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PETLAS Has anyone tried these tires?

Mogman

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After mounting 4 of the tires I noticed the rings cast in the tires just outside the bead area are not even all the way around, so I put one on my test rig and sure enough the tire I tested was out of round coinciding with the "error" in the bead seating, so now I have to assume all the hell I have had for the last few years is due to the Trail Worthy Fab bead locks not allowing the bead to seat correctly on the rims, I have sent a note to TWF to see what they say and I guess I get to do all the work over again and may have to toss the TWF bead locks I paid dearly for:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:
HOPEFULLY I have not ruined $1500 worth of tires :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
 

Nutman

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After mounting 4 of the tires I noticed the rings cast in the tires just outside the bead area are not even all the way around, so I put one on my test rig and sure enough the tire I tested was out of round coinciding with the "error" in the bead seating, so now I have to assume all the hell I have had for the last few years is due to the Trail Worthy Fab bead locks not allowing the bead to seat correctly on the rims, I have sent a note to TWF to see what they say and I guess I get to do all the work over again and may have to toss the TWF bead locks I paid dearly for:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:
HOPEFULLY I have not ruined $1500 worth of tires :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
Dang that’s a bummer I hope you’re able to reset those beads and keep the tires. The interco RXM-32 tires I just mounted ride like soft cushions, so far so good. 🤞
 

Coug

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I believe that they say the bead lock rings are tire specific, because unlike the rubber military ones, the PVC ones have zero give to them, so if the size isn't perfect, it can cause issues when you are tightening down the wheel halves. Not sure if it would just make the halves not bolt together tightly, or if it is enough to force the tire bead to shift out of center on the rim (I wouldn't expect it to, but like I said, I have no idea what it would actually do)
 

Mogman

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I believe that they say the bead lock rings are tire specific, because unlike the rubber military ones, the PVC ones have zero give to them, so if the size isn't perfect, it can cause issues when you are tightening down the wheel halves. Not sure if it would just make the halves not bolt together tightly, or if it is enough to force the tire bead to shift out of center on the rim (I wouldn't expect it to, but like I said, I have no idea what it would actually do)
The problem is I just looked at the DuraVee that has the tires (BFG) and rims I specified when I ordered those TWF bead locks and see the same issue.
Most would never know they had a problem as it does not show up unless you are going over 70MPH

EDIT, I have retracted my statement about the TWF bead locks and the BFG tires below.
 
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Mogman

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I have decided to pull all the beadlocks, it is obvious they are interfering with the beads on the tires.
IF I had a table saw or access to a table saw I could probably do a decent job of cutting them down, but since I do not that is a moot point.
 

Mogman

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Well there they are,, 5 mounted Petlas tires minus the beadlocks.
I wish I had taken some pics or a video of filling the gap between the tire and rim with tire soap to seat the beads, I had to fill about 1 1/2" amazing how that stuff works.
It will probably be Tue before I can get them to town and have them balanced.
The heat index is 102, I have had enough of mounting/dismounting tires I'm gunna take a nap!.
IMG_20240512_141630495.jpg
 

Gcelevator

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Well there they are,, 5 mounted Petlas tires minus the beadlocks.
I wish I had taken some pics or a video of filling the gap between the tire and rim with tire soap to seat the beads, I had to fill about 1 1/2" amazing how that stuff works.
It will probably be Tue before I can get them to town and have them balanced.
The heat index is 102, I have had enough of mounting/dismounting tires I'm gunna take a nap!.
View attachment 923228
You could try balancing beads, i have had luck with them vs regular balancing weights as the later fall off.
 

Mogman

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You could try balancing beads, i have had luck with them vs regular balancing weights as the later fall off.
I have Centramatics but want to get an idea what I have to begin with, I have never had issues with weights falling off.
I did try balancing liquid once and that was a total disaster :(
 

Coug

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I had Les Schwab balance mine, one was 9 oz off.
They didn't get the clip on weights on very good; I went over all the exterior ones later after I lost one weight and clamped them down tighter. Haven't lost any more. The Centramatics keep everything in balance at speed, so mostly I just wanted to get them somewhat close when I did mine.
 

Mogman

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Well I finally got the chance to take the tires into Beeville to get balanced.
It was raining today and the other days this week were just too nice not to drive the DuraVee around.
So three tires came in under 5OZ and two were over 15OZ, the best one as far as weight and the visual appearance for radial runout was the one that was not mounted with the beadlocks first, so I may have skewed the results by damaging the tires with the beadlocks, otherwise I would say I was not impressed at this point.
I will get them mounted on the truck and test them in a few days but am not too hopeful they will perform well :(
 

Mogman

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I mounted the tires on the DuraVee today, out of the 5 there were 2 that had no detectable radial runout and took less than 5OZ to balance (one of these was the one I did not mount with the bead locks first)
1 of them had detectable radial runout (spinning the tire on my test setup) and took less than 5 OZ to balance.
2 of them had detectable radial runout and took more than 15OZ to balance.
I mounted the 2 best on the rear, the second best on the right front and one that took over 15OZ on the left front, I figured this would be the most sensitive location on the truck per the driver perspective.
There was some initial bouncing from the left front but I was pleasantly surprised that as I got up to speed (I ran them at 70-75 and 80MPH) as the Centramatics settled out it ran pretty dang smooth.
So the plan was to come home and buy one more tire and if that tire had no radial runout and balanced well I would assume I did damage the tires with the bead locks.
But the seller I bought from no longer has them listed and all other sellers I have found are $100 or more higher than what I paid originally.
So I will have to wait until I get some more disposable income before buying another, meanwhile I will run these and see how it goes.
These are smoother than the BFGs I pulled off.
I will likely try the other tire that took over 15OZ just to see if it is any better.
 

Mogman

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While I had all 5 of my original BFG tires off of the DuraVee I set about diagnosing them, having the "test hub" available really helps determining radial runout and balance.
Out of 5 tires there were 3 with very noticeable radial runout, this I initially contributed to the TWF bead locks but I now have to retract that statement.

I pulled all 3 apart and checked the rims with a dial indicator.

Of the 3 tire/wheel combinations that had runout 1 was a bad tire, the rim was fine so I mounted a new BFG on it.
1 of them was simply out of spec, it had .100" radial runout, I have set .050 as max
1 of them was obviously bent and I did not even bother with getting its specs.
So I put the 2 tires that were on the "bad" rims on different rims that passed specs and they no longer have what I would consider objectionable runout.
Every tire has some amount of runout and I have no way to accurately determine the precise amount of runout but before it was obviously an objectionable amount of runout on those three tires.

There was a VERY noticeable difference in the amount of "crush" needed to put the rim halves together between the BFGs and the Petlas tires while using the TWF bead locks, the Petlas apparently have a much thicker bead area on the tires.
I personally think there should have even been less crush on the BFGs but it does not seem to have any effect on radial runout.

I did take all the tires I mounted to 65psi giving them a chance to fully seat the beads, then reduced them to the 35PSI that I normally run them at.

I can balance the tires on my test hub also, the "sensitivity" is less than 3 OZ so that puts them well within the range of the Centramatics.

That guy charged me $125 to do a half A$$ job on the 5 Petlas tires

So I put the BFGs back on the DuraVee and it now runs down the road smooth as glass, in fact now I can detect some other vibrations I was not able to detect before, after all it will never be a Suburban.

As for the Petlas tires I have found a source so I purchased one more tire, I have 3 that have radial runout, 2 that are pretty bad but again the price difference between 1 and 2 per tire is the same.

The plan is to mount the new tire and if it has no radial runout which I do expect I will order more, I am at this point about 80% sure I actually ruined 3 of the 5 tires with the bead locks that were not correct for those tires and not the tires themselves.

As for my initial impression of the Petlas tires, they look great, the aggressive side walls are BA,.

There is however a noticeable vibration between 25-35MPH reminiscent of driving on a cobblestone roadway, the BFG also have this but not nearly as noticeable, I suspect this would subside somewhat with wear.

I will update when the new tire gets here and I get it mounted.
 
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Mogman

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I ordered the tire on Friday and it got here today, I had to laugh, normally the Fedex driver rolls the tires off of the truck and into my gate with more force that I care for but today it got away from him and rolled into the bar ditch, so he got to go down into the ditch and drag it out! a little poetic justice, I got it all on video :ROFLMAO:
The tire I removed had a large amount of radial runout and took more than 15oz to balance.
The "new" tire has almost no perceptible runout and only took 3oz to balance on the same rim of course.
So I am now I am 85-90% sure I damaged the tires I mounted with the bead locks, a very expensive lesson:(
I want to replace one more of the damaged tires before remounting them on the DuraVee, but it is ammo buying time so it will have to wait until next month.
 

camarossguy2

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My petlas came in today. look good, DOT 0824, so, lots of life. $390 ea shipped from simple tire.
Look like i will NOT be installing the bead locks, sorry for your troubles Mogman, thanks for the write up.
I am not yet sure the plan with balancing them. I own a balancer, i remember a few of my rims being off by several OZ with NO TIRE. with the bajas, they were calling for 16+oz... I used both beads and rings.
I may try to pick up a set of 24 bolts for the petlas install
 

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Mogman

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My petlas came in today. look good, DOT 0824, so, lots of life. $390 ea shipped from simple tire.
Look like i will NOT be installing the bead locks, sorry for your troubles Mogman, thanks for the write up.
I am not yet sure the plan with balancing them. I own a balancer, i remember a few of my rims being off by several OZ with NO TIRE. with the bajas, they were calling for 16+oz... I used both beads and rings.
I may try to pick up a set of 24 bolts for the petlas install
Interesting, the only Petlas tire I see at Simple that comes close is a 16" please post the link to the 16.5" tire
 

camarossguy2

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Interesting, the only Petlas tire I see at Simple that comes close is a 16" please post the link to the 16.5" tire

It would appear they are out of stock, but it was at this link :

Alternatively, they still show in stock on their eBay store:
 

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Mogman

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It would appear they are out of stock, but it was at this link :

Alternatively, they still show in stock on their eBay store:
Yep for a "little" more, I still need to replace one I damaged but I think I will wait and see if they get any back in stock.
 

Mogman

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My petlas came in today. look good, DOT 0824, so, lots of life. $390 ea shipped from simple tire.
Look like i will NOT be installing the bead locks, sorry for your troubles Mogman, thanks for the write up.
I am not yet sure the plan with balancing them. I own a balancer, i remember a few of my rims being off by several OZ with NO TIRE. with the bajas, they were calling for 16+oz... I used both beads and rings.
I may try to pick up a set of 24 bolts for the petlas install

If it were me I would run the original run flats, they are pliable unlike the bead locks I have, so there should not be any risk in damaging the tire.
If you don't then to begin with you will have a large gap between the bead and the rim and to get it inflated you will have to do one of four things.

1, Use Murphy's tire soap to fill the gap (what I do)

2, Take it to a tire shop that has bead setting ability.

3, Do something really dumb like using a solvent (starting fluid) to try to "blow" the tire up leaving plenty of solvent in your tire to slowly dissolve the rubber from the inside out.

4, Use a cargo strap around the tire to try and push the bead out, this can be very dangerous because the strap quickly gets a massive amount of tension on it making it nearly impossible to remove and could fail causing injury or death.

Then if for any reason your tire goes flat the bead will open up making re-inflating it nearly impossible because these rims do not have the same profile as a regular rim so the bead does not try to stay in place on the rim.
 

williamh

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Well there’s always this it blasts a lot of air to fill the tireIMG_5017.png

Or one of these that fills the gap between the tire and the bead and just pushes off when the tire is fully inflated. ( my fave next to starting fluid 😉)IMG_5018.png
 
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