Posted by chriscase on Sunday, August 27, 2006 at 5:29PM :
In Reply to: Paul, you're joking,,, or I'm blind posted by chriscase on Sunday, August 27, 2006 at 3:51PM :
Scroll down to the cut away view of the combat rim. Note the different bead angles? And see how the tire fits to the rim in the area you call 'bead retainer'? Both are variations allowed by the give in the tire. I believe it's called 'cold flow'. Aren't your pics higher up the page of used 7.50? Tires that have formed to the contour of the steel rim due to 'cold flow' of the rubber under the thousands of pounds of pressure from the air?
I know that I have seen more 9.00's on 5.5's than I have 7.50's. And I've never heard of anybody having tire retention problems. You would have to show me a tire off the rim that still held air to prove your point.
When I worked as a tire serviceman, we routinely put tires on rims that were over or under sized. Worst problem was poor wear charactristics. 9.00's on 5.5 would be expected to wear down the middle, 7.50's on 6.5 would probaly wear well, some more shoulder load is probably a good thing on most LT tires.