Beadlock wheels driving on CA roads and highways...

[vwtipeii]

Hi yall... this may have been addressed many times in the past but it just came up again on Jeep Forum. I found this link regarding the rules of beadlocks on vehicles in CA:

http://www.liftlaws.com/california_lift_laws.htm

Has anyone ever been pulled over by CHP for running beadlocks? Good and bad stories? I am throwing a set (I mean considering) on my lil YJ and just want to have my story straight before I start running around out there...

Thanks,
B

[dirtman13]

Never been stopped for anything...yet.

IIRC there is no law about beadlocks anyway.

[aw12345]

Except for one or two, they are not DOT approved. But I doubt anybody would hassle you, since a lot of the fake beadlocks look pretty close to the real thing. Other than that, keep an eye on the bolts on the clamping ring not working loose and they are a bit harder to balance

[curtis]

Never had a problem yet.

[Russ Chung]

Brett,

How about these rims??

http://youtu.be/jyWICxXoe4A

They could be a chick magnet, unfortunately, they only come in 22", 24" or 26" sizes.

Russ

[1 Bad F N Z]

Brett,

How about these rims??

http://youtu.be/jyWICxXoe4A

They could be a chick magnet, unfortunately, they only come in 22", 24" or 26" sizes.

Russ

Those are pretty cool. Was thinking about some 22" spinners for the Cruiser, but I may reconsider, Kevin.

[6spdYJ]

Mild hijack, but fits here. Does anybody have experience with using balancing beads?

[Loser1]

I coundn't even watch the whole video, turned it off ofter the hot blond scene.

[vwtipeii]

if the blonde comes with the wheels I will get two sets!

[Tumbleweed13]

Balance beads work. Especially for large, hard to balance tires. Also good with beadlock wheels. If you don't want beads in the tire, check these out.

http://centramatic.com/Home.aspx

[mrchips]

Been pulled over by CHP for other thing, never wrote me up for the Beadlocks.
I balance mine internally with Equall, never had any issues, been doing it for 6 years

[Jerry Bransford]

Bead locks are absolutely legal for use on roads and highways in California. There is absolutely no law against their use here. Not even the federal DOT cares about bead lock wheels, they have no laws against their use on the road & suggest only that perhaps some state DOTs may have laws against them.

And peace officers can only cite when they can cite against a specific law that is on the books. A peace officer can't issue a ticket for bead locks simply because they personally don't like them.

This is the text from an opinion letter issued by the Federal DOT upon an inquiry about bead lock wheels made to them...

"Dear Mr. C,

I received this message from NHTSA this morning:

There are no performance or design requirements for rims covered under Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 120. However, there are rim marking requirements in S5.2 and rim selection requirements in S5.3.2. Note that in S5.2, a reference is made to rims of multi-piece construction, and this implies that these multi-piece rims are allowed. The bead lock rim appears to be a multi-piece rim and there is nothing that I’m aware of that would prohibit them from being used for on-road vehicles. I have attached a copy of the standard. It may be that some State DOTs are regulating them.

Hope this helps some

Sincerely,
Reference Services
National Transportation Library
Bureau of Transportation Statistics
Research and Innovative Technology Administration
U.S. Department of Transportation"

[FishPOET]

Bead locks are absolutely legal in California. Absolutely. There is no law against their use. Absolutely no law.

I read it on the internet on a Jeep forum. That must make it true.