Aluminum vs Steel Wheels

[0|||||||0 Ray]

I have the 5-hole aluminum wheels on my 99 TJ. Almost every time I go
wheelin, I have to take at least one wheel in to have the bead cleaned
and/or repaired from getting a bunch of sand/gravel/mud in there. Does
aluminum flex more than steel would and allow contaminants to enter the bead
more easily? I don't do any rock crawling to speak of. Most of my wheeling
is at The Badlands in Attica, IN where the trails consist of mud and/or
sand. I'm considering getting some cheap AR-767's if that would help. I
don't want to spend a lot of money on something that I'm just going to
abuse. I'm also interested in reducing the amount of backspacing for when I
go with bigger tires.

--
Ray
99 TJ Sport
Chili Pepper Red
2" Procomp Suspension Lift
30" BFG/MTs
Ramsey REP8000 Winch
48" Front-Bumper-Mounted Hi-Lift Jack
0|||||||0

Central Illinois Jeep Club
www.cijeep.com

[Don]

Throw some 12.5's on those puppies and the bead will have a lot harder
time flexing away from the rim. I doubt the tires and sand know the
wheels are AL, unless you told them. My YJ has 33x12.5 tires on 7"
stock TJ wheels.

Don
============================

[David C. Moller]

Dunno... I have the Canyons and have yet to have problem with them. How low
are you airing down? Only thing I can think of that would be causing junk to
get into the bead.
--
Dave
http://home1.gte.net/res0p2es/david/index.htm

"0|||||||0 Ray" <res009js...@gte.net> wrote in message
news:eGFh9.5534$Se2....@nwrddc01.gnilink.net...

[Brian French]

Well the army has always gone for tall skinny tires to slice through the bud to
the rock below (as opposed to big flotation tires). They also have always gone
for steel rims. They did experiment with the first M151 Willys Prototypes and
early M151's - they had magnesium/alum rims. They quickly tossed them and
ordered replacement steel rims.
I have seen alum rims flex more than steel, Alum is also more porous, inviting
cracks that you would not have with steel.

Alum rims are so much lighter though.

What do I have? Steel rims on my military jeeps, and Alum Mags with flotation
tires on the 2 cj-7s LOL best of both worlds

<a href="http://members.aol.com/brimiljeep/WebPages/wwwDriveToWWII.html">
Brian's Military Jeeps of WWII www.Drive.To/WWII </a>
<a href="http://members.aol.com:/brimiljeep/WebPages/SquadronPatchPage.html">
Squadron Patches of WWII </a>

[Evan]

it was explained to me (by a Salesman trying to sell me the more expensive
rims)

that the aluminum or alloy, wheels are stronger,

But you can fix a steel wheel,

once you foul an aluminum your only option is to replace it,

but to the original post, sounds like you need a narrower wheel to keep the
bead tighter at low psi

01 sahara D44 9500I 31's and
a few outher homemade goodies

but outher wise stock (for now)
give it time, and money

Take out the "XXX" to e-mail me

[Jerry Bransford]

Evan wrote:
> once you foul an aluminum your only option is to replace it,

Not true in all cases. I used to dent my aluminum (American Eagle 054)
wheels while rock crawling and one day the dent was bad enough that air
was escaping. I figured it couldn't hurt so I took a two pound sledge
hammer to it and pounded the dent out from the inside. Low and behold,
that fixed it and the wheels are working fine to this day (at least for
the guy I sold them to a year later).

Jerry

>
> but to the original post, sounds like you need a narrower wheel to keep the
> bead tighter at low psi
>
> 01 sahara D44 9500I 31's and
> a few outher homemade goodies
>
> but outher wise stock (for now)
> give it time, and money
>
> Take out the "XXX" to e-mail me

--
Jerry Bransford
PP-ASEL KC6TAY
The Zen Hotdog... make me one with everything!
Geezer Jeep: http://www.jjournal.net/jeep/gallery/JBransfordsTJ/

[Del Rawlins]

On 19 Sep 2002 06:52 AM, Jerry Bransford posted the following:

> Evan wrote:
>> once you foul an aluminum your only option is to replace it,
>
> Not true in all cases. I used to dent my aluminum (American Eagle 054)
> wheels while rock crawling and one day the dent was bad enough that
> air was escaping. I figured it couldn't hurt so I took a two pound
> sledge hammer to it and pounded the dent out from the inside. Low and
> behold, that fixed it and the wheels are working fine to this day (at
> least for the guy I sold them to a year later).

The main problem I see with hammering on aluminum rims, is that the
aluminum work hardens, and if it cracks at a later date, that is where
it will happen. Also a lot of them are heat treated which does make
them stronger, but also more likely to fail when it has been pounded
back into place. Obviously it worked for you, but I don't recommend it
as a general practice. When I ran my family's tire shop, it was a long
standing policy that we didn't repair wheels for this reason. On at
least a couple of occasions, I turned away work on aluminum wheels that
had obviously been repaired, even (ack) welded on. It just wasn't worth
accepting the liability.

----------------------------------------------------
Del Rawlins- del@_kills_spammers_rawlinsbrothers.org
Remove _kills_spammers_ to reply via email.
Unofficial Bearhawk FAQ website:
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[0|||||||0 Ray]

Thanks a lot for the info guys. I spoke with another friend about it and he
suggested going with the steel wheels. I only usually air-down to about
20psi since I only have 30" tires right now. I don't want to trade much
clearance for traction/comfort. I'm going to go with some cheap AR-767's or
something along that line. I figure for the abuse I'll be giving them, I
won't want to have a lot invested. heh I've also heard that the aluminum
wheels have issues with corrosion and that it acts differently somehow than
steel as far as leaking around the corrosion.

--
Ray
99 TJ Sport
Chili Pepper Red
2" Procomp Suspension Lift
30" BFG/MTs
Ramsey REP8000 Winch
48" Front-Bumper-Mounted Hi-Lift Jack
0|||||||0

Central Illinois Jeep Club
www.cijeep.com

"Del Rawlins" <del@_kills_spammers_rawlinsbrothers.org> wrote in message
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