I know few here ave swapped to running beadlock wheels. Any change in performance of car.

Looking at some new tires and will need different wheels or have the one I have converted to beadlock and change back spacing same time.

Was thinking new wheel tire combo be great since lot of weight gone off rotating, Now if go beadlock that pretty much gone. Not really top deciding factor but it does factor in.

Money wise very little difference. Benifit of swapping tires at shop vs getting them mounted else where is also postive for beadlocks.

So we’re the rear tires the problem with car not going straight

Will not know til friday night and that is a maybe. Told not issue but trying hit with tires swapped and see if goes left,right or goid help straight, that be boring LOL.

Change to beadlock has nothing to do with that issue. Was told these are way big for fed, As knew when bought these over tired and loose converter good braket combo, At same time if can run lot less tire and wheel combo lot less weight unless do beadlock. Since need less backspace anyway and can have 10" or 12" wheel . 12"would allow smaller tire and same ones have if want.

Will post results from tnt next weekend if not 95* and 1000% humidity.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: wideopen231,

I did not do an A-B-A test but I did not notice any difference in performance. And it has been a couple of years since I did it.

What I did notice was much heavier wheel and tire assembly and much lighter wallet. I think it is Newtons Law for every action there is an equal opposite action? Heavier wheel = lighter wallet. (But the beadlocks do look cool!)

Pretty sure nothing bought for race car makes rear pocket fuller.

Yea guess cool factor is in favor of beadlocks.

According to calulations and that all it is. Narrower wheel and tire combo with correct backspace allowing removal of spacers should give a 9 to 10 kb reduction. Adding beadlocks will add about 15 to 20 back so call it 10 lb weight gain. A very big negative. Cost of new wheels vs having these changed over while cutiing some from rear for BS is about 500 bucks. Not small but in big picture not a lot either.

So far it is just a thought and not doing anything till car goes down, so nobody needs to tell me need to fix that first. Pretty sure 10 lb to little rotating mass not issue.LOL

Not saying Newton wrpng by any means. I do say every coin has two sides and everything that is good for one thing has a bad point somewhere too, Well maybe too much money(if such a thing) exception and more than willing to be lab rat to test.

I had my wheels beadlocked and saw no difference in performance. Same wheel and tire just added the locks.

So no performance gaons or loss. 20lbs more weight. little costly, They do look cool. Probably not top of list on need right now but do have few good points. Well that helps answer rather should or should not when do change up, Thanks

Looks like again Neal and Parks has lightest thing going on conversion. adds 4 lbs per wheel and will clear most calipers. Seeing as older calipers and little bigger than some other and where quite a bit bigger before machining about 1.5 to 2 lbs off the set I have.

If you want anything lite weight call Scott. I think he craps lite weight turds in the morning.A quick look at site will show you how many pieces,how much weight can cut and how much money can spend.Hey speed cost.

Figure to send them off to Scott to have converted at end of year.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: wideopen231,

I would like bead locks just for the fact that you don't have to worry about busting up rims and killing yourself breaking them down.

I am getting too old to do that anymore.

quote:

Originally posted by moparacer:
I would like bead locks just for the fact that you don't have to worry about busting up rims and killing yourself breaking them down.I am getting too old to do that anymore.

Have your rims converted. Well into my 70’s I can dismount or mount a tire to the 14x15” rim in less than 1 minute with just a pair of mechanics gloves on, no tools. R/R the bolts, clean up and balancing takes me the whole day though.

Ease of swapping tires is top of list of why to do. Tehn so is getting enougfht cash to keep car on track enough to need to swap tires..

Have any of you folks noticed a difference in the reaction times? This probably isn't an issue running on a full .500 tree (just change the delay) but I occasionally race with a .400 pro light.

Bob

quote:

Originally posted by RPROGAS:
Have any of you folks noticed a difference in the reaction times? This probably isn't an issue running on a full .500 tree (just change the delay) but I occasionally race with a .400 pro light.

Bob

Bob,

I didn't see a change & I use my beadlocks & non-beadlocks on both the .400 & .500 pro light.

2BKING

Cant speak for performance but have the weld alpha and they are a real nice setup.

Just a reminder while you can change the tires without a machine. You will still need to balance them. At least I do. I tried without and did not like the unbalanced feel.

Also beware that M/T has a much thicker bead than Hoosier tires. So the clamp ring has to be ordered accordingly. I used to run Hoosiers, and to swap to M/T it was 700 bucks for the proper rings. I put them on mill and milled them down so they worked with the M/T if it was the other way I would have had to buy new ones.

quote:

Originally posted by ski_dwn_it:
Cant speak for performance but have the weld alpha and they are a real nice setup.

Just a reminder while you can change the tires without a machine. You will still need to balance them. At least I do. I tried without and did not like the unbalanced feel.

Also beware that M/T has a much thicker bead than Hoosier tires. So the clamp ring has to be ordered accordingly. I used to run Hoosiers, and to swap to M/T it was 700 bucks for the proper rings. I put them on mill and milled them down so they worked with the M/T if it was the other way I would have had to buy new ones.

If you used to run Hoosiers and now run MT which ones do you like better and why?

quote:

I have the weld alpha and they are a real nice setup. Also beware that M/T has a much thicker bead than Hoosier tires. So the clamp ring has to be ordered accordingly. I used to run Hoosiers, and to swap to M/T it was 700 bucks for the proper rings. I put them on mill and milled them down so they worked with the M/T if it was the other way I would have had to buy new ones.

Interesting. I have Bogarts with N&P bead lock conversion and have/do run both MT and Hoosier tires with the same ring. N&P instructions state, ”You will need to take a razor knife and trim the flashing off the tire on the inner side of the bead. This excess rubber has nowhere to go with our beadlock assembly. If using an M&H tire, a different beadlock ring is recommended as the bead of the tire is narrower”.

I trim both MT and Hoosier tires inner side bead generously now prior to installation. Hoosiers cut like butter; MT are much tougher. Pic is of a MT I did first time when I received the rims.

I know with our radials the Hoosiers have a thinner bead than the M/Ts. I did measure them but didn't write the info down. I have 2 different sets of rings for the different brands. These are the Keizer beadlocks.

2BKING

Well sounds like more reason to go with N&P beadlocks which I would be doing anyway. Not only because as always lite weight but also never seen anything come out of that shop that not top of line. Race car parts built by racers always hard to beat.

quote:

Originally posted by Curly1:

quote:

Originally posted by ski_dwn_it:
Cant speak for performance but have the weld alpha and they are a real nice setup.

Just a reminder while you can change the tires without a machine. You will still need to balance them. At least I do. I tried without and did not like the unbalanced feel.

Also beware that M/T has a much thicker bead than Hoosier tires. So the clamp ring has to be ordered accordingly. I used to run Hoosiers, and to swap to M/T it was 700 bucks for the proper rings. I put them on mill and milled them down so they worked with the M/T if it was the other way I would have had to buy new ones.

If you used to run Hoosiers and now run MT which ones do you like better and why?

MT all day long. Guy gave me a "used" set to try and with no other changes the car was amazingly more consistent and faster. I used them for about 3/4 of a year and before some big money races decided to order a set. I looked up the part numbers and could not locate them. Ended up calling the guy that gave them to me because he had links to MT. Figured I finally found a tire that really worked and they discontinued them. He had me pull the information from the tires and proceeded to tell me they were from 2006! This was like 2021! I said you have to be joking and he said no they dont go bad. I said I agree - these things worked great. He provided me with the new PN number and the new ones worked exactly the same. I get about 200 runs a year on them. Bought my last set in Oct2025 and they still have lots of tread. I double enter and make a LOT of passes. If I showed you my log book you would puke at the consistency I get for a 3300lb door car built by me. Not bragging but other weekend made 26 passes and only moved .008 to the 330ft.
Finals friday of Abruzzi ACE race, down to 8cars Saturday 15k.

If you race against me - Keep using the Hoosiers