You're not serious if you're not running beadlocks! Yeah, and everything you own needs a Hemi. Why is there such a mad craze for beadlocks? Do you have beadlocks?
The truth is that beadlocks are a really nice addition to a vehicle that needs beadlocked wheels, but for pavement-pounding daily drivers, beadlocks might very well be overkill.
If you're blasting through the desert and taking hard turns at speed, you could benefit from beadlocks. Has your outside bead lip ever pulled off the wheel and left you with a flat tire? If so, you could probably use some beadlocks.
Do you drive a Super Duty on 20s and think beadlocks would look cool? Don't waste your time and money. Beadlocks require constant attention. You'll regret it the first time it takes you three hours to change tires.
To get the real dirt on beadlocks, we paid a visit to OMF in Riverside, California. "Bones" gave us the 50-cent tour and showed us why the company has earned the reputation it has. OMF Performance, which started out as Orchard's Metal Fabrication years ago, still builds some skidplates and other parts for ATVs and UTVs but dedicates the main chunk of its facility to dealing with beadlock wheels 6-18 inches in size. We got a quick look into what it takes to make a badass beadlock wheel.
We don't think you could find anyone to argue that this was not a perfect bead. It takes a steady hand and an immense amount of skill to produce a weld of this caliber. | 
The inner weld-on portion of the beadlock is placed on top and a technician TIG-welds it in place in a few spots around the wheel. | 
OMF can get rings or some wheel centers - and even the protective domes for bolts - anodized in red, blue, black, or even some custom colors. |
On both sides of the beadlock, OMF uses a proprietary tool to machine the "gription" marks onto the part that will be touching the tire bead. The gription bites into the rubber bead of the tire and keeps it from spinning on the wheel. | 
The wheel is removed from the fixture and taken to a rotating table where someone will TIG-weld around the entire wheel. The worker uses a foot pedal that controls the speed of the table so he can rest his arms in a fixed position and weld with machine-like precision. | 
Steel inserts are installed in the inner weld-on portion of the beadlock. The steel inserts will help prevent bolts from pulling out or stripping the wheel as easily as if you were just threading into aluminum. They can also be replaced if necessary. |
Quality many times means taking the extra step to make something that truly stands out. OMF takes the time to polish the parts before they are anodized to bring out a much deeper finish. The ring on the right was polished before being anodized, compared to the unpolished part on the left. | 
Bones let us check out the start of the beadlock process. The wheel is put on a lathe and fitted with a cutting bit. They are constantly cooling and lubricating the cutting edge with oil to keep it from heating up the aluminum to the point of warping during the cutting process. Once the lathe has cut through, the outer lip of the wheel just falls to the side and with a little prep the wheel is ready to be welded. | 
After the wheel is cut, it's placed on a fixture that uses a conical nut to center the wheel and ensure a perfectly straight fit. This is the same way that drag wheels are built, so OMF has confidence that its beadlocks will be straight enough for off-road use. |
The distance from the drop center to the beadlock seat on the outside of the wheel is less than the inside diameter of the tire, allowing you to mount your own tires fairly easily. A good thing too, since many tire shops won't touch beadlocks. Bones is pointing to the wheel's bead lip on the inner side of the wheel. Because of most wheels' shape and design, double beadlocks are usually not necessary and many times impossible to do unless the wheel is specifically designed for double beadlocks. Even if the tire debeads off the inner lip, it will often reseat itself since the rim has no drop center for the tire's bead to fall into. | 
Is correct torque on beadlock bolts necessary? Yes, and your impact gun is not a torque wrench. Tighten the bolts in a crisscross motion until the clamping ring sits flat on the wheel. Side-by-side wheels like these need only 10-12 pounds of torque on the bolts, and OMF truck wheels usually need 20-22 pounds of torque put on them. These are special side-by-side wheels that OMF produces from a DWT wheel. The center is machined out and a custom OMF center is installed, and the beadlock is welded onto the wheel. By having a removable center, you can change out to a different lug pattern or offset should you change your off-road toy of choice. | 
To make the inner weld-on piece and outer clamping ring, OMF has a state-of-the-art CNC machine that cuts the pieces out of a piece of 6061-T6 plate aluminum. The machine uses different tools to cut the ring out, score the ring with gription marks, and drill the holes for the beadlock bolts. The bolt seats are actually machined with a pitch to them to compensate for the ring distortion caused by the tire when everything is bolted down. By angling the seat of the bolt, equal pressure is put on the bolt head all the way around, thereby minimizing the chance of bolt breakage. |
If you know you need beadlocks, OMF converts wheels for Trophy Karts to Trophy Trucks. The company can weld to cast, spun, or forged aluminum wheels. OMF is not a wheel manufacturer, but it does work with some wheel companies like Mickey Thompson and Douglas Wheel Technologies (DWT) to offer its own versions of the wheels with beadlocks already installed. OMF gets orders for beadlocks from 6-18 inches in diameter and offers a few different clamping ring designs. All of these wheels started as the same DWT wheel in the lower right of the image. OMF machines the wheel, adds the beadlock, and can even anodize the wheels or the rings. | 
Beadlocks, like other high-performance items, require maintenance. If you're not willing to take the time, then stick to a nonbeadlock wheel. If you need that beadlock look, try a set of faux beadlocks instead. Though there are some questionable beadlocks circulating in the off-road industry, most issues beadlock owners have with their wheels are due to a lack of maintenance. Beadlocks need to have the bead bolts checked regularly for tightness as they can work themselves loose during normal driving. They cannot be overtightened or undertightened. Air pressure needs to be checked and maintained as well, and you should always take the opportunity to examine the welds when you change tires. | |