I'm in the market for "race wheels" with reinforcement rings in the outsides of the wheels. I've looked at the beadlocks, race wheels and the rolled edge designs and have decided on the Race wheels with reinforcement rings (outside and inside for the rears, outside for the fronts). My big gripe is, Why do these wheels cost so much? You'd think they were made of gold instead of regular aluminum. Here is the deal, I can get a regular .190 wheel for less than $50. Why is it that when the reinforcement rings are added, the price jumps to $120? I know they'll last a lot longer, but come on!

Second, does any one know where I can get a set for under $100 a piece?

 

Have you looked at the new carbon fiber wheels by HiPer tech they r the best wheel for the money and by far the strongest .If u happen to damage the wheel u can buy the piece u damaged ,but thats not likley to happen .I think they have some kind of warranty also .hipertechnology.com i think is their web site

 

DSBUDDY,

Yeah, I looked at them. They're right too. They are just as cheap as the beadlock wheels from other manufacturers and even lighter too. The problem is I can't afford to spend $175+ per wheel for regular beadlocks, so I can't afford to buy their wheels either. That's why I just wanted reinforcement rings on the wheels. I figured that due to the extra machining on the beadlocks they should cost much more than just reinforcement rings, and they do. I've contacted OMF and they gave me a price of $84.95 for the fronts and $119.95 for the rears. This is better, but I still don't think it justifies the jump of $35 for the fronts and $60 for the rears. I mean we're talking about a couple of cents worth of aluminum and the time and effort required to weld them to the wheels. It really shouldn't justify the outrageous prices everyone is charging.

 

One of the reasons might be they have to cut the rings from a sheet of aluminum and theres a lot of extra waste.

 

Mike,
if you had to pay for material,cnc machine,welding machine,building,utility,salary for employees,,fed.taxes,state taxes,property taxes,unenployement,healt and bus. insurance,vacations,sick days,bookeeping,office supply,building and machinery repairs,bus.loan...etc....not mentioning pension plan or/and K401 contribution..how much would you charge???
You, as a public servant, have everything taking care of...you might not like the price,but you can not judge it.

 

colt77,

I can understand where you're coming from on the issue of employee benefits and stuff, but why does the same company that sells the $120 race wheels offer the same wheel without the reinforcement rings for only $50? It seems to me that they would charge more than just $50 for the regular wheels if that was the case. Don't get me wrong, $50 is a bargain for what you get, but I just wanted to know where the extra expense goes. Surely the rings and the welding doesn't justify that much of an extra cost.

I do have a theory. I figure if you buy the regular .190 wheels and ding them up, you'll spend another $50 each on new ones. With the race wheels being so hard to ding up (because of the way they're built) it's a one time only deal. Nothing short of a fire (over 1400 degrees) or deliberately running just the wheels (with no tires) on rocky terrain will destroy them. Since these are a one time only deal, they feel they can afford to charge you more, since you probably won't be buying replacements for them. I might be wrong, but I don't think so.

Beadlocks are another story, they have to have a lot of machine work done to them to make them work. This in my opinion would justify their extra cost. Much more so than just the reinforcement rings. Even the billet wheels with their rolled edges and milled centers justify their cost due to the extra machining and work involved.

K_Fulk,

I don't think this is the case. What's left after the rings are made, they either use for other things, or sell for scrap. Either way the stuff's not wasted and they still make a profit off of it.

Believe it or not, I'm not angry at letting these people make a profit off of my purchase, they do have to stay in business. I'm just curious at where the extra money goes.

 

Mike - I recently got a set of rear billet beadlocks for my R. I remembered that the inside edge had the ring installed on the older (or not billet) beadlock rims. But mine did not. Then I looked at the thickness of the inside edge. This this is thick! Off the top of my head I would say at least a 1/4 inch!

Not sure if the inside edge of the billet beadlocks are the same as the regular rolled edge rims. But if they are, you may not want to spend the cash on the rings.

Oh, these things were expensive as well. If I didn't have my mind set up (stubborn as the wife says) on getting them, I would have went for something cheaper.

 

Well I recently got my catalog from OMF. The price of the reinforcement rings alone areabout $33 a piece. The rims with the rings installed are cheaper, plus you don't have to find a shop that specializes in welding aluminum to put them on.

Now I have two choices. They make a .160 wheel with reinforcement rings and also a .190 wheel with reinforcement rings. The .160s are about $10 cheaper than the .190s. I can't see where the rears with .160s and two rings would be any less sturdy than the rears with .190s and two rings. The fronts will have to be .190s, because I can't run two rings on it because of the A-arms and ball joints getting in the way.

Now if I can only find a price list for beadlocks for my Bronco.........[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

what is the thickest of the rings that they install?reason for asking i build alum. hull boats and have plenty of scrap alum. laying around maybe i can just make my own.also mike if your interested i might be able to work something out with you on making u some or installing some if u just want to buy the rings.

 

The aluminum rings are generally made from 3/16 thick 6061 aluminum. They may even be 7075 but I can't imagine justifying the extra cost. They are also about 1 1/4" wide and have holes evenly spaced to allow mud, water and other debris to exit the rim.