Steel or Aluminum?

Ok, I recently purchased a low mile TRD O/R. I needed a truck and I missed my 2 week off road trips with wife through out the AZ/CO/UT red rock and mountain regions. My 2012 Rubicon jeep, I had set up with aftermarket steelies, which had lots of damage. Fast forward to now. I plan on doing trips like I did with my Rubi and I found either 16x7 Toyota steel rims and same size Toyota aluminium taco rims for cheap. My question is, should I bother getting these or should I just abuse the pretty factory aluminum rims? Are Toyota factory steel rims stout?

The trails I take tend to have lots of small rocks and boulders. (Dry riverbeds in red rock canyon areas.? The rims will get scarred up. I really like the rims that came on the truck. I still have my factory rubicon wheels, wish they had the same bolt pattern and offset, lol.

 

I run stuff till it's destroyed if I don't care. Do you want to have a nice set of wheels for a nicer look sometimes, or would you rather save money?

 

Thanks for the responding. Money is not an issue to a point and neither is storage space. I don't mind spending under $100/wheel for a set of abuser wheels. And yes, I'd like to save the original wheels, which to me, look really nice, in good shape for around town. The steel rims all look the same and the cheap tacoma aluminum rims are 5 spoke and not very attractive, so I could abuse either, but which would be the better bet. I just don't know if the Toyota steel rims are any good or if I would have to go aftermarket steel.

 

100$ why not. Go for it. You can sell your nice wheels for more anyway if you wanted!

 

sorry, I meant under $100 per wheel. Not $100 for the set, but I can get them for about $200 for the set right now. Great deal.

 

I'd pick up a set of whatever budget friendly OE wheels I could find for the off road tires, keep the nice ones with nice pavement tires.

Problem with that plan is frequency of changing. No tire does well being unused. While the rubber doesn't 'wear', it deteriorates. Even kept in the shade at semi reasonable temperatures 4-5 years is all you can really feel comfortable with.

That whole scenario is why folks who run SCCA grade street cars don't worry about tread wear too much. On sticky tires the grip is gone in 2-2.5 years. So the goal is to pick a tire that lines up with a tread wear that will be done in 2-2.5 years of driving.

 

Best to talk to a few Tire shops or off road shops..see what they say..
From what I know steel rims can be pound back if damage..aluminum rims cannot..

my friend does very little off roading ..his center line aluminum rims crack...

Same with skid plates..they say iron is stronger and slides over rocks better than aluminum skids...
Aloha,

 

Advantage of steel is you can straighten the bead with a BFH and a fire wrench if you bend it. With aluminum, you cannot straighten it without cracking and fire wrench is a no no. Now, if running 35's and 16" wheels there is enough cushion so your wheels won't bend much. But if running stock size and 18" rims? Recipe for disaster on a rocky trail.

 

I agree. I run Toyo R888's on a 800bhp turbo car because they are sticky, but after a few years the rubber does harden and I get wheel spin in higher gears.

My offroad tires don't need to last, they just need to work. I have had good luck over the years with nitto.

 

I am definitely sticking to 16 inch rims. I like more rubber. My Jeep steel rims took tons of hits on rocks and never cracked. I had bent lips and it is easier to hammer that back to near shape.