.T. approved wheel and modify it by welding the beadlock ring to it? Is this legal? Chances are that if a cop was to pull you over with beadlocks, They wouldn't know what they are. And if they do, they will more than likely get a kick out of your 4x4.

BruceTS

There was supposed to be a steel rim that was DOT approved, but from what i've read they are just DOT compliant. It has to do with the specific profile of what rims are legal for street use. Beadlock rims do fit the profile, but considering a DOT legal wheel, with a ring welded to it, still fits the profile, it could be argued in court......

joez

The same company that makes the Hummer beadlocks also make a civilian version, that is DOT approved. The name escapes me at the moment though. They are a double badlock just like the hummer rims, but are aluminum. ill remember the name eventually. Technically a DOT approved rim with a ring welded on is illegal, because the rim is approved, but the weld job and clamping ring is not. It cannot be argued in court, it is illegal.

I dont think its worth it if you have a lot of highway driving and only wheel a little bit on weekends. If you have not gone below 15 on rocks you dont need them. Get a narower rim and run them. Carry a can of Ether and build a powertank. I run my 11" wide TSL's on a 5.5" rim, i havent had any problems and i run 14psi on the road. After airing down, usually arround 8-9, i have yet to air back up for the drive home. It still gives a nice flat footprint on the road at low pressures. I will be beadlocking them myself soon, just as a safety measure. Hell, ive run 5 on the interstate when one of the tires was leaking. I love TSL's

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

Here's what Champion has to say on the issue:

http://www.championwheel.com/champio..._statement.htm

And this is pretty well put:

http://www.high-impact.net/wheels/be...0the%20street?

It seems to be a sort of grey area, they are not legal but they are not "not legal".

My Champion bead locks started life as a American Racing wheel and have the AR/DOT stamps and even have the Champion stamp. Rockstomper, among others, makes bead lock wheels that retain the stock beads and attach the bead lock ring outside the outer bead. So, with that wheel, if you mount the tire on the normal beads its legal and if you mount it on the bead lock ring, its illegal? Same wheel in both cases.

I talked to one CHP officer from SoCal and he was planning on putting bead locks on his Dodge Ram pickup that he drives on the street and out in the desert. I have heard 3rd hand stories of folks getting pulled over in Utah near Moab for wheel/tire issues, not sure if that was bead locks or tires sticking out too wide or what. I did go with a non-descript style beadlock ring and may even change the bolts to a less conspicuous style, almost making them look like "street locks", just to avoid attracting undue attention to the vehicle and I plan to make sure my mudflaps and fender flares give full coverage to the tires, again to keep from attracting attention.