stupid ass question about fake beadlock wheels

redneckengineered · Nov 21, 2016

Trying to get a new set of tires mounted, and the tire shop is telling me they can't mount them without taking all the bolts out of my fake beadlock wheels. Now, I've had these wheels for at least 10 years and had multiple sets of tires on them. I'm 99% positive this is the first time I've had a tire shop tell me this. I find it hard to believe the old tire shop I used to use (out of biz now) would remove/install 24 bolts per wheel and not mention it to me. Am I an idiot? :spin:

Beerj · Nov 21, 2016

Maybe they think they're real. :dunno:

redneckengineered · Nov 21, 2016

Beerj said:
Maybe they think they're real.

I explained they were not real. Something about the machine would hit the bolts trying to dismount the tire. I could see what he was saying but then again, this is the first time I've had a shop say this to me. I don't really want to remove/install 96 bolts for fun. I'm hoping someone that knows more about tire machines can shed some light on this for me.

nhl_bullitt · Nov 21, 2016

Considering he knows they are fake, I would imagine he is telling the truth because I'm sure he does not want to lose your business. I've had a couple fake beadlock wheels over the years, but the bolts were just flush with the wheel. I guess you could just mount them yourself with the ol pry bar dish soap trick, then have them balanced. Not that it is fun, but it can be done pretty quickly.

Edit: I have not worked in the tire mounting industry so I'm not sure how the machines vary.

redneckengineered · Nov 21, 2016

nhl_bullitt said:
Considering he knows they are fake, I would imagine he is telling the truth because I'm sure he does not want to lose your business. I've had a couple fake beadlock wheels over the years, but the bolts were just flush with the wheel. I guess you could just mount them yourself with the ol pry bar dish soap trick, then have them balanced. Not that it is fun, but it can be done pretty quickly.

Edit: I have not worked in the tire mounting industry so I'm not sure how the machines vary.

I don't have a lot of confidence in this shop which is one of the reasons why I'm asking here. It was more of they are close to my work, I figured I'd just try them out. I want to say NTB did them last and never said a word about it, but they closed their location near me recently. My memory is a little fuzzy because these Open Country's have lasted forever it seems.

Zjman · Nov 21, 2016

I'd go elsewhere, I have a similar set of wheels and never had a issue, I'd bet they snap this stainless bolts off, I'd bet they are pretty corroded from never being apart

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

redneckengineered · Nov 21, 2016

Zjman said:
I'd go elsewhere, I have a similar set of wheels and never had a issue, I'd bet they snap this stainless bolts off, I'd bet they are pretty corroded from never being apart

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes! My first thought was if I take all these off I wonder how many will be ****ed. Probably at least half!

Zjman · Nov 21, 2016

I'm no tire guy but what about flipping rim over and putting rags on clamps so it done scuff the wheel, just a thought so dunno if it can be done

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Edit. I thought about this and I think they have old equipment, the new machines come in from top with like a hook thing instead of the old bar method

30th6 · Nov 21, 2016

Re:

The old place probably had a different machine. The one there using may snag a bolt. I've ripped one off when I work at the Ford dealer and we had to buy a new wheel.
I'd try and find a different place to take them to

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

fordcontraption01 · Nov 21, 2016

If they are using the old school tire machine with the tire bare that goes to the center of the machine it's gonna snag on all of those bolts. And that same machine even if thebolts were not there is gonna tear the living **** out of that wheel. The correct machine for the job is a rim clamp machine and it has a big arm with skateboard looking wheels on it and an extra arm that pushes the tire down as it being removed/installed. My wheels on my superduty are what they call reverse mount wheels which requires the wheels to be clamped shiny side down to get the tires off and on and that's what machine they use with no scratches to the wheels.

tonybolton · Nov 21, 2016

Re:

To me it looks like they could just Mount the wheel face side down and let the arm do all the sliding on the inner... that's usually how the wheels I have get mounted.

redneckengineered · Nov 21, 2016

fordcontraption01 said:
If they are using the old school tire machine with the tire bare that goes to the center of the machine it's gonna snag on all of those bolts. And that same machine even if thebolts were not there is gonna tear the living **** out of that wheel. The correct machine for the job is a rim clamp machine and it has a big arm with skateboard looking wheels on it and an extra arm that pushes the tire down as it being removed/installed. My wheels on my superduty are what they call reverse mount wheels which requires the wheels to be clamped shiny side down to get the tires off and on and that's what machine they use with no scratches to the wheels.

Great. So I'm not crazy. Thank you for the info.

fordcontraption01 · Nov 21, 2016

You need to go look yourself at a tire shop and make sure that's the machine they have before I would let anyone touch my wheels. The guys I use hate to see me come in because it makes them have to work a little. When I had my dually it had 22.5 rig wheels cut down to 22s and had a super low profile tire on it and they really didn't like me or those wheels but they never let me down and didn't mess up my junk and still only changed me like 20 bucks a wheel.

fordcontraption01 · Nov 21, 2016

So basically what I'm telling you to do is find a tire place that sells :JRich:

wheels and you won't have a problem :dblthumb:

redneckengineered · Nov 21, 2016

fordcontraption01 said:
So basically what I'm telling you to do is find a tire place that sells wheels and you won't have a problem

Went to NTB this evening and they knocked it out. Pretty sure that was who I used last time anyway, it just sucks they closed the location near me. Didn't even blink an eye over it. Thanks for the help.

money_pit_yj · Nov 21, 2016

Probably just scared to mess them up or have bs policy against them. The shop I closed in Brownsville had a strict policy not to mount anything over 24'' rims because the clamp was not big enough and that is what our insurance would cover as far as screwing up the wheel and being reimbursed. But I know for certain (cause I have held the spoons) my guys mounted everything up to 30''s weekly and just split the cash up between who was helping. Kept the crew happy.

grcthird · Nov 22, 2016

I've used probably 6-8 different tire machines and if that particular shop knows that they can do it but have to remove the bolts, then they have probably dealt with something similar before with their machine and are telling you because they don't want to screw it up. There are numerous machines that dismount and mount differently, a coats ap90x with a bead lift acessory is one of the better machines for this wheel. Very few shops will fork out the money for a machine like that unless they do a bunch of aftermarket wheels or are a high volume tire dealer.

redneckengineered · Nov 22, 2016

Well, it was a bit of a fiasco but my new 35x12.5 r20 Nitto Ridge Grapplers look awesome. Ride much better than my Toyo Open Country's too, although I was pretty happy with those tires overall.

TBItoy · Nov 22, 2016

redneckengineered said:
Well, it was a bit of a fiasco but my new 35x12.5 r20 Nitto Ridge Grapplers look awesome. Ride much better than my Toyo Open Country's too, although I was pretty happy with those tires overall.

what you got them ridge grapplers on?

wife was looking at them for her 4runner since the stock lame-o street tires are about done.