Benefactor
So pretty much every vehicle now comes from the factory with alloy wheels. For vehicle manufacturers, it makes sense because of the weight reduction vs. a steel counterpart. There's less rotational mass to turn the wheel so there's a savings in fuel economy which is what most buyers pay attention to, more than the material the wheel is made from.
But there are times when the option to get new wheels presents itself, say if you want to upgrade the tires. Bigger tires means going taller, but a lot of the time, that also includes going wider. You may be able to go a size or two up and be ok with the height change, but a wider tire might rub (to varying degrees) on other parts. Mainly suspension or control arms. This starts getting into offset and backspacing.
Offset is the distance from the centerline of the wheel to the mating surface of the hub. Deep dish wheels have a negative offset, where the hub mounting surface is moved in, towards the brakes. Offset is typically measured in millimeters. Backspacing on the other hand, is the distance from the hub mounting surface to the outer lip on the backside of the wheel (the side nearest the brakes).
So if an alloy wheel offers better MPG, why should you consider a steel wheel? Well, for me, the main reason is this. An alloy wheel does not take too well to hard impacts. Once you start to air down, the chance of a rock hitting the wheel increases because there is more give to the tire. If an alloy is hit hard, there's a good chance it will crack. If this happens there's really no trail fix that will make it hold air. It will have to be taken out of service and replaced once you're home.
With a steel wheel, the material is much more pliable. So much in fact, that you can take a BFH, and pound the lip back into shape without really risking the chance of cracking it. You do need to be careful to not cause too many waves or undulations around the bead area of the wheel as you do this. Otherwise you may have air escaping through the little gaps and those can be very difficult to smooth out. Steel wheels can be a lot cheaper, as low as $55.00 per wheel, where an alloy may easily start at over $100 and quickly go up from there. The steel wheel typically won't have the fancy designs of an alloy, but they're more utilitarian in that respect. And you won't care as much if you get some rock rash scraping the paint off.
But there are times when the option to get new wheels presents itself, say if you want to upgrade the tires. Bigger tires means going taller, but a lot of the time, that also includes going wider. You may be able to go a size or two up and be ok with the height change, but a wider tire might rub (to varying degrees) on other parts. Mainly suspension or control arms. This starts getting into offset and backspacing.
Offset is the distance from the centerline of the wheel to the mating surface of the hub. Deep dish wheels have a negative offset, where the hub mounting surface is moved in, towards the brakes. Offset is typically measured in millimeters. Backspacing on the other hand, is the distance from the hub mounting surface to the outer lip on the backside of the wheel (the side nearest the brakes).
So if an alloy wheel offers better MPG, why should you consider a steel wheel? Well, for me, the main reason is this. An alloy wheel does not take too well to hard impacts. Once you start to air down, the chance of a rock hitting the wheel increases because there is more give to the tire. If an alloy is hit hard, there's a good chance it will crack. If this happens there's really no trail fix that will make it hold air. It will have to be taken out of service and replaced once you're home.
With a steel wheel, the material is much more pliable. So much in fact, that you can take a BFH, and pound the lip back into shape without really risking the chance of cracking it. You do need to be careful to not cause too many waves or undulations around the bead area of the wheel as you do this. Otherwise you may have air escaping through the little gaps and those can be very difficult to smooth out. Steel wheels can be a lot cheaper, as low as $55.00 per wheel, where an alloy may easily start at over $100 and quickly go up from there. The steel wheel typically won't have the fancy designs of an alloy, but they're more utilitarian in that respect. And you won't care as much if you get some rock rash scraping the paint off.
