Alloy wheels

[Robbo]

I must admit I quite like the look of alloys, and in the past, I've nearly been seduced to part with my money.

 

Thankfully, common sense prevailed. Motorvans are "go anywhere" vehicles and as such need to be as rugged as possible. If I wrecked my steel wheel I'd be able to source a replacement in most places throughout the world.

 

But the most compelling reason for me is that an alloy wheel shod vehicle is more attractive to thieves. By sticking with my bog standard steel wheels I reduce the nickability factor.......hopefully :-D

[EMS]

I had alloys on my old sports car and corrosion caused the wheels to deflate so they had to be skimmed to remove the corrosion.

Possible for a light vehicle not being driven hard but not for a heavy motorhome, so always a steel wheels for me.

Unfortunately little chance for cars most only have alloys now so no choice.

[Deneb]

Don636 - 2019-03-24 2:32 PM

 

Just thinking, my spare wheel is steel and it is tucked up at the rear of the chassis, well protected from muck and spray, especially as the van has mud flaps fitted. It never seems to get dirty so I know it is well protected yet every year I have to deal with minor rust round the rim, around the wheel nut holes and here and there on the rest of the wheel and paint the whole front face. It looks unsightly and even though it is under the van I still like to keep it looking in good condition. The thought of having to deal with 5 steel wheels in most likely worse condition every year confirms to me that alloys are much easier to look after as they only require cleaning and always look way better than cheap builders van steel wheels.

 

Don, your spare wheel isn't as protected from muck and spray as you think. Water and road dirt does get splashed or thrown at it when driving, and some of it will sit in the wheel well. I get my spare out at least twice a year, partly to ensure that the winding mechanism doesn't seize, but also to check the tyre pressure and wash accumulated dirt out of the well. You can protect it by painting a thin coating of underbody or cavity wax over it. It's easy to wipe off should you need to in future.

 

My other four wheels are now over 30 months old and in the same condition as new, other than the minor scuff to the inner edge of one of them as mentioned and since repainted.

 

"Builders' van steel wheels" eh? Well they're functional, and I'm more bothered what the inside of my van looks like - that's where I spend a lot of my time. I don't sit staring lovingly at the wheels or any other external features when I'm outside, and I have no wish to impress anyone else so it suits me fine ;-)

[spospe]

Just a thought, to which I do not know the definitive answer, but do tyres fitted to alloy wheels run cooler than the same tyre fitted to a steel wheel?

 

I would imagine that quite thick alloy would be a better heat conductor than quite thin steel and thus carry heat away better, or is this just an illusion?

 

Is there any real benefit, or are alloys all just bling?

[flicka]

The problem with "kerbing" has been mentioned, but on many "B" or lower class roads the potholes cause many more instances of damage with alloys.

[Derek Uzzell]

spospe - 2019-03-24 6:20 PM

 

Just a thought, to which I do not know the definitive answer, but do tyres fitted to alloy wheels run cooler than the same tyre fitted to a steel wheel?

 

I would imagine that quite thick alloy would be a better heat conductor than quite thin steel and thus carry heat away better, or is this just an illusion?

 

Is there any real benefit, or are alloys all just bling?

 

Provided that a motorhome’s tyres are correctly inflated and not overloaded they won’t get partticularly hot, and most of the heat produced will be dispersed by radiation to the outside air. Conduction will cause heat from the vehicle’s brakes to transfer to the wheels through the hubs and, if the wheels are alloy rather than steel, that heat might radiate away more quickly. On the other hand, as the cross-section of alloy wheels will be much greater than that of an equivalent steel wheel, an alloy wheel will have a much greater ‘heat-soak’ potential.

 

Some cars have sufficiently wide wheels to make their manufacture in steel impracticable and it’s also possible to design an alloy wheel so that it acts as an air-extractor to aid brake cooling - but we are now talking about high-performance/competition cars, not delivery vans. The move from wire-spoked wheels to alloys has also allowed tubeless tyres to be used on motorbikes.

 

But for motorhomes it’s primarily a matter of ‘style' over functionality. If functionality is important, steel wheels are the better option: if style is attractive (Steve thinks allow wheels will improve his Bailey motorhome's street-credibility) then have alloy wheels.

 

It’s evident from comments above that some forum members would view Steve’s alloy-wheel-equipped Bailey with delight, while others would be thinking “What a waste of money”. But if Steve is prepared to spend around a £1000 on his motorhome (alloy wheels + VancoCamper Tyres + valves + tyre-fitting/wheel-balancing) that’s his business.

[Don636]

Re the comment that the spare wheel is not as protected as I thought. I have never removed the spare wheel in 5 years so I decided to do it today to see what it was like on the inside. As I said before, the underside of the van at the rear seems not to get very dirty at all but I still had to touch up surface rust on the wheel face. As far as I am concerned this is not due to damage from road dirt but just because steel wheels are crap and you can’t stop them rusting. When I dropped the wheel it was pretty clean with only some small stones in there from when we had to travel down a newly surfaced road in France a couple of years ago - just a light coating of dust really. There was, however, a fair bit of surface rust around the bolts holes, around the rim and around a joint running round the middle of the wheel, pretty much the same as I have seen on the face that you can see under the van. It is now cleaned off, rust treated and coated with Hammerite black. The bracket that holds the wheel in place also had surface rust so it was treated as well.

 

I would not fancy having to do this to 5 wheels every year just to get a functional coating, never mind trying to get them to look good so I am even more convinced that alloy wheels are far easier to keep in tip top condition as you just need to keep them clean and polished and they look way better than steel wheels ever will.

 

 

[Deneb]

Don,

 

A lot of the reason for corrosion on the inside seam of the spare wheel is that road spray gets into the well of the wheel when driving and water/moisture sits in the seam until it evaporates, unlike the wheels bolted to the axle hubs, which allow it to run off. You will also get stones and other debris, large or small, thrown up by the tyres and hitting the wheel as well as other areas of the underside of your van. It's just a fact of life I'm afraid. I know you say it cannot happen because you have mud flaps, but water and loose debris on the road surface doesn't isn't just thrown off of the tyres in one direction. The small stones you found inside the wheel well are only a fraction of the amount that would have hit the face of the wheel, bearing in mind their only way into the well with the wheel raised is through the ventilation holes in the wheel face. An alloy spare mounted in the same location would also suffer peppering from road dirt and debris over time.

 

I would have used a non setting underbody wax to protect the spare. It will seep into the seam, is easy to wipe off or reapply if required. Partly though, that is because I don't rate Hammerite at all.

 

Nevertheless, if you were to treat any rust already showing on steel wheels with liquid Jenolite, which is by far the best of the rust converter type products in my experience of using them over many years, degrease the wheels and give them a couple of coats of silver POR-15 paint, I doubt you would ever see rust on them again unless they were kerbed or otherwise damaged and not repaired.

[Charles]

You don't see the rust spots anyway when the wheel trims are on. And wheel trims always look great B-)