Wheels

[Will0051]

Steel or Alloy wheels which are better for offroading? Pros and Cons. Thanks

[k5commando]

I know that the steel wheels on my crawler are a lot easier to beat back into shape enough to hold air after some serious bashing. I'm sure most high grade aluminum wheels you can do this with, but I have seen a few crack after trying to bend them back the same way.

Just my observation.

[mountainpete]

Steel is heavier, but cheaper and it can be hammered back into shape if they get damaged. Steel wheels rust, but they can also be painted to look like new easily.

Aluminum is lighter, usually better looking and more expensive. They are more likely to crack due to a strong impact then bend (although the actual number of cracked wheels is very low). Aluminum scrapes and scratches and while it is possible with the right prep, it's more challenging to paint.

Pete

[Jeep]

Something that came up recently when outfitting some F-350 crew trucks with more durable/available wheels and tires. I found most aftermarket steel wheels were rated up to 1000 lbs less than comparably priced aluminum. We ended up replacing the factory 18" steel wheels (which were cracking in a few different places) with Eagle 589's and 17" rubber (Hankook RT03's studded). The wheels were priced the same as regular black steel wheels and after 1 winter of hard driving in the Canadian oil industry there have been no failures.

[madizell]

If you regularly air down and don't use bead locks, and if you use a width of wheel recommended for the tire, you are more likely to spin the tire on the rim with aluminum than with steel. Don't really know why that is. If you choose a width of rim that is an inch or two narrower than recommended, the problem tends to go away.

[Grim Reaper]

Rock crawling where wheel damage it very common steel all the way. Everything else Aluminum to save the weight. Unsprug weight is bad especially on stuff like washboard roads. Eats at acceleration and braking as well.

Factory steels with 235 75 15's on my Toy were 61lb.
15x7 AR Outlaw II Aluminum with 33x12.5 x15 68 lb.

15x10 Steel with 35 12.5 15 BFG Muds 92lb each.


My Tow rig got shod with Eagle 589's and 265x75 LTX Michelins for exactly the same reason as Jeep ran across. They were rated more and matched the load rating (8600 GVWR) of the truck better then any of the steel wheels I was finding locally. Haven't weighed them but they were noticeably lighter then what came off.

[p1michaud]

Steel or Alloy wheels which are better for offroading? Pros and Cons. Thanks

Some great information here: Steel Wheels Vs Aluminum Wheels

[DaveInDenver]

Desert Rose also got some discussion recently on her question about wheel for her FJ60. Best Wheel for a FJ60

There is no universally 'best' wheel for off highway driving. You can not minimize the benefit of unsprung weight. But steels wheels, especially for the cost, will tolerate more abuse. But they are heavy and typically are harder to true and balance.

[Lynn]

Factory steels with 235 75 15's on my Toy were 61lb.
15x7 AR Outlaw II Aluminum with 33x12.5 x15 68 lb.

Has anyone else done actual weight comparisons (preferably without the tires)?

Reason I ask is that I was rather surprised to find out a few years ago that AL scuba tanks tend to be heavier than steel ones, due to the fact that it takes so much more material to make an AL tank of the same strength.

There is a common misconception among divers that AL tanks are lighter, and I'm wondering if a similar misconception is possible in these discussions.

[Rallyroo]

Reason I ask is that I was rather surprised to find out a few years ago that AL scuba tanks tend to be heavier than steel ones, due to the fact that it takes so much more material to make an AL tank of the same strength.

There is a common misconception among divers that AL tanks are lighter, and I'm wondering if a similar misconception is possible in these discussions.

AL tanks may be lighter, but you end up having to compensate by putting on more weight on your weight belt to offset buoyancy. Which is why I dive steel; it allows me to dive with less weight on my weight belt. Steel also supports higher psi in a smaller form factor over AL.