Wheels- Aluminum or Steel?

[Freshmeat]

As it sits I have 15x8 steel wheels on my Ex. I picked up some aluminum 15x7s from a Jeep today for a buddy, but he really needs a 15x8. I'm strongly considering swapping to the 15x7s with the intent of reducing my rotational tire weight. I wheel with the guy who swaps my tires so the cost to swap would be minimal. Tires are 34x10.50x15 LTBs.

Thoughts?

 

[Freshmeat]

Here's a rough shot with the wheels sitting in general position, currently wrapped with bald 33s...

 

[mmbretts]

do it. i love those rims. i have a set of those but theyre on a 5x5.5 pattern and 15x10... i always wondered what theyd look like on the sploder.. ;-)

 

[jmwright111]

they're only 7 inch and they're off a jeep! steel ones look better too.
only advantage is much lighter and change is fun.
i'd go with the steel ones cause they're better than my stock ones

 

[Freshmeat]

change is fun.

That's also admittedly part of this- it feel like something is missing. I think aluminum wheels will resolve that. Worst case I paint them black and still have lighter rotational weight.

 

[Tshark299]

Make sure your front hubs will fit through the center of the Jeep wheels. Some Jeep wheels have a smaller center opening... Jeeps with a 5x4.5" wheel bolt pattern do not have locking hubs.

 

[Freshmeat]

That's a good point to make for others. It was the first thing I checked and all is well. I had the tires swapped over yesterday. With the added backspace I now get a slight rub on the radius arms at full lock but that's nothing to worry about. It brought the tires in a bit and generally looks much better to me. I'll try to post a picture this afternoon.

 

[KPSquared]

I don't think that reducing rotational weight is a good enough reason... they're 34" tires... they are freakin heavy. The only thing that may cause you a problem (providing the hubs fit) is putting a 10.5 tire on a 15x7 wheel.

They may bulge a little and wear unven. How much lighter are the rims? I personally think the Heep rims are really ugly... but if they were black they may look a lot better.

 

[joedirt12345]

personally i prefer steel wheels cause the last time i did some serious off-roading i hit a dry riverbed's bank doing about 60 all that happened to my truck was a slightly bent front rim. the tire shop i took it to said that if i had alloy wheels on it i would have cracked the wheel and very likely bent the suspension plus my chrome steel wheels cost 45 apiece

 

[Nedwreck]

KP.... I've run 31x10.50's on stock wheels with no abnormal tire wear. Just sayin'

Personally I'm with joedirt.. I have outlaw2 aluminum wheels (with 33x12.50 AT tires) for the street and light use wheeling, and a set of 15x10 steel wheels slated for chunky MT tires. The steel wheels and tires are for rough stuff.

Aluminum don't bend very well.. it breaks! Steel bends! heh

 

[Freshmeat]

It's 90% mud down here, so it's incredibly rare to bend/crack a wheel.

By the time I have a trailer to haul it to the rocks it'll have a HP-D44 and 37s.

 

[joedirt12345]

I saw a set of carbon fiber rims somewhere if you're really worried about rotational mass but im not sure if they're street legal and they definately aren't cheap