I was talking to a tire company rep. just the other day. he was telling me about rim off tires. He said the bead seat on aluminun rims weares down and can allow the tire to let go, when stress is applied such as cornering,or road dips or bumps. Is there any truth to this? OSI
I have never seen it happen before, the tire wears out before the bead does anyway.
It is a problem with Aluminium rims , over the years and many tyres/tires a groove is worn on the inside lip as the tyre squirms with dust and grit as an abrasive . The tyre can do what he states . Also , the diameter of the outer bead should be measured as they can be under size . I found out the hard way , I bought a set of rims from a wrecking yard . The truck they came off had flat tyres and had been pulled up onto a float/lowboy for haulage . As the wheels turned , the outer lips were rolled perfectly to a slight under size . No body noticed when my tyres were fitted , first load of logs out of the bush , pulling up a steep pinch away they went . Two outer tyres flew off with huge explosions , the lubricant they used to mount the tyres was enough to allow the rims to slip a little which caused the tyre beads to ride over the lips . They measure them all now and have found quite a few that are now Beer cans .
The beads of aluminum rims do wear out over time. On my uncle's truck, the beads wore out to the point that they started to get fatigue cracks in them. A machine shop was able to weld up the cracked beads and re-machine them. Apparently, running wide tires on narrow rims compounds the problem.
Wow, I didn't know that. Learn something new every day. One more thing to watch and worry about now.
Fyi welding on wheels is a DOT red tag.