Ok well i got the lids i was talking about.
the original tires are just junk.
i have a bunch of maisto rock crawler tires laying around. they are only half the width of the original ones but two of them together are close enough to work out.
i'm going to cut down the height of the lid and cut the center out so the outer (chrome) piece will get bolted on holding the lid/bead lock in place keeping the tire on.
i guess we will see if it works out. i'll post up progress when i can.