WHY USE BEADLOCK ?
Standard wheels rely on air pressure to push the tire’s bead firmly against the rim in order to keep air from leaking out the tire, and to keep the tire rotating in sync with the wheel. As long as the rim and tire move together with no slippage, all is well. In normal use, this is a perfectly fine arrangement. Tire air pressures are high enough that even performance driving in the form of aggressive handling, acceleration and deceleration doesn’t tend to allow the wheel to slip on the tire, let alone pop the bead off the rim.
Off-road applications are a very different story, however. In order to gain better traction in loose dirt, sand, over uneven rocks, snow or other rugged surfaces, drivers often “air down” their tires. That is,they deflate their tires with the aim of increasing the size of the contact patch of their tire to the surface. This allows them to attain much better traction, and the extra pliability of the slouching tire’s sidewalls are less prone to puncture, since it will just flex around sharp rocks, versus being punctured by them. Another bonus is that it can be more comfortable to ride in a vehicle with gummybear-like, aired-down tires, as well.
When air pressure is decreased in a tire mounted to a regular wheel, the tire’s bead has less air
pressure pushing it against the rim. If the pressure goes down low enough, the bead can start to slip
against the rim, creating the danger of the bead actually coming off the rim, and inadvertently allowing
the tire to slip off the wheel entirely. That’s a bad day right there.
This is where beadlocks come into play. Though it’s usually safe to air down your tires on your
non-beadlock wheels to an extent (depending on tire size, type, wheel size, vehicle weight and
terrain), but it’s surely not recommended to air them down to the level that beadlock can handle.
Those who intend on driving onto terrain requiring serious traction may need to air their tires all the
way down to as little as three to six psi, or even lower. If you’re going to do that, you’d better be doing it with beadlocks that will physically lock the tire bead into place, so that the rim doesn’t slip the tire off of itself.
TOPOWER Beadlock
Topower Beadlock ensures the clamping of the tire beads on the rim at lowered or zero pressure. As a result, the vehicle capabilities are enhanced by:
Increased traction
Improved breaking and steering control
Minimal chance of rollover caused by the unseating of the tire
Preventing other materials from entering the tire
Topower Beadlock is designed with full reference to rim surface. Once the components are installed, both increasing and decreasing tire pressure will become very easy.
Topower beadlock are suitable for all industry rim standards . The internal beadlock system holds
the tire bead securely against the rim, without breaking the bead seal or slipping during use. All Topower beadlocks are constructed so that only elastomer parts of the beadlock are in contact
with the tire bead.
Unlike hard surface plastic or metal beadlocks, this ensures no damage to the bead and facilitates
high performance during varying air pressure in the tire.
Topower Beadlocks are available for a wide range of rims and tires from 12″ to 36″.
(The air inside a tire applies pressure on the tire walls. This pressure clamps the tire beads to the wheel flanges. At low pressure the clamping force on the tire beads decreases drastically, and is not enough to prevent the tire from slipping on the wheel or unseating. )
