Steel vs Aluminum Wheels

[DangerKnödle]

About a month ago I purchased 15x7in steel wheels for my truck and put good AT tires on them. Love the look… However, since switching to a 15in steel wheel from 14in aluminum, I know I added weight, but I’ve had issues with handling, horrible vibration, and they are out of round. I also had a noticeable change in throttle response… it ain’t getting out of the way now. I recently came across 15in doe track style aluminum wheels that a guy is selling for $125 for all four. Would I be saving much weight keeping a 15in wheel but switching to aluminum? Is the switch worth the price?
I attached a picture of the wheels I’m looking at.
My truck is a 2.3l 2wd so I know I don’t have much gut to begin with.
Thank you in advance for the help!

 

[Dirtman]

What size tires were stock and what size did you put on? Sounds like you're running bigger tires so the crap throttle response is a given. Also sounds like they were never balanced properly.

 

[DangerKnödle]

Stock tire was 14in wheel, I believe I ran a 225/70R14. Currently running the 15s with a 235/75R15. I’ve also had them balanced three times and one shop saw that the 15in wheels where out of round and said that they’re steel and would be like that.
Just wondering if a switch to a aluminum 15in would help with ride and weight.

 

[DangerKnödle]

You actually helped a lot with the issue with hub centric rings. I appreciate it!

 

[Dirtman]

You've gone up over 3" in tire size so that's why there's no power. Has nothing to do with weight. Aluminum rims that size are not that much lighter that it would make a noticeable difference. If the steel rims are bent they are bent so nothing you can do but replace them, but the aluminum rims won't make any difference except hopefully not being bent and being able to be balanced properly. It'll still drive like a slug...

 

[DangerKnödle]

Reading it again, it makes absolute sense. Thought maybe the switch to aluminum would save more weight and regain some power. But hey, it’s a little four-cylinder, not much you can do with them. Lol

 

[Roert42]

Looking on rock auto, the shipping weight of a 15" aluminum wheel is about 1lb higher then that of a 15" steel wheel. These are OEM refurbished though. You may be able to loose some weight going to an aftermarket wheel, but it would probably be marginal.

 

[Dirtman]

Looking on rock auto, the shipping weight of a 15" aluminum wheel is about 1lb higher then that of a 15" steel wheel. These are OEM refurbished though. You may be able to loose some weight going to an aftermarket wheel, but it would probably be marginal.

That could be simply because they actually pack aluminum rims well so the packaging weighs more. Steel rims are lucky if they even get put in an old trash bag to ship.

On stuff like semis there is a definite weight saving using aluminum rims, but on a 15" rim... Yea its nothing if anything and could go either way with an aftermarket rim.

3" taller and 1 inch wider tires are gonna make a massive difference though.

 

[Dirtman]

Oh and don't forget your speedometer is off. You are going faster than the actual reading now so keep that in mind so you don't get a ticket.

 

[Blmpkn]

The 3" taller tire essentially lowered your gear ratio .63:1

So, if your truck has 3.73 axle ratios you've really raised it to 3.10s. Massive difference.

 

[Roert42]

Yeah, I had stock 3.08s on my F150 and that thing was a freaking dog in stock configuration.

 

[Blmpkn]

Yeah, I had stock 3.08s on my F150 and that thing was a freaking dog in stock configuration.

My wagon most likely has 2.73 rear gears... even with 250 torques it took 15.6 seconds to get to 60

 

[cschannuth]

Unsprung weight of tires and wheels make a difference as well but your weight probably didn’t change much. As said above the extreme change in tire diameter is killing your performance.

 

[cbxer55]

Oh and don't forget your speedometer is off. You are going faster than the actual reading now so keep that in mind so you don't get a ticket.

Depends on what axle he has. The 7.5 uses a tone ring on the ring gear. Only thing that changes the speed reading is different tire sizes. But yeah, he's gone larger tire diameters, so it needs to be changed.
\
Also, he should switch to a 4.10 or 4.56 rear axle ratio to make up for the larger tire diameters. I run 4.10s with 27 inch tires and they're perfect.

 

[19Walt93]

15" wheels should work fine but if you're not going to change gears I'd pick low profile tires like 60 series to try and keep the diameter the same as your originals. Lighter wheels reduce unsprung weight which helps handling and will take slightly less power to get turning. Want to turn it into a real pig? get some of the 3/8" thick steel wheels they used on Crown Vic cruisers.