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16.5 Wheels Blowing Beads

M

mendo

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Ive got 38x12.50 TSL's on 16.5 steel wheels on my K20 and yesterday I blew 3 tires off the bead while wheeling in a mud pit with street pressure. :(
I heard that 16.5 wheels have a more rounded bead around the edge which makes it easier for the tire to roll off then other size wheels, is this true? 2 of my tires got large cuts in the bead from the wheel gouging into them and no longer hold air so I need to get some new tires but dont want to blow $1000+ on new tires for these wheels if this is going to keep happening. Should I just go ahead and get some 15 or 16 inch wheels or was this just a fluke that I lost so many tires? Thanks

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thats the junk factor of 16.5s. They have no safety bead. Look at a 15 or 16" wheel. They both have a little rolled bead near the edge of the wheel. It works to retain tires to the bead. 16.5s, don't have that. Buy some Hummer H1 rims, they are 16.5" rims and better retention than anything else.

No fluke, thats just 16.5s.
 
sorry dont mean to hijack thread but will h1 wheels prevent this? or will it still be more common but not as bad?
 
You can take a pc of 1/8" round steel and weld a safety bead onto the rim. Mount the tires with a safety bead that large and they never come off. Basically we do it when we have a set of junk steel rims and a set of swampers that we KNOW will never want to be removed. Do this on the inner and outer beads and you can run low PSI on a 16.5 and never blow a bead. I repeat though that you will never get the tire off without ruining the bead area of the tire. You could probably due that with your current tires and wheels with some bead sealer and use them for off road only. If your truck is a trailer toy that could save you the new tires.

We have had success with 40s and 44s with this method. Never done any smaller tires this way though.
 
They by design eliminate any chance of either inner or outer bead from coming off without the wheel halfs being seperated. In short yes.
 
K5Greek91 said:
sorry dont mean to hijack thread but will h1 wheels prevent this? or will it still be more common but not as bad?
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Yes they will prevent it no matter how low the pressure.
 
That looks all too familar. I drove completely OUT of a 16.5 BFG Mud-Terrain a few years ago. It just fell alongside the trail! 100 feet later I popped the bead on yet another. I only have 15 and 16 inch wheels on my junk now...
 
If your interested I might be selling my recentered hummer beadlocks.
 
stay with 16.5" good for if your going 1 ton or already are you wont have to worry about clearancing your calipers, also less sidewall flex will prevent the tire from rolling over itself which gives more stability. replace the tires and buy some h1's and have them recenters.
that way you get a badass double beadlock and never have to worry again
 
the .25" difference in sidewall height between 16.5s and 16s.... yea well its not much is it? And 16" fit without grinding on 1 tons.

I say get some H1s and recenter them. But just noting the options.

Heck if we are discussing sidewall height difference, might as well get some H2s or steel 17" rims.
 
i got beadlocks now and also welded a 1/8th " rod on inner part of bead and will never loose a bead but before that i ran 44's wih 16.5's and never lost a bead running 12psi but i welded a 1/8th " rod on both inner and outer beads ... i had a tractor/semi tire place pull them off with no damage to the bead ... but they sure held in their good .. their easy to get on but we managed to get one tire off with the rods welded in then we said **** it ill pay to get this stuff done hahha
 
i was talking about stepping down to a 15" rim. it might not sound like much but two freinds of mine run 42" one in 16.5 one in 15" and there is a very noticeable difference in sidewall flex
 
muddyblzr said:
i was talking about stepping down to a 15" rim. it might not sound like much but two freinds of mine run 42" one in 16.5 one in 15" and there is a very noticeable difference in sidewall flex
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you know, a truck with 42"s is never going to be a handling machine... if anything a little more sidewall flex in offroading is a better thing... just something to think about.
 
muddyblzr said:
sometimes ya. he wants to step up to 17" to reduce it though. keeps the truck from leaning so much in off camber spots
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When it comes to superwide tires; I like what our Icelandic Brothers do: superwide rims. If your tread is 15" wide, get a 15+" wide rim.
You accomplish two things:

1) Very wide footprint.

2) Less sidewall flex.

It's how race cars are set up as well; they don't want sidewall flex either.
 
CDA 455 said:
When it comes to superwide tires; I like what our Icelandic Brothers do: superwide rims. If your tread is 15" wide, get a 15+" wide rim.
You accomplish two things:

1) Very wide footprint.

2) Less sidewall flex.

It's how race cars are set up as well; they don't want sidewall flex either.
Click to expand...

narrower rims retain tires better. You run that wide of a rim with that "wide" of a tire and you are going to be facing losing a bead all over again. Many guys around here recommend an 8" wide rim for a 12.5" wide tire. Tire holds the bead better than it does on a 10" wide rim. You start running a rim wider than the tire itself(which no manufacturer recommends) and the tire naturally wants to suck itself back IN, thus increasing the likelihood of loosing a bead. Road racers and Icelandic buggy racers don't face nearly the same conditions as rock crawlers and trail runners do.
 
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