 | Home > Wheels & Tyres > Steel vs Alloy: Urban Myth or based on hard evidence? |
 
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| Mad Cow Member Since: 27 Oct 2009 Location: Hertfordshire Posts: 292   
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Smacked one of my steel modulars on a concrete fence post that was hidden in the bottom of a ford.
Nice big ding in the rim but easily cured with a 4lb Club Hammer, tyre didn't even deflate. Not sure if one of my boost alloys would have survived so easily. MAD COW 2007 90 Hard Top - 2009 BMW F800GS - 2002 CCM 604E Dual Sport Project90 |
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18th Oct 2010 12:58pm |
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| Vixen Member Since: 17 Mar 2010 Location: NSW, Orstraya Posts: 97 
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I've always changed from alloys to steel before doing a long touring trip here in Aus for just a couple of reasons
1. Alloys look great and are not cheap to replace, whereas steel wheels are relatively cheap, so if you damage a steel wheel it's no big deal cost wise. Our outback roads tend to be hard on vehicles, some of then feel like they are made of half housebricks, so it wouldn't be hard to damage an alloy wheel or the tyres. 2. Changing tyres on the road....tackling alloys with tyre levers gives a chance of damage to the rims, so again cheaper & easier to do steel rims. Taking it to a servo with all the gear does not always mean it will be done without damage either 
It's better to change them before you head out and keep the pretty wheels for at home. And....you have to remember an outback trip for us can mean 10,000km of driving, so plenty of scope for damage  |
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23rd Oct 2010 10:26pm |
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| K9F Member Since: 12 Nov 2009 Location: Bournemouth Posts: 9610  
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SteveS - Make a phonecall or two first! Before you set your heart on a set of Mach 5s give the manufacturer a call first to see where he is in the production phase...Long story short Mach 5s have been like hens teeth for some considerable time due to the manufacturing process/rights being sold and the then new producers going belly up or something like that! Matt Lee the original manufacturer has been professing for a good while that production was about to restart after resecuring the manufacturing rights himself! I spoke to him some while ago and the new look Mach 5s with the flared spokes and redesigned centres were only initially going to be produced in Beadlockers to begin with. I run on old style Mach 5s 15 x 10s with a 40mm offset, I had to 'cobble them together' by purchasing bare steel and powder coated ones from Devon 4 x 4 and getting the bare ones powder coated. I got the last complete set of 15". Tyres are Coopers high flotation size 32 x 11.5 and like yours a ruler will be needed by the MOT tester. Fekete runs on 33 x 12.5 and he had a PC Plod  for sticky out too much. Have a look in my gallery and that of Fekete's if you're interested. I would give Matt a call direct to get the latest gen!
From the website it does imply that beadlockers are currently the only option! From memory I think it is AndrewS or Sonic that can enlighten you as to the traits of 'balancing a Mach 5 beadlocker!' 
http://www.mach5wheels.co.uk/index.htm#Wheels Personal apologies to Discocuzzy for posting the following picture. I couldn't possibly resist! Sorry mate!  
 If you go through life with your head in the sand....all people will see is an ar5e!!
Treat every day as if it is your last....one day you will be right!! |
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24th Oct 2010 8:30am |
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| SteveS Member Since: 05 Oct 2010 Location: Devon & Berkshire Posts: 388 
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Thanks for the good advice. I'm not in a rush to buy another set of rims yet so will continue to make enquiries with Mach5 and keep an eye on things over the coming months
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25th Oct 2010 9:51pm |
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| Supacat Member Since: 16 Oct 2012 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 11018 
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Food for thought
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18th Feb 2018 4:38pm |
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| Gilloverland Member Since: 12 Nov 2017 Location: Yorkshire Posts: 61
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I bent a modular steel wheel greenlaning two weeks ago - it was going down at a fair rate too but I managed to hammer it more or less into shape and pump it up again.
First time I've had to do that it about 20 years greenlaning! |
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18th Feb 2018 7:33pm |
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| Gilloverland Member Since: 12 Nov 2017 Location: Yorkshire Posts: 61
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I was just thinking of this video... |
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18th Feb 2018 7:36pm |
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| Grouse Member Since: 16 Apr 2012 Location: on the hill Posts: 528 |
Yes, I have bent the lip / rim quite badly on 3 or 4 occasions and just bashed it back with 2 big hammers, one on the inside and one on the outside. If they don't hold air I just put a tube in inflate it and off I went. No way on earth would an alloy put up with that abuse, they would just chip and crumble.
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18th Feb 2018 8:13pm |
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| okami Member Since: 06 Apr 2017 Location: Hertfordshire Posts: 90 
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I wouldn't argue that steelies aren't the easiest to repair in the bush -- bashing one back into shape isn't too difficult. This almost guarantees you can continue your trek and get back home.
However, in my personal experience, I've always struggled keeping steel wheels properly balanced. In practice they've always suffered from minor lip dents and buckles that made dealing with wheel vibration a pain. Mind you, I've never had HD wolf rims on anything so a stronger wheel could be the solution. None of my alloys have ever really suffered from this. I've been quite lucky that despite many lost tires, I've never had any major wheel damage outside of minor lip bends (steelies) despite most of my offroading having been in the American southwest. My experience is that many alloys tend to be a little bit more resistant to general lip bends, but if the force is too great they can catastrophically crack. I'm running factory steel wheels at the moment on my 200tdi, but I may add a set of sawtooths at some point. Constant struggle over keeping the clean factory look with a more modern a comfortable ride. |
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18th Feb 2018 10:26pm |
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| JimC Member Since: 22 Jan 2011 Location: NOVA Posts: 164  
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This is some bigtime thread resurrection.
I’m surprised though that no one has raised the point that with steel wheels, you can remove or replace a broken axle without removing the wheel. |
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19th Feb 2018 7:22am |
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| AndrewS Member Since: 10 Apr 2007 Location: Hereford Posts: 3709 
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You can with some alloys. Why does the Army run Blindo alloys? 130's have feeling's as well you know
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19th Feb 2018 8:19am |
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| blackwolf Member Since: 03 Nov 2009 Location: South West England Posts: 17679 
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Et voila! Blindos, showing that replacing a halfshaft would not be a problem.
Click image to enlarge |
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19th Feb 2018 10:21am |
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| Gilloverland Member Since: 12 Nov 2017 Location: Yorkshire Posts: 61
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Re the balancing I've just got some Dynabeads - not fitted yet but I'm hoping they'll do the trick!
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19th Feb 2018 11:45am |
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| Supacat Member Since: 16 Oct 2012 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 11018
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Was it because they were massively overweight with other elements of the vehicle upgrade and needed to shed weight were they could - wheels were thus compromised from steel to alloy. A decision made by a project team remote from any of the real world consequences... |
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19th Feb 2018 3:44pm |
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