Steel vs Alloy rims

This can't be the hard-core offroader Matt Osborn I know. :)

Good quality aluminum wheels don't bend as easily offroad as steel wheels do (personal experience backs that up big time), aluminum is lighter so there is less unsprung weight, aluminum doesn't rust and need painting after every tough offroading trip and forged aluminum wheels are actually stronger than the equivilent steel wheel.

Jerry

I thought bending was an advantage; the allow would break rather than bend.

True, but if the forged alum. survives unscathed where steel bends... I use aluminum because of the reasons Jerry posted, but unfortunately do not have forged wheels. No problems so far, but I'm not a hardcore rock crawler either.

I dunno, but I would rather have a cheap steel rim I can beat back into shape with a hammer if need be. When you get into the larger size tires, the percentage of weight you save with alloy vs steel can't be that great anyway.

I have 2 sets of tires. Light aluminum wheels on 33x9.5 BFG AT's for steet use, and cheapie steelies for my Swampers. IMHO, you can't have one set that does well in both environments, the goals are mutually exclusive.

Bob in Ma

Matt, I have had two sets of aftermarket non-forged aluminum wheels on my rock-crawling Jeep... American Eagle and American Racing. Both have suffered a few dents while rock crawling and I used a big hammer (a BFH!) to straighten the dents out on both sets of wheels. While some Jeepers may have suffered a cracked aluminum wheel from removing dents, I never have personally have. So far as suffering dents, the trails I run are anything but mild.

But the aluminum dented nowhere nearly as badly nor as often as my steel wheels did. My aluminum wheels dented once or twice over several years while my steel wheels seemed to get multiple dents each rock crawling trip! I went from American Eagle aluminum wheels to the steel wheels and immediately noticed how much more dent-prone the steel wheels were. It took me about 18 months of that to finally say 'enough' and go back to aluminum. If I could afford forged aluminum I would quickly go that way... but I can't so I happily run non-forged aluminum wheels without problem.

By the way... what are the most popular wheels for hard core rock crawling and bead locks? Aluminum... non-forged aluminum too. :)

Jerry

With Aluminum you have to make sure to re-torque your lug nuts every so often or else they come loose. I lost a wheel that way once...

BTW, I have 15" PCW (Panther Custom Wheels) EMR050 rims with 31x10.50 BFG ATs