Steelies or Alloy?

[rhettdog]

My steelies are fine. I think one of the reasons you see more problems balancing them is because most people with steelies have bigger and more agressive tires that are harder to balance.

[Tankota]

SHP previously said:

1) Don't get steelies because "you can't ballance them"; and

I think I know where this comes from.

Brand new OEM, and new out of the box steel rims should ballance fine as long as they are made well. If you drive on the street all the time they should always ballance just fine.

Problem comes when you air down and go off-road.. realy off-road, as in over rocks, big ruts, etc, while aired down and I'm not talking a graded dirt back road. Steel rims bend and/or warp real easy if impacted and/or bounced hard off-road. Alloy's are actually much much thicker and stronger. If you hit an alloy hard enough to break or crack it, you would have more than destroyed a steel rim doing the same thing, so I don't want to hear somebody whine about alloy rims break. I ran steel rims for ages, and they always bent or warped pretty quick and became impossible to ballance. The only advantage of a steel rim is they are cheap. The alloy's used off-road will not bend or warp, and are much lighter. Look at most of the off-road trucks and rock crawlers. How many of them are running steel rims? Not many at all. Almost all are running alloy wheels with or without bead locks.

And then there is the argument you can bend a steel rim back if you dent it off road. I was able to only do that once where the bead leaked where the rim got bent, we were able to hammer it back and seal it enough to get home. But the rim was still trashed and had to be replaced, I could have just as easy put the spare on instead of hammering on it.

So there is some basis to that statement. If you are a street driver, it's false. If you realy use them off-road, it's true.

[bucko]

Remember when you have your wheels/tires balanced to have them balanced "lug centric" and not "hub centric" whether you decide to go with steel (my preference) or alloy, this is important in order to get a good ride.

[chiefbigred]

I prefer utilitarian look of the black steelies. But as most of my time is on pavement, I want to know if anyone can tell me what the weight difference is on the steel versus alloy. I imagine it is more, but can't be a pound or 2 more, can it?

I know unsprung weight is a big issue, but I don't know what the comfort range is.

Hope someone provides some information to this old ass thread.

Rob

[MaineFJ]

Bucko - excellent point - DO NOT LET A TIRE SHOP BALANCE YOUR STEELIES HUB-CENTRIC. A local tire shop did just that on my steelies - the result was 3 DAMAGED hub centers due to the wrong adapter being used to tighten the wheel down on the balancing machine.

Be sure to insist the shop use the lug adapter to LUG-CENTRIC balance the steelies. The tire shop admited their mistake and bought me three new toyota OEM steelies and did the job right. They made it good, but what a major inconvenience.

My Hankook MTs required very little weight - average of 3 oz. per wheel. Not bad for a MT.....

I kept my alloys and will run revos on those for spring/summer/early fall. Steelies with MTs for late fall/winter.

[rutherk1]

I just put steelies on my Black Diamond. I love the look. Makes it look a little less poser. The local firestone put the revos on it and did a road force balance. They are perfect.

[RomaBoy]

chiefbigred previously said:

I prefer utilitarian look of the black steelies. But as most of my time is on pavement, I want to know if anyone can tell me what the weight difference is on the steel versus alloy. I imagine it is more, but can't be a pound or 2 more, can it?

I know unsprung weight is a big issue, but I don't know what the comfort range is.

Hope someone provides some information to this old ass thread.

Rob

It's more than a couple of pounds. I read here that the alloy wheel is 26 pds. and the steel wheel is something like 34 pds.

[1911]

gascolator previously said:

It's amazing the crap people will make up to try to sell you something
that they want to sell you and which you don't want, because it costs
more and its in their interest to do so.

Either that or because they're just incompetant and don't know how
to balance a wheel properly.

Most likely both; 4 Wheel Parts counter help are complete morons who couldn't find their own ass with two hands. Like Dylan says, it's a wonder that they still know how to breathe.

[rutherk1]

All cars with hubcaps have steel wheels. Steel wheels are no different in balancing then alloys. I have heard they are easier to balance because you can put weight on either side.

[Sky]

1911 previously said:

Most likely both; 4 Wheel Parts counter help are complete morons who couldn't find their own ass with two hands. Like Dylan says, it's a wonder that they still know how to breathe.

Got that right!

And I have an OME lift and 17x9's