Method beadgrips

Dubs

Dubs

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Oct 1, 2024
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Truckee
Hi, I recently bought a 2015 jk sport and I’m upgrading wheels, tires, and suspension for phase 1. My jeep will mostly be for trails (live close to the Rubicon) and a little bit of driving around town - not my daily. I’m considering the Method 703 Beadgrips. My friends and local shop recommend beadlocks but they are expensive and double the price per wheel.

Does anyone have experience crawling and airing down the Method Beadgrips on rough trails - do you recommend them?

They seem like a good middle ground and I prefer them to cheap steel wheels. Thx.
 
I've never used that brand. But if you're building for tough trails, get real bead locks. The method bead grip is intended to keep the wheel from spinning within the tire. They really don't do much to prevent the bead from coming off.
 
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I personally have never used them but have seen them in action. I must say, I was impressed. The same trail I was running with 8 psi on beadlocks this dude with a newer Taco was running 8 psi with the Method Bead Grips. The trail rating was a 6 so nothing extreme but not a Sunday drive either.
 
Realistically, unless you're double-locked and properly set up for the 6+ rated trails - AND you don't intend to take any bypasses - you'll won't likely need beadlocks. In AZ, a lot of people ran their rigs at 9-11 psig without beadlocks and never (or super rarely) had an issue. I used to run my TJ's down to 8, but those are smaller and lighter than a JKU, albeit more narrow. I ran some full-size rigs down to 10 psig and never ran into trouble with beads popping, except for at the dunes.
 
My favorite bead locks of all time were the Staun internal bead locks. Not sure why they've never caught on. I ran them on a V8 swapped YJ running 40's. You can go clear down to zero PSI with those and still not pop a bead.
 
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Dirty Dog said:
My favorite bead locks of all time were the Staun internal bead locks. Not sure why they've never caught on. I ran them on a V8 swapped YJ running 40's. You can go clear down to zero PSI with those and still not pop a bead.
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I heard of stories of chaffing the inner edges and face that touches the wheel, causing early failure. Don't know how true it is across the board, but the one person I knew that ran them did eventually get rid of them because of this very reason a handful of times.
 
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pc1p said:
I heard of stories of chaffing the inner edges and face that touches the wheel, causing early failure. Don't know how true it is across the board, but the one person I knew that ran them did eventually get rid of them because of this very reason a handful of times.
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Interesting. I never had any problems, and that Jeep did some gnarly stugg.
 
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