gogrlgo

Im looking into purchasing new wheels. Curious on the difference between cast aluminum, forged aluminum, and steel. (pros and cons)

Thanks
~Angie

Mk-Dubai

well the steelies are tough and are good for rough terrain especially rocks but if you got big tires i doubt anything would get to them anyway, the negative side is that they are heavy, the aluminium ones are much lighter but i dont have much info on them.

just my 2 cents

IPvFletch

Forged will most likely always be lightest. It provides superior strength in incredibly small amounts of steel. You could even do a lighter metal like forged aluminum, but I don't know how well it would stand up or if it is really possible, so most people do forged steel or some kind of metal-alloy. It is obviously far stronger throughout as it is not weakened by melting/"casting" the metal.

Also possibly Carbon Fiber but it may be a bit heavier than a forged alloy wheel.

But after that would be cast alloy or aluminum usually. Then steelies.

But do note most alloys while they use a lighter material, are much thicker (they have to be for strength) and often times add so much to the weight for reinforcement. Steel on the other hand can be strong and quite thin, like most steelies are. So the savings in thickness helps to keep it close. So it is not by much.

Add in tires and now the wheel is like 1/3 or 1/2 of the total unsprung weight, so that 1/2 is not as important as might have thought (this is only true when using large tires that weigh a lot) but still less weight is always better.

gogrlgo

thanks. Suggestions on a set of quality beadlocks?