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True vs. Simulated Beadlock Rims
Now let's scale it down a bit. With radio controlled vehicles there are true beadlock rims and tires and simulated beadlock. True beadlock rims and tires are like their real (fullsize) counterparts, and the simulated are just that -- made to look the part but are just one piece molded rims. The simulated beadlock rims still need to have the tires glued to the rims. True beadlock rims have the rims and lock rings that are screwed together. Depending on the manufacturer they may have 6-10 screws for the front and the back of each rim. Pay close attention to the tread pattern when installing them on the rims; otherwise you'll spend a lot of time unscrewing and rescrewing the tires and rims in place.Installing Beadlock Rims
When dealing with beadlock tires for your RC you really need to invest in an inexpensive cordless screwdriver with some hex screw bits. A powered screwdriver (versus a manual one) will make your experience with beadlock rims more enjoyable. Trust me your forearms appreciate the assist. There are a lot of screws (times 4 tires). Even when using a cordless screwdriver you still want to have a couple of hex wrenches handy to do the final tightening of the screws. (See Assembling the Tires on a Scorpion Rock Crawler)Beadlock vs. Glue
Now the real question is, are beadlock rims and tires better than glued rims and tires? Well, it depends on the vehicle and how you drive the RC, and how much you want to spend. Do you need to put beadlock rims and tires on an on-road- RC? My opinion would be more than likely not. Beadlock rims and tires are more for off-road use.If you want, you can use beadlock tires and rims on an on-road vehicle but some RC racers feel that glue holds better than beadlocks at high speeds. A lot of on-road RCs use soft, medium, or hard foam compound tires. This type of tire is already glued to the rims so gluing isn't necessary. Another thing to keep in mind when choosing beadlock over glued is that the beadlock rims add more weight to the RC which can contribute to some performance issues.
- Beadlocks:
- primarily off-road (but not exclusively)
- can hold better than glue if using high quality beadlocks
- heavier than glued tires/rims (two part rims plus all the screws)
- more expensive (but you can have one set of beadlocks and just replace the tires)
- takes a fair amount of time to screw/unscrew each tire
- Glued Tires:
- on-road and off-road
- quality glue and good glue job may hold better at high speeds
- generally lighter weight than beadlocks
- less expensive but must have a set of wheels for each set of tires
- prepping can be messy and take time (but if you have extra sets of tires/wheels already glued then changing tires can be faster than beadlocks)
My preference is to have beadlock rims on almost all of my RCs (I have mostly off-road). The reason I chose this is to make it easier and cheaper for me to change my tires on my RCs once they wear out. The upside to this is that I don't have to pay for rims and tires, just the tires. As described in the pros/cons, with glued tires, you usually need to replace both the tires and the wheels because they don't come apart easily once glued. The downside is that when I do change the tires I have to screw in all those tiny little screws to the rims both front and back. That my friend, is definitely not a quick operation, especially in a pinch between races.