ALL radial tires are suseptable to sidewall pinch and flats, especailly in rocky terrain.
That is just the nature of a radial tire, the sidewalls are bowed and give more. Live with it or get some 6 ply bias ply tires .

THe aluminum wheel issue goes without saying, but I will because i guess i need to....

IF you are going to be riding in rocky terrain or mostly rock hounding you sould be running STEEL wheels, period.
Or suffer the consiquences of dinged or cracked wheels and flats.

Jim

 

I might add that the Vision Alum. wheels are some of the most Heavy Duty wheels you could buy, they are thick and that is why they are almost twice the weight of the ITP and other aftermarket alum. wheels.

I highly doubt you will crack or break one but you are sure to get dings in the rim lip and symulated beadlock.


Jim

 

I used to be in the wheel business years ago so allow me to shed some info. Perhaps purely by poor design these aluminum wheels are cutting tires. Cast aluminum wheel are inherently stronger than steel wheels but when their load limit is exceeded they can fracture and fail where steel, even though it has a lower load limit, will bend once it reaches its limitation. Forged aluminum wheel which exist in the automotive industry like Centerline's (who I worked for..) will have a much higher limit than cast wheels but will react like steel when it is stressed. Best of both worlds. I don't know if anyone builds a forged aluminum wheel in the ATV market though.

It sounds as if those with these bogus bead locks ought to break them down and go at them with a Dremel Tool or something. I have had not one issue with the 2 sets of ITP C3 wheels on my 400 or 500HO Sportsmans.

 

Hey jimmy check out the 05 Pol brochure and video they have playing in all their showrooms. Theres no pics of it on a trail. Their all spinning up over helmet sized rocks and the vid has it bouncing up and down a rock mountain. I'm not part of the R&D team. If they can't hold up to what they convey as normal riding on the toughest sportsman ever, than they should change it before dropping it off to my dealer and eventually ME. It's not up to us to make design changes. Call Pol and tell em' not me.

 

So it's not just me! I have been hammering and crescent wrenching the front rims on my 250's since I got them. The rims are far from round, but with the hammer and a couple cans of fix-a-flat they hold air just fine [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img].

I was well prepared with my 400, though. I keep the front tires at about 9 psi to keep the rim away from rocks. That helps a lot. But the 23" tires on the 250's don't do so well. Every ride down a powerline road is another nasty dent.

 

I'm not saying the alum wheels cant hold up or shouldnt, just that the steel is a better choice for rocks and the radial tires are just a fact of life for now until something better is designed.

I have a set of the chrome steel with GY Rawhides= no problems.
I have a set of Vision alum (bead lock) with ITP DU (pxt) radials= no problems.
*Except one that was out of round and replaced under warranty.

The tires are under warranty for 2 years I beleive and Carlisle/ ITP are taking care of their custumers.

Jim