15" Alloy Wheels VS. 15" Steel Wheels
#241
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I dig it! Nice work!
#242
JK Enthusiast
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Tempe, AZ
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Please sent me some options on a set of 5 34" (approx) AT/MT tires with these black wheels shipped to 60002. I have a Rubicon Unlimited 6 speed with 2/1" leveling kit.
Thanks
Chris
Thanks
Chris
#244
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Thread Starter
http://www.discounttiredirect.com/di...w=false&cs=295
http://www.discounttiredirect.com/di...p=Truck&tmn=72
Mounting and balancing is FREE and shipping is also included for FREE to IL.
15x8 MB72 - $99.00 each
35x1250-15 KL71 - $218.00 each
Lug Kit - $45.00
Non TPMS Valves - $3.00 per wheel
Mounting - FREE
Balance - FREE
Shipping - FREE
Sales Tax - N/A to TN
Discounts - $50.00 OFF 4 new MB Wheels
Discounts - $50.00 OFF JK member discount for purchasing 5 tires
#246
Sponsoring Vendor
Thread Starter
Of course. We guarantee the lowest delivered price on everything we sell. Here's a link to some 17" wheel options. Give us a call if we can help you with a quote.
http://www.discounttiredirect.com/di...*5-5%2F5.5&rw=
http://www.discounttiredirect.com/di...*5-5%2F5.5&rw=
#249
Errors with Facts
I have a couple serious issues with some of the facts put forward in the initial entry of this thread by the Discount Tires Rep.
First
"Many of you have already found that 15" steel wheels are very hit and miss with brake clearance. Steel wheels are manufactured in two pieces, the center is stamped into shape and then welded to the barrel. This stamping process leaves flanges at the back of the spokes (or holes in the soft 8's case) and these flanges often make contact with the Jk's brake calipers. The easiest fix for this is to run spacers (not recommended by the wheel manufacturer). Running spacers adds $$$ to your wheel and tire package and again, weight. (The common Spidertrax bolt on spacers run $99.00 for the set of 4) Some may try to grind down the wheel or caliper this is not recommended either. Grinding down the wheel can jeopardize the strength of the wheel and grinding down your brake caliper"
The rims are NOT rubbing because of bad rim manufacturing. They are rubbing due to allowed tolerance in the casting process of the brake calipers. A certain amount of draft is added to the exterior of a casting to cause a clean brake from the sand casting mold. This discrepancy in the castings is what rubs. It is definitely NOT due to the rim construction. Grinding it off removes .045"-.125" at best and definitely doesn't compromise the caliper. I would be shocked if anybody at the dealership even noticed after they were driven a few thousand miles. I know this because I have worked as a mechanical engineer in the automotive industry, sometimes specifically with casting & molding processes for almost 15 years.
Second
"Steel rusts, Aluminum alloy doesn't. Enough said here I think. Either one can be touched up easily if scratched or scuffed."
I can promise you, as sure as God made little green apples, ALL METAL INCLUDING STAINLESS STEEL WILL OXIDIZE! Admittedly, stainless steel oxidizes at a much slower rate than other steel alloys, but aluminum definitely "rusts". It just appears as a white residue (copper is green, etc.), but trust me, it's "rust". Also, the silica found in the rubber of your tires actually increases the speed at which aluminum oxidizes & deteriorates, causing pitting along the bead which causes slow leaks. In my opinion, I would go with aluminum, if you have the money, because it's less unsprung weight. But saying it doesn't "rust" is just wrong. Period.
Steel Cragars are painted on the interior and along the bead. Even scratched on the exterior, it would take an extremely long time for a steel rim to rust so far that it would compromise the integrity of the rim and it's performance. I haven't seen any testing on this, but the auto industry has been making steel rims for decades without rust taking over steel rims so fast it caused issues. Just look around on your day to day commute.
Anyway, what this dude at Discount Tire Direct is offering is a decent deal on a good product. I just can't stand it when people don't get all the facts straight and I see other people referencing this post on other threads.
First
"Many of you have already found that 15" steel wheels are very hit and miss with brake clearance. Steel wheels are manufactured in two pieces, the center is stamped into shape and then welded to the barrel. This stamping process leaves flanges at the back of the spokes (or holes in the soft 8's case) and these flanges often make contact with the Jk's brake calipers. The easiest fix for this is to run spacers (not recommended by the wheel manufacturer). Running spacers adds $$$ to your wheel and tire package and again, weight. (The common Spidertrax bolt on spacers run $99.00 for the set of 4) Some may try to grind down the wheel or caliper this is not recommended either. Grinding down the wheel can jeopardize the strength of the wheel and grinding down your brake caliper"
The rims are NOT rubbing because of bad rim manufacturing. They are rubbing due to allowed tolerance in the casting process of the brake calipers. A certain amount of draft is added to the exterior of a casting to cause a clean brake from the sand casting mold. This discrepancy in the castings is what rubs. It is definitely NOT due to the rim construction. Grinding it off removes .045"-.125" at best and definitely doesn't compromise the caliper. I would be shocked if anybody at the dealership even noticed after they were driven a few thousand miles. I know this because I have worked as a mechanical engineer in the automotive industry, sometimes specifically with casting & molding processes for almost 15 years.
Second
"Steel rusts, Aluminum alloy doesn't. Enough said here I think. Either one can be touched up easily if scratched or scuffed."
I can promise you, as sure as God made little green apples, ALL METAL INCLUDING STAINLESS STEEL WILL OXIDIZE! Admittedly, stainless steel oxidizes at a much slower rate than other steel alloys, but aluminum definitely "rusts". It just appears as a white residue (copper is green, etc.), but trust me, it's "rust". Also, the silica found in the rubber of your tires actually increases the speed at which aluminum oxidizes & deteriorates, causing pitting along the bead which causes slow leaks. In my opinion, I would go with aluminum, if you have the money, because it's less unsprung weight. But saying it doesn't "rust" is just wrong. Period.
Steel Cragars are painted on the interior and along the bead. Even scratched on the exterior, it would take an extremely long time for a steel rim to rust so far that it would compromise the integrity of the rim and it's performance. I haven't seen any testing on this, but the auto industry has been making steel rims for decades without rust taking over steel rims so fast it caused issues. Just look around on your day to day commute.
Anyway, what this dude at Discount Tire Direct is offering is a decent deal on a good product. I just can't stand it when people don't get all the facts straight and I see other people referencing this post on other threads.
Last edited by w3asel; 01-27-2011 at 09:46 AM.
#250
Sponsoring Vendor
Thread Starter
I have a couple serious issues with some of the facts put forward in the initial entry of this thread by the Discount Tires Rep.
First
"Many of you have already found that 15" steel wheels are very hit and miss with brake clearance. Steel wheels are manufactured in two pieces, the center is stamped into shape and then welded to the barrel. This stamping process leaves flanges at the back of the spokes (or holes in the soft 8's case) and these flanges often make contact with the Jk's brake calipers. The easiest fix for this is to run spacers (not recommended by the wheel manufacturer). Running spacers adds $$$ to your wheel and tire package and again, weight. (The common Spidertrax bolt on spacers run $99.00 for the set of 4) Some may try to grind down the wheel or caliper this is not recommended either. Grinding down the wheel can jeopardize the strength of the wheel and grinding down your brake caliper"
The rims are NOT rubbing because of bad rim manufacturing. They are rubbing due to allowed tolerance in the casting process of the brake calipers. A certain amount of draft is added to the exterior of a casting to cause a clean brake from the sand casting mold. This discrepancy in the castings is what rubs. It is definitely NOT due to the rim construction. Grinding it off removes .045"-.125" at best and definitely doesn't compromise the caliper. I would be shocked if anybody at the dealership even noticed after they were driven a few thousand miles. I know this because I have worked as a mechanical engineer in the automotive industry, sometimes specifically with casting & molding processes for almost 15 years.
Second
"Steel rusts, Aluminum alloy doesn't. Enough said here I think. Either one can be touched up easily if scratched or scuffed."
I can promise you, as sure as God made little green apples, ALL METAL INCLUDING STAINLESS STEEL WILL OXIDIZE! Admittedly, stainless steel oxidizes at a much slower rate than other steel alloys, but aluminum definitely "rusts". It just appears as a white residue (copper is green, etc.), but trust me, it's "rust". Also, the silica found in the rubber of your tires actually increases the speed at which aluminum oxidizes & deteriorates, causing pitting along the bead which causes slow leaks. In my opinion, I would go with aluminum, if you have the money, because it's less unsprung weight. But saying it doesn't "rust" is just wrong. Period.
Steel Cragars are painted on the interior and along the bead. Even scratched on the exterior, it would take an extremely long time for a steel rim to rust so far that it would compromise the integrity of the rim and it's performance. I haven't seen any testing on this, but the auto industry has been making steel rims for decades without rust taking over steel rims so fast it caused issues. Just look around on your day to day commute.
Anyway, what this dude at Discount Tire Direct is offering is a decent deal on a good product. I just can't stand it when people don't get all the facts straight and I see other people referencing this post on other threads.
First
"Many of you have already found that 15" steel wheels are very hit and miss with brake clearance. Steel wheels are manufactured in two pieces, the center is stamped into shape and then welded to the barrel. This stamping process leaves flanges at the back of the spokes (or holes in the soft 8's case) and these flanges often make contact with the Jk's brake calipers. The easiest fix for this is to run spacers (not recommended by the wheel manufacturer). Running spacers adds $$$ to your wheel and tire package and again, weight. (The common Spidertrax bolt on spacers run $99.00 for the set of 4) Some may try to grind down the wheel or caliper this is not recommended either. Grinding down the wheel can jeopardize the strength of the wheel and grinding down your brake caliper"
The rims are NOT rubbing because of bad rim manufacturing. They are rubbing due to allowed tolerance in the casting process of the brake calipers. A certain amount of draft is added to the exterior of a casting to cause a clean brake from the sand casting mold. This discrepancy in the castings is what rubs. It is definitely NOT due to the rim construction. Grinding it off removes .045"-.125" at best and definitely doesn't compromise the caliper. I would be shocked if anybody at the dealership even noticed after they were driven a few thousand miles. I know this because I have worked as a mechanical engineer in the automotive industry, sometimes specifically with casting & molding processes for almost 15 years.
Second
"Steel rusts, Aluminum alloy doesn't. Enough said here I think. Either one can be touched up easily if scratched or scuffed."
I can promise you, as sure as God made little green apples, ALL METAL INCLUDING STAINLESS STEEL WILL OXIDIZE! Admittedly, stainless steel oxidizes at a much slower rate than other steel alloys, but aluminum definitely "rusts". It just appears as a white residue (copper is green, etc.), but trust me, it's "rust". Also, the silica found in the rubber of your tires actually increases the speed at which aluminum oxidizes & deteriorates, causing pitting along the bead which causes slow leaks. In my opinion, I would go with aluminum, if you have the money, because it's less unsprung weight. But saying it doesn't "rust" is just wrong. Period.
Steel Cragars are painted on the interior and along the bead. Even scratched on the exterior, it would take an extremely long time for a steel rim to rust so far that it would compromise the integrity of the rim and it's performance. I haven't seen any testing on this, but the auto industry has been making steel rims for decades without rust taking over steel rims so fast it caused issues. Just look around on your day to day commute.
Anyway, what this dude at Discount Tire Direct is offering is a decent deal on a good product. I just can't stand it when people don't get all the facts straight and I see other people referencing this post on other threads.
I don't think we said anything about steel wheels being manufactured badly, they are definitely not. The manufacturing process is just different. The fact we are pointing out here is that the fitment issues with steel wheels is due to a flange that is created during the manufacturing process. This flange is designed into the wheel to help give it strength so it is necessary and done on purpose. Its just unfortunate that for the Jk, it hits the brakes. Some people think grinding your caliper or wheel or running a spacer is a good solution. Discount Tire does not recommend it.
As for the finish. Steel wheels can rust a lot faster than than you may think. But we didn't say anything about this compromising strength. You are correct, it would take a long time to a steel wheel to rust far enough to jeopardize its strength. I had two sets in Oregon on two different vehicle start rusting within a year. One set was black and one set of chrome plated. I lived in Bend, OR (far from any salt water), no salt was used on the roads in the winter and I washed them with soap and water regularly. I have had 6 sets of aluminum wheels since most for over 2 years and none of them have rusted. I did have a wheel that started to dull where the clear coat had chipped off but that should be expected on fully exposed metal. Some polish and new clear coat would have brought it back to practically new. (Most machined wheels have a clear coat, most polished wheels no not. Polished wheels dull quickly and maintenance can be a lot of work to keep them looking shiny and new)
I hope this helps clear things up and again we apologize if we gave you the wrong impressions.
-Travis