are alloys better balanced than steel wheels?

[crinkles]

I read today that many Australian built camry's have unbalanced steel wheels due to poor welding workmanship, and that using alloys would help due to their manufacturing process.

Any truth to this? No matter how many times I balance and align i always get a steering wheel wobble at 60 - 70 miles... I would seriously consider putting alloys on if it would help.

 

[Shannow]

Like everything, it depends.

Worst balanced wheels I ever owned were a set of hotwire cast wheels. I hope that they were seconds, as they were attrocious.

Spun alloys should be way better.

Wander a Maccas car park, and see how much weight is stuck onto various rims to make up your own mind, but aftermarket needs more lead IMO.

 

[eljefino]

I've had really good Ford factory alloys and atrocious aftermarket ones that didn't have lips for crimp-on weights.

 

[Silk]

Considering the range of alloys out there these days,these things are seriously mass produced...and guess where.Factory steels will be far better than some cheap (but expensive to you) alloy.Factory steel or alloy - but not the latest bling 17,18 or 19in alloy out there.

 

[crinkles]

thanks. I'll pass on the after-market ones! will however in future consider OEM rims seriously. I wonder if a dealer would make available current OEM alloys for a superseded model?

 

[eljefino]

Buy gently used take-offs from when someone gets a new car and wants aftermarket blingy wheels. Then you get some usually tolerable rubber.

 

[SteveSRT8]

can't beat the factory for a good forged alloy.

Their standards are tough.

Aftermarket wheels are extremely unreliable. Some are obviously better than others, but paying more doesn't mean better quality.

My car came with forged 20 X 9 wheels by Alcoa, and they are unreal in terms of quality.

 

[xxch4osxx]

Alcoa makes most of the aluminum rims for big truck manufacturers and they are top notch.

 

[pcoxe]

Probably not a "balance" problem. You can balance a square wheel, but it will never roll smoothly. Steel wheels by the way they are manufactured by stamping out parts and welding them together may have more out-of-round and out-of-square/true issues, and they can get bent out of true by hitting a curb. Cast aluminum alloy wheels are generally machined on a lathe which should provide accurate centerline, roundness, and true, and alloy wheels will usually break before bending out of true significantly. And don't rule out wheel bearing and hub inaccuracies that can cause wobble too.

 

[woodibly]

Crinkles: There are extremely few wheels that cannot be balanced. The problem is that a lot of the new balancing machines have an option of a "smart balance" that calculates the minimum amount of weights necessary get within 1 ounce of a perfect balance, allowing the shop to save costs while sacrificing wheel stability. If you could find a balancer who balances dynamically to within 1/4 ounce or less, you should have virtually no vibrations.

On another note, I had a Toyota Sienna with a vibration between 70-80 mph. The wheel balance was perfect and it turned out that it was an axle imbalance. Axle imbalances where unheard of to me, but that was it.

 

[meep]

rubber can also be out of round, i had some uniroyals that balanced perfect but rode like [censored]. jacked car so wheel was 1/4" off ground. started, put in gear, got out, could see it +/- 1/8" as it turned. marked with chalk. stopped wheel, measured.

removed from car. hit it with a wood planer. reinstalled. actually drove better.

Bought new tires next day. will never own uniroyals again.

Mike

 

[PandaBear]

Factory qualities are usually better than after market knock offs. If you are buying after market, make sure they are the higher quality ones from factories also make OEM for the auto manufactures. BBS, Enkei, etc are fine, but I would stay away from Rota. They might look the same, but they are usually cast instead of forged and they do snap when hit a curb or pot hole.

Since most people don't buy after market steel wheel, they are usually OEM anyways, and therefore can't be too bad.

 

[JustinH]

Aftermarket steel wheels are big here for winter wheel/tire sets.

I bought a set from tirerack, made in china and they have been fine.

 

[01rangerxl]

The worst wheels I have had as far as balancing were the 15x6 steelies on my old Ranger. They required HUGE weights, the biggest I have seen. I replaced them with 15x7 or 15x8 American Racing Baja alloys. I don't really know how much weight those needed because they were on the inside of the wheel, but I do know the truck handled significantly better after putting them on (same tires).

My current truck has the factory 15x7 steelies with factory chrome wheel skins. They seem to be pretty balanced because two of them don't even have weights on the outside, and the weights on the other two are very small.