Bead grip vs. Beadlock wheels

[ketelhut]

Any real life experience running Method Bead Grip wheels? I don't do extreme trails, mostly 5-6 rated in Moab & Sand Hollow, sometimes a 7. Price difference is significant between Bead Grip & Beadlock. Just got back from Sand Hollow & several people had positive things to say about the Bead Grip wheels. So looking for some real expert input that's always available on this forum. Thanks.

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[failsafe306]

I run my bead grips at 8-10 psi and have never had a single issue.

 

[jadmt]

unless you are dropping down to single digit psi why bother with the hassle of bead lockers? I have run all the normal 7 rated trails in Moab on 35's with out bead lockers without issues. for sure with 5 or 6 rated trails I would not run bead lockers...using this guide for trail ratings.
https://www.cruisemoab.com/trail-ratings/

 

[Deleted User 38384]

While not beadlock (technically), my interlock wheels (Icon Rebound Pro) have been run at 4 PSI without issue.

(23 psi in this photo)

I don't currently have any photos in my phone of me at low PSI. Typically will at 10 PSI, I don't have the clearance to go to 4 PSI to often, even though I can. I took it down to 2 PSI once and drove around my neighborhood without issue. It's surprising how much these 8 ply side walls don't flex at low psi.

Just looking at the prices now, icon rebound Pro Wheels are about $50 less expensive than the method bead grips, but installing a tire on the interlock wheels that I have, is a massive hassle just because of the interlocking bolts. I'll probably replace my wheels with bead grips over the years, simply because they are a little more expensive, but a whole lot less hassle to mount!

 

[LSJKU]

Any real life experience running Method Bead Grip wheels? I don't do extreme trails, mostly 5-6 rated in Moab & Sand Hollow, sometimes a 7. Price difference is significant between Bead Grip & Beadlock. Just got back from Sand Hollow & several people had positive things to say about the Bead Grip wheels. So looking for some real expert input that's always available on this forum. Thanks.

My trail preferences are similar to yours, but I mostly run around East and Central Texas, New Mexico and Colorado. 703s have performed flawlessly thus far, both on and off road.

Guys at ORW in Denver told me it was actually fairly difficult to separate tires from the beadgrip wheels when they change them out. They seemed to prefer them on thier own Jeeps over bead locks. So, I can believe the single-digit air pressures quoted here, although I've never run them that low.

 

[shane h.]

Ran my Method 703 bead grips at 10-12 psi all week out at Moab a couple weeks ago. Hit some of the shelves on Top of the World and Hell's Revenge pretty good and never came close to losing a bead.

 

[Rogersocal]

I run my BeadGrip at 10 PSI without issues. I just like the extra risk mitigation of not having to worry about popping a bead. Would definitely not use Beadlock though just due to all the extra work.

 

[failsafe306]

Guys at ORW in Denver told me it was actually fairly difficult to separate tires from the beadgrip wheels when they change them out. They seemed to prefer them on thier own Jeeps over bead locks. So, I can believe the single-digit air pressures quoted here, although I've never run them that low.

I can vouch for this…I punctured a front sidewall on a sharp rock and drove several hundred yards on down the trail without even realizing I was flat. Never broke the bead. Stopped and put a plug in the side and aired back up, finished the weekend of wheeling , and drove home with no issues.

 

[djthumper]

I currently have the Bead Grips on my JT on 35s I have aired down to 8 PSI with no issues. I run a variety of trails around Vegas. Another benefit is that tire shops will work on the Bead Grips but may not work on a Beadlock wheel.

 

[rdfact]

Nate on "Dirt Lifestyle" swears by bead grips. He went down to 0 PSI in the snow.

 

[TEAMSLO]

Just my opinions...

I had beadgrip wheels on my JTM without issues running 12 psi. What I didn't like was the angle of the valve stem if you want to put in an apex rapid deflator. Regular ones were hard to use and the longer ones stuck out too much for my comfort against the rocks.

Also just stating the obvious, no maintenance for bead grips or other standard wheels. If you don't mount your own tires, you can goto any tire shop for service.

The KMCs, Teraflex oympus, and now the Baja Built wheels I run have ample room and easy to use for the Apex pieces.

Teraflex have deflators built in but machined so good and tight that the caps have to be placed on perfectly to thread. <-- If you have owned the TF wheels, you know about this. Also not available with anything past -25 offset.

KMCs - Riot and Grenade Crawl
These were great, just one minor gripe, the holes around the beadlock bolts were snug unless you had a thinwall socket, could affect the tq wrench but I never faced any issues. No issues getting the offset you want.
Riot

Grenade Crawl

Bajabuilt
No complaints, plenty of clearance around the beadlock bolts, and valvestems have no issues with placement, and even protected by the beadlock ring. No issues with offset for what I needed.

Icon with their bead retention system (I have not owned these)
Tire shops that are knowledgeable can service/mount. Seems like a great option being DOT legal and with little to no maintenance. Downside is offset choices for me as -6 was the most aggressive.

Beadlocks cost much more to get mounted if you don't do them yourself, but shops like discount tire will balance them. Also much more maintenance compared with a non beadlock wheel. Someone mentioned the Icon wheels with their retention system, but offset may affect whether you want to use them or not.

 

[Snacktime]

The issue isn't popping a bead, its spinning the tire on the wheel and losing the tire balance. If you wheel low pressure on sandstone then beadlocks are a good idea. Bead grips/icon tire spikes are like the middle ground, I wouldn't buy them unless you need new wheels for some reason. Also tire size factors into the issue. If you run 40s you stand a much better chance of spinning a wheel in the tire than 35s.

Are you burping tires or having issues with tire balance?

 

[jeepingib]

I have KMC Machete because I got a smoking deal on them. But after mounting two sets of tires on them over the last 4 years, the next time I will be looking hard at the bead grip wheels.

 

[Tortolabob]

Method bead grips which I run @10psi frequently...never a problem

 

[wibornz]

I run bead locks. Like for 145,000+ miles. With that said, I run the majority of trails at 12 psi. On rocks, I run anywhere from 7 to 10 psi depending on conditions. I run around 3 psi in sand dunes. I mount my tires on the bead lock wheels. It takes me approximately 45 minutes a tire. I removed the bead lock ring, and my local tire place with remove the wheel from the tire for $5 per tire. I replace the bolts each time I mount a new set of tires. The bead lock bolts that I buy cost me about $50. It cost me about $60 for balancing beads. I have mounted 5 set of tires on my wheels so far.

Mind you it is a loose price, but 5 tires dismounted =$25
Bolts $50
beads $60
The cost to just put tires on bead lock wheels for me is about $135. This does not included the cost of Monster energy drink or the fuel cost to take the tires to the local tire shop.

Time wise, by the time I take the tires off the Jeep, set up the garage to mount bead locks, lift heavy tires up on to bench and bucket, load tires, and tires and take them to the tire shop, mount the tires in the garage, air them back up and put the tires back on the Jeep, it is an ALL DAY job.

Our Jeep gets wheeled hard. The bead lock rings tell the story.

I have mounted probably 15 sets of tires on bead lock wheels. When including my friends Jeeps. Around my area, if you can find a place to mount bead lock wheels, they charge shop rate. So it could easily run a person $150 an hour for shop rate, about an hour per tire 5 hours of labor $625 to get s set mounted. Most in my area will not do it because most bead lock wheels are not DOT approved and they do not want to bear the liability of you not maintaining the wheel set up and being exposed to lawsuits in case of an accident.

I type all of this to say if you want to run bead lock wheels, just know there is a cost and a maintenance portion that is drastically higher than bead grip wheel. Make an honest assessment as to how you will wheel/use your Jeep. In my experience, 98% of the people running bead locks on their Jeeps are not needed and are for the cool factor and not worth the extra cost of the wheel or extra work.

Bead Grip wheels are way easier. Pull into the tire shop, pay about $10 per wheel and they dismount and mount the tire, balance the tires and put them back on your Jeep with a free tire rotation. Drive away, usually in under an hour.

I have experience with the Method Bead Grip wheel. I put a set on my brother In-laws Jeep when I lifted it for him. I am not a fan of his wheel as I do not like where the valve stem is mounted as it is to exposed, to the point when he went wheeling with us in Colorado that I bought valve stems that could be replaced with out pulling the tire off the bead. Whoever is the engineer that designed these wheel and the idiot that approved them to go production is stupid. Not dumb, they should know better than to leave the valve stem that close to the edge of the wheel. Or they know their wheel is only going to be used for mall crawling or quick runs to Starbucks.

In conclusion, I like the bead grip style wheels and I think that even in my application they would be fine for 99% of the things I wheel.

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