Which wheels have safety beads?

[blubuckaroo]

I'm looking at 15, 16, & 17 inch rims.
I have been warned that only 15" rims have beads that are designed to hold when "aired down".
Is this BS?

 

[bronconut73]

I'm looking at 15, 16, & 17 inch rims.
I have been warned that only 15" rims have beads that are designed to hold when "aired down".
Is this BS?

Well, 16.5's have a very narrow bead section of the rim. This was done to make them easier to " manually " break down 16.5 split rims.

But I thought all the other sizes had a similar, ie,.. wider bead section of the rim.

 

[Yeller]

All 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20"+ modern automotive wheels have a safety bead. 16.5, 17.5, 19.5, 22.5 and 24.5 are all comsidered commercial truck sizes and have little to no safety bead, these sizes rely on interlocking taper that is easy to break down at low/no pressure. True at one point in history but not since the early 50's, so complete BS for anything your going to want to put on your bronco

 

[bronconut73]

We ran 16.5" split rims on our fleet well into the early 90's. That way the kid in the shop out back can break them down for cheap tire repairs here at the office.
I was that kid. We "slowly" got away from them after the 20/20 episode about exploding split rims.

They really do suck, lol...

 

[blubuckaroo]

Thanks all!
Good info that helps with my wheel decision.

 

[garberz]

I know that any chrome rim sucks for keeping the tire on the bead while aired down. I run aluminum 15x8's, they hold well at 10psi. Tires are 35/12.50-15's.

Mark