[shakes]

I'm toying with the idea of running some shiny wheel's of some sort under my sierra and will be buying rims as well as tires in a couple of months.

So I continually hear the argument against alloy is that they will crack off road. and that steel can be belted back into a pretty close to round shape if so needed.

I'm not going to be doing any real touring in the sierra. most of my driving will be typical vic sloppy mud with a few rocks, and usually within a couple of hours of home, I'll probably never run beadlocks. Will be running 31's maybe a max of 33(unlikely but possible)

I have been known to use my right foot to make up for my lack of driving skill. But with limited funds to fix things now that might change.

Realistically how likely am I to crack/destroy/waste my money on some shiny round things when some old f100 rims and a can of satin black paint will suffice?

[jonno_racing]

i used to have roh mags, they looked good but scratched! and i was alway stressing! so i sold them! and superduki drove around aus on them. i now have 15x7 steel rims and i have the option off beed locks if i want.

[Gwagensteve]

Alloy rims of the same style typically all come from the same blanks regardless of application, so a rim that's sold for a sierra will also be used on a landcruiser.

By that you can imagine that an off the shelf rim for a sierra will be plenty strong enough if it's also designed for the weight of a patrol/cruiser whatever.

They will scratch, and you might ding up the bead seat area, but meh, whatever. I'd be surprised if you could break an alloy without doing lots of damage to your car.

On the other hand, the same goes for aftermarket steel rims - they are all rated for plenty more weight than a sierra, so they are inherently overbuilt when used on a sierra.

Stock sierra steel rims are easy to bend ( my 16X4.5's are trashed), but ROH/Dynamic whatever are pretty hard to bend on a sierra.

My problem with alloys is the unhelpful backspacing they often have, the inability to change the backspacing, or add a beadlock except a secondleak), and the requirement for whacky wheelnuts (or longer studs - the "right" way of running a thicker wheel)

I run steel currently, but my next car will be running these:



But to do it I'll be running longer studs, possibly 14mm VW studs as I won't run those nasty acorn deep wheelnuts. I don't like them.

Just some thoughts.

PS I don't think there's very much weight difference in it when comparing say a 15X7 steel and a cheaper, cast 15X7 alloy. My Walkers are insanely heavy.

Steve.

[Built4thrashing]

ghet it rego'd first shakes then buy my Silverstones extremes on the 15x8's for the weekend work.


B4T

[Fatzook]

My DC1's are rated at 2500lbs (1130kg) each!!!! And the bead is insanely thick.

As steve said, if you bust an offroad alloy wheel, the rest of your zook is gonna be equally busted.

Just make sure you buy a rim that is designed for offroad use.

[zuk_244]

Ive had CSA Mags on my sierra since i got it and have never had any trouble. Ive had them up and down rocky rivers, through the mud and on two wheels atleast half a dozen times (i really should stop doin doughnuts) and anywhere else i feel like going.

Just be warned, the first decent bog hole you get stuck into will scratch them up pretty quick.

[ajsr]

unless you can live with the scatched and dull alloy get steel.

steve they are mighty pretty rims

[alien]

blow for blow i think alloy loses every time...

theyre more expensive and usually the same weight if not heavier and are available in only minimal offset.

steelies by comparison are cheaper and available in a wide range of offsets, and i think easier to maintain (ie if you scratch it you can just paint over it).

[BertZook]

yeah you re right but at least with alloys you can find lots of different shapes and desings, rather than the triangular holes shape of steels and the two or tree other desings of procomp has.... Seriously its too hard to came up with other desing. They aint bad but im tyred to see every 4wd with the same black painted triangular holes steelies

[Benz]

sleelies rust and look poo too
well they do if you dont paint them properly

[BlueSuzy]

I like my steelies for rock rash. They are tough if i grind a rim with a rock.

But my next set will be alloys. The outer rims are thick on my style, and if i want, i may put a 3mm metal guard rim on for hardcore stuff. Just so it protects the alloy from ugly grooves from rocks as they are abit of bling also..

[smiffkid]

walker evans beadlocks like steve is getting, would be the only alloys id run on any vehicle i owned, besides they look shit hot, they are tough as and you can either use the bead lock, or run the tire on the inside on the bead like any normali tire.
other wise my primary choice would be steel

[Fatzook]

smiffkid wrote:

walker evans beadlocks like steve is getting, would be the only alloys id run on any vehicle i owned, besides they look shit hot, they are tough as and you can either use the bead lock, or run the tire on the inside on the bead like any normali tire.
other wise my primary choice would be steel

What about Trail Ready, Champion, BTR, KMC enduro, Allied Racing, Spyderlock just to name a few. Walker evans are great, but they haven't changed there wheels in a long time.

[smiffkid]

correct they havent changed.
but there is nothingd wrong with them y change that.

[dank]

smiffkid wrote:

walker evans beadlocks like steve is getting, would be the only alloys id run on any vehicle i owned, besides they look shit hot, they are tough as and you can either use the bead lock, or run the tire on the inside on the bead like any normali tire.
other wise my primary choice would be steel

Dunno about that. One of the recent cliffhanger events there was about $6000 worth of Walker Evans beadlocks destroyed....

That's comp driving though, and sierras are light so i reckon all will be ok.

My steelies were leaking at the bead after a few hard trips and some hard driving....lots of foot to the floor bouncing and jumping through ruts etc...

Cleaned them out and were still leaking....so I gave the rim a bash with the hammer where they were leaking....no more leaks....try that with an alloy.

After seeing a few guys running alloy beadlocks...I would consider them if the right offsets were available.

[alien]

the question is though - how much do the alloys cost vs the steel equivalent, and why choose one over the other.

[smiffkid]

thats right.
bead locked steel im lookin and 250 max.
beadlocked alloy around 400

[Fatzook]

steel beadlocks

From $325 per wheel.

[smiffkid]

well im just going off the prive i can get these things for.
not what u guys get them for.
but id rather steels.

[shep]

i like my alloy rims, good offset and strong enough to hold a F100 off the ground.
they have certainly caused no issues in the 3 years and at least 60,000 km that i have owned them.

[BlueSuzy]

Getting my rims from the us will be $154 maximum each, including postage.

[kirstyandgrace]

You can't see them from the driver's seat, so I don't care.

I wouldn't change a rim on a 4x4 unless I was gaining an advantage in
tyre size or wheel track.

Appearance seems to be the only advantage with alloy rims for a
vehicle used off road.

[dank]

BlueSuzy wrote:

Getting my rims from the us will be $154 maximum each, including postage.

Where can we all get these ridiculously cheap rims from?

Link

[Fatzook]

dank wrote:

BlueSuzy wrote:

Getting my rims from the us will be $154 maximum each, including postage.

Where can we all get these ridiculously cheap rims from?

Link

I think they are for an RC crawler.

[BlueSuzy]

tirerack.com shopping noobs!

[shakes]

Built4thrashing wrote:

ghet it rego'd first shakes then buy my Silverstones extremes on the 15x8's for the weekend work.


B4T

rego is first. arent your tires nearly dead?

[TZAR]

Gwagensteve wrote:

But to do it I'll be running longer studs, possibly 14mm VW studs as I won't run those nasty acorn deep wheelnuts. I don't like them.


Steve.

Some falcons came with mega studs. About 75mm long. They also had HUGE nuts that were 21mm head but the base was about 27mm across.

It was for a special LTD or fairlane. The bottom of the stud is about 9/16 and that goes up for abot 20mm then reduces back down to a 1/2 unf thread

Just an idea. I can look if you are keen. I have some in the shed somewhere