Running Beadlocks on the road

[Brewster]

Curious how many of you run beadlocks on the road? I realize most of them aren’t DOT approved and there could be some insurance considerations should you cause an accident and the insurance adjuster realizes you’re running aftermarket, non-DOT compliant wheels, but that aside, how do you all feel about daily driving on beadlocks?

I recently picked up a set of Dirty Life Mesa Race Beadlocks and haven’t been dragging my feet getting tires mounted.

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[Terrymo]

I don’t have beadlocks yet. IMHO the importance of DOT approval is overblown by hand wringers and arm chair attorneys. I run with scissors and drive over the speed limit so ignore my advice.

 

[Brewster]

I suppose I don’t really understand how a beadlock is more dangerous than a normal wheel, either. I would think the beadlock ring is added insurance over just having a bead on a wheel

 

[Zandcwhite]

What insurance considerations if you CAUSE an accident? Are you extra at fault because your wheels aren't DOT compliant? Of course not. If someone else hits you are they suddenly not at fault because you have beadlocks? Obviously not. It doesn't matter if you're speeding, towing over your vehicle rating, or drunk. If you're at fault you're at fault and your insurance pays. If they are at fault, their insurance pays. Insurance covers illegal, dumb, and even reckless behavior every day.

 

[3TV]

I think a beadlock failure actually causing the accident would need to happen for insurance to actually have a case. Just having them on your vehicle when the cause of the accident had nothing to do with them would not be enough.

I have a friend that had a beadlock ring blow off while he was slowly doing the final torque of the beadlock bolts. He had injuries to both arms that led to him developing reflex sympathetic dystrophy, which is now called complex regional pain syndrome. The severe neuropathy he developed was in part career ending for him. You do need to exercise more caution with beadlock wheels than regular wheels.

My issues with beadlocks are that a couple of sets I've owned have had slow leaks that required airing up the tires once a month or so. And there are a number of tire stores that won't work on them. I choose to run Method Bead Grip wheels instead. Icon Rebound Pro are another excellent option.

 

[azwjowner]

What insurance considerations if you CAUSE an accident? Are you extra at fault because your wheels aren't DOT compliant? Of course not. If someone else hits you are they suddenly not at fault because you have beadlocks? Obviously not. It doesn't matter if you're speeding, towing over your vehicle rating, or drunk. If you're at fault you're at fault and your insurance pays. If they are at fault, their insurance pays. Insurance covers illegal, dumb, and even reckless behavior every day.

Sort of. Theoretically there's a large difference. Reckless behavior creates additional liability for punitive damages. Your insurance doesn't cover that. But if you have a solid coverage limit, this won't matter because the victim of your reckless behavior will settle for the policy amount rather than try to maintain a claim against you personally for punitive damages.

Now if you're obviously wealthy and carry too little insurance, and do something reckless, then it would be a risk, but that doesn't apply to most people. So in the real-world application, I would agree with you.

 

[azwjowner]

I think a beadlock failure actually causing the accident would need to happen for insurance to actually have a case. Just having them on your vehicle when the cause of the accident had nothing to do with them would not be enough.

Yes, this too. Probably the most danger from beadlocks is to the owner working on them. The only way the beadlock is really causing the accident is if the beadlock ring shoots off your Jeep and takes out a bystander's leg, or the ring comes off and the resulting blowout of sorts causes you to hit someone, etc.

 

[azwjowner]

I hope everyone has an umbrella policy ($1m minimum). Everyone, beadlocks or no, should have one.

 

[Zandcwhite]

Sort of. Theoretically there's a large difference. Reckless behavior creates additional liability for punitive damages. Your insurance doesn't cover that. But if you have a solid coverage limit, this won't matter because the victim of your reckless behavior will settle for the policy amount rather than try to maintain a claim against you personally for punitive damages.

Now if you're obviously wealthy and carry too little insurance, and do something reckless, then it would be a risk, but that doesn't apply to most people. So in the real-world application, I would agree with you.

The beadlock thing just like towing a few hundred pounds over the limit gets beat to death on the forums and has since the pirate 4x4 days 20 years ago. I airways ask the same question. Even 1 example of a denied claim? Nobody has ever posted 1 in response. The only towing cases anyone ever links are always people trying to tow heavy equipment with their 1500 or suv and the insurance still paid. The drivers were charged with criminal negligence but that's because they were towing 2-5x their vehicles tow rating and it should have been obvious that it wasn't safe. Some states actually ticket for beadlocks, but again that's not an insurance issue.

 

[Nate88cool]

More than likely no insurance company or law enforcement will even look or notice why type of wheels you have on the Jeep. We live in a rural area just 20min from a few major cities and most the Jeeps around here are modified and likely not abiding by all the vehicle laws. Anyway we have been running beadlocks on our JKU for about 5 years now and have changed the tires twice. Never have I had any leaks or any issues with law enforcement (even going into PA!). I know the process of installing a tire and properly torquing all the bolts and the maintenance that comes with the wheels. I check all my wheels bolts every oil change and after every wheeling trip. Mainly if you're going to be doing wheeling where you'd like to have the confidence of a beadlock for airing down I say go for it just make sure you are well educated with the process and install the tires properly and do your maintenance and checks.

 

[wibornz]

I have 138,000 miles on beadlock wheels with zero issues . They are not DOT approved. With that said, it is not illegal to use beadlock wheels on the road. There is a difference between approved vs written into law that it is illegal. There is no state that has wrote a law making beadlock wheel illegal for road use.

With that said, deadlock wheels require maintenance and care that a normal wheel does not. Pretty sure your Dirty Life wheels can also be run as normal wheel too.

The main problem with beadlock wheels are they are expensive to mount, and people don't maintain them. The shops around me that will mount them charge shop rate ($150 an hour ) to mount them. So mounting five tires to a beadlock wheel could cost up to $750 in my area. I have mounted a bunch tires on to beadlock wheels. It typically takes about 45 minutes to an hour to mount a tire onto the beadlock wheel and torque everything correctly.

Things that I do to ensure the my deadlock wheels remain safe. Each time I mount a tire, I buy and use new bolts. Cost me about $40. After I mount the tires, I retorque the bolts after 100 miles. I also check the bolts when I rotate the tires. I also regularly look to ensure that none of them have broke or came loose. I have a few friends that run Dirty Life wheels and they have had the bolts that hold the rings fail. I welded a nut on to the broken stud to extract the bolt and replace them.

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