Question about Rash Rings / Bead Lock for LR3 wheels

[DiscoNels]

I've been casually looking for a solution to a growing problem I'm having as I continue to destroy my off roading wheels on rocks. See picture. This is the worst wheel I currently have with the others having either a folded lip or a short piece of the lip torn off. I'm running 275/65/18 Goodyear MT/R Kevlar tires and air down to about 22 lbs when wheeling. These particular rims are extremely rare in the U.S. and I'd rather not have to wait months sourcing replacements let alone pay for any more. I have a set of 5 matching now.


I've recently seen some Rash Rings and Bead Lock wheels for LR3's. Does anyone have any real world experience with these? Here's a picture of a Rash Ring I found on the www.urbanoffroad.us site

and www.discovery-parts.de in Germany has what they call Bead Locks for LR3/Disco3 that look like this, these are also rash ring style.



I'd love if you guys had some solid information on solutions to a problem I'm sure is community wide and not just me destroying rims.

Thanks!

 

[Keanan]

Get some steel rims from lucky 8.

 

[DiscoNels]

I'm well aware of steel wheels available from Lucky 8, but that doesn't even come close to a solution for alloy wheels.

 

[lwlankford]

No matter what kind of wheel you get an aluminum alloy wheel will not last as long or withstand the abuse of a steel wheel period.
My personal opinion is that wheel is destroyed, and I wouldn't use it on the road. If its been hit hard enough to break off the outer lip it probably has some hair line cracks.

 

[getlost4x4]

stop using your wheels as tires. looks like you've been using too much throttle and not enough finesse

 

[pgoodrich]

Those from urban went through rubicon trail. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=727148784008188&id=589737917749276


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[unseenone]

I'd actually consider a set of those if they were not so overpriced. I've scratched a few rims along the way.

 

[DiscoNels]

Those from urban went through rubicon trail. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=727148784008188&id=589737917749276


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good to see them in action. What do we know about them? May have to put in a call on Tuesday and inquire.

 

[Keanan]

I'm well aware of steel wheels available from Lucky 8, but that doesn't even come close to a solution for alloy wheels.

Run steel rims with off-road tires when you go wheeling.
Run alloys with street tires when you aren't wheeling.


As mentioned you should drive a little more carefully. There is no reason to damage your rims that bad on the curbs at the Starbucks drive-thru.



Don't take my comments personally, I'm just joking around.

 

[unseenone]

Nobody is offended. It's not practical to keep a 2nd set of rims around and swap them out to hit the trails. For some odd reason the design of the 18's seem to allow rocks to pup up and scratch your rims, no matter how careful you are. I have gotten rock rash barely moving.

 

[DiscoNels]

Nobody is offended. It's not practical to keep a 2nd set of rims around and swap them out to hit the trails. For some odd reason the design of the 18's seem to allow rocks to pup up and scratch your rims, no matter how careful you are. I have gotten rock rash barely moving.

Couldn't agree more. Thanks for posting your experience with rocks on alloys.

stop using your wheels as tires. looks like you've been using too much throttle and not enough finesse

Now this post is offensive to me getlost4x4, If I post a picture of the battery monitor I just received in the mail could you explain why I received the Recessed mount when I CLEARLY ordered the Surface mount?

 

[getlost4x4]

Well, think about it. my buddy has an LR3 with the rear locker and traction control. He also has 18" wheels. His tires and my tires are effectively a 32" tall tire. I have ~2" more side wall with 16" wheels on my Disco 2. I have that much more buffer from my aluminum wheels eating a rock.

We were just down in Moab about 3 weeks ago. On a lot of the climbs I could just walk up he had to use more throttle. (I have a center diff lock and an ARB rear locker). He had much more wheel spin and much more susceptible to eating a rock on with his wheels. I saved one of his wheels from just such a tragic end when I was spotting him up a harder climb.

 

[DiscoNels]

Perhaps a photo can shed some light on the need for rim protection on LR3 18" alloy wheels (can't be more specific than that). I'm talking about sharp, jagged, tire shredding Minnesota rocks. The photo doesn't even do the nastiness justice, it's worse than it looks and goes on for about 100 yards. I was just in Moab myself in August and barely got a scratch on my bumper. Wheeled in MN a few weeks later through the section of trail shown in this photo and damaged my rim as shown in the top post. Oh, and throw a little rain into the situation.

As slow as possible as fast as necessary is how we should all wheel so just face it, some trails are just hazardous to our vehicles. This is why I threw out this post to seek information on protection to the alloy wheel problem on my LR3 18" wheels.

 

[getlost4x4]

I would get a new wheel to replace the broken one. and try the rock rings. I don't think there is much else to say unless you get the 17" steel wheels that Lucky 8 sells.

16 and 17 inch wheels also open up a lot more options for tires.

 

[EricTyrrell]

The primary issue here is LR's negligent insistence of large diameter wheels for new models. They simply don't have enough tire between the ground and wheel. It's a known but ignored issue that rears its ugly head even on their own expeditions. The solution is to use a smaller diameter wheel. Unfortunately there are limited ways to accomplish this.