Jerrod Jones
Former Editor, Off Road
Almost out of nowhere, we put our ear to the ground and heard rumor that Center Line had a new bead-lock and runflat wheel for the off-road market. We barely had our shoes on before we were in our truck and headed to Center Line's facility to bust down the door and get our own look at the I.C.E. (Internal Centering Element) wheels before they're even available. By the time you read this, Center Line should be in full production with the first offerings of 17x8 and 17x9 I.C.E. wheels. What we have pictured are some of the first forgings and prototypes of these new wheels, so they haven't even been polished yet. What you will be able to buy is either a polished or chrome finish.
Center Line's new I.C.E. wheel is a three-piece forged modular wheel. Pictured are two wheels, one assembled and the other apart. The first offerings will be 17x8 and 17x9 wheels, with 18s and 20s following. They are available in either five-, six-, or eight-lug popular bolt patterns, with the five- and six-lug wheels having a 2,200-pound load rating, and the eight-lug wheels taking 3,200 pounds per wheel.
The outboard modular section is very thick and accepts either 20 or 22 bolts to lock it to the inboard modular section. Check out how thick this forged outer piece is compared to the thumb on the edge of the wheel. This wheel will have variable backspacing to choose from, and this will dictate how many bolts (20 or 22) hold the wheel together.
This is the centering element and runflat portion of the wheel. It sandwiches in between the outboard and inboard modular section, and creates a bead lock at the outer wheel lip. Should you have a blowout, Center Line does not recommend running on the runflat for more than 20 miles before addressing the tire and wheel. Notice the cut out portion at about 10 o'clock on the centering element? This is to allow tire-monitoring systems to be adapted to the wheel.
On both the inner and outboard modular sections there are O-rings to seal the wheel together and allow for no leakage, without the use of any kind of one-time-use sealant.
