Got the chance of a full set of alcoa alloys for the truck, there in need of a good clean and polish but no damage.
Neither the boss or myself have had alloys on a truck so are a bit unsure if the effort and cost involved is worth it.
The wheels themselves wont cost but we will need a tyre fitter in to swap tyres about.
The first question is what weight saving would we get on an 8x2 rigid with twin wheel tag (12 rims) ■■
The second and probably the most important question is after the wheels are cleaned and polished ,how much effort does it take to maintain them at a decent standard ■■
alfa man:
Got the chance of a full set of alcoa alloys for the truck, there in need of a good clean and polish but no damage.
Neither the boss or myself have had alloys on a truck so are a bit unsure if the effort and cost involved is worth it.
The wheels themselves wont cost but we will need a tyre fitter in to swap tyres about.
The first question is what weight saving would we get on an 8x2 rigid with twin wheel tag (12 rims) ■■
The second and probably the most important question is after the wheels are cleaned and polished ,how much effort does it take to maintain them at a decent standard ■■
Possibly a daft question, but who’s paying for them?
Weight saving - next to nowt. Ally is lighter than steel yes, but the wheels are much thicker than steelies to take the weight.
Advantages - they look good.
Disadvantages - people will want to steal them, it’s a regular elbow grease job keeping them clean, when the beads start to corrode the tyres will leak, when your wagon catches fire your wheels will melt.
Happydaze:
Possibly a daft question, but who’s paying for them?
The wheels are on a truck that the boss has just bought to work as a yard vehicle /shunter
I’ve got a set of 12 on that came with the vehicle, dunno how much weight they save but I was shocked to find that it didn’t weigh more so maybe they do make a difference. When I’m fully loaded I need every bit of help going as the payload vs load is a fine balancing act.
Mine are Alcoa but not the shiny polished ones, I did try and give them a shine up but either they just won’t or I really have better things to do than keep cleaning the bloody things. Getting to the bottom of our yard past all the plant to the wash bay (if you could call it that) is a bit of an undertaking and only rarely possible. I did get a chance to give the wheels a blast with the steam cleaner this week and they haven’t weathered very well.
If you need the payload and they will help then it’s probably worth doing, if you want a bit of bling then you really are going to work for it. Personally I’d not bother, I need the weight saving but they can stay dull.
8wheels:
I’ve got a set of 12 on that came with the vehicle, dunno how much weight they save but I was shocked to find that it didn’t weigh more so maybe they do make a difference. When I’m fully loaded I need every bit of help going as the payload vs load is a fine balancing act.
Mine are Alcoa but not the shiny polished ones, I did try and give them a shine up but either they just won’t or I really have better things to do than keep cleaning the bloody things. Getting to the bottom of our yard past all the plant to the wash bay (if you could call it that) is a bit of an undertaking and only rarely possible. I did get a chance to give the wheels a blast with the steam cleaner this week and they haven’t weathered very well.
If you need the payload and they will help then it’s probably worth doing, if you want a bit of bling then you really are going to work for it. Personally I’d not bother, I need the weight saving but they can stay dull.
To be honest payload is’nt the major issue I was just thinking about getting a bit of weight of my 2 front axles but with what you and cieranc are saying I think steels and some silver paint every now and again will do 
Think you’ll be suprised with the weight saving - or lack of.
cieranc:
Weight saving - next to nowt.
In rough terms you’re looking at about 20kg per wheel so in the 200-250kg region for your 12 wheeled vehicle.
The only other thing that nobody has mentioned so far is that depending on what type of stud fixing they are it might not be a straight swap.
Alloys come with two sizes of stud holes in them. Some of them have standard sized stud holes which require you to replace all the wheel studs on your vehicle with longer ones to account for that fact that they are thicker. The other type have larger (32mm) holes which you use with a special sleeved nut which allow you to use them with the shorter studs that are designed for use with steel wheels.
If the donor vehicle has long studs and alloys with standard holes and your own vehicle doesn’t already have the longer studs then it is going to be a lot of money and effort to swap them over as you will need to get 80 new long studs for your vehicle fitted before you can put the wheels on.
Paul
1 other thing, what type of work do you do, most 8 wheels go into some nasty places.
A steel wheel will dent, an alloy given the same punshment will shatter. They can also shatter if you’ve got a brake binding, hot wheel, through a puddle, wheel seperates from vehicle.
This is the same for all alloy’s, cars, bikes and trucks.
got to disagree about the wheels shattering… do you think all the petrol tankers would run aluminium wheels if this was the case?? the old forged alloy wheels did crack but the top wheels like Alcoa’s are forged and 4 times stronger than steel, see link for more info: alcoa.com/alcoawheels/europe … forged.asp
Also weight savings are massive compared to steel!! Around 45% lighter per wheel. Again why do fuel, oil, powder tankers all run alloy wheels if they werent so much lighter.
waynedl:
1 other thing, what type of work do you do, most 8 wheels go into some nasty places.
A steel wheel will dent, an alloy given the same punshment will shatter. They can also shatter if you’ve got a brake binding, hot wheel, through a puddle, wheel seperates from vehicle.
This is the same for all alloy’s, cars, bikes and trucks.
I been out in the wrecker for a unit that’d done that.
Had a front caliper sticking, brake got hot, tyre blew out, wheel broke off.
We run Alloys on all trucks and trailers, it makes for more load capacity, I have never polished them ever but regular washing with brightener keeps them sparkling, once you polish them properly you have to keep it up or they go dull. It’s not to hard to keep them polished, buy a cordless power tool with a polish ball.
If there is no machine to use, getting the tyres off is a nightmare compared to steel wheels.
Smiler70:
got to disagree about the wheels shattering… do you think all the petrol tankers would run aluminium wheels if this was the case?? the old forged alloy wheels did crack but the top wheels like Alcoa’s are forged and 4 times stronger than steel, see link for more info: alcoa.com/alcoawheels/europe … forged.asp
Also weight savings are massive compared to steel!! Around 45% lighter per wheel. Again why do fuel, oil, powder tankers all run alloy wheels if they werent so much lighter.
cieranc:
waynedl:
1 other thing, what type of work do you do, most 8 wheels go into some nasty places.
A steel wheel will dent, an alloy given the same punshment will shatter. They can also shatter if you’ve got a brake binding, hot wheel, through a puddle, wheel seperates from vehicle.
This is the same for all alloy’s, cars, bikes and trucks.
I been out in the wrecker for a unit that’d done that.
Had a front caliper sticking, brake got hot, tyre blew out, wheel broke off.
As have I, more often on cars, but went out to 2 trucks that did it too.
But, what do we know, obviously the steering wheel attendant above knows everything 
k21pilot:
If there is no machine to use, getting the tyres off is a nightmare compared to steel wheels.
not if you do it correctly 
put a thins line of washing up liquid between the tyre bead and the rim BEFORE you take out the valve, as the air comes out, it ■■■■■ the liquid in between the tyre and the rim, and it comes off piece of ■■■■
i have had steel rims where i could not get the tyre off, but never failed to get a tyre off an alloy 
shuttlespanker:
k21pilot:
If there is no machine to use, getting the tyres off is a nightmare compared to steel wheels.
not if you do it correctly
put a thins line of washing up liquid between the tyre bead and the rim BEFORE you take out the valve, as the air comes out, it ■■■■■ the liquid in between the tyre and the rim, and it comes off piece of ■■■■
i have had steel rims where i could not get the tyre off, but never failed to get a tyre off an alloy
Aaaah…i’ll try this next week!
Sent from my HTC Flyer P512 using Tapatalk 2
k21pilot:
shuttlespanker:
k21pilot:
If there is no machine to use, getting the tyres off is a nightmare compared to steel wheels.
not if you do it correctly
put a thins line of washing up liquid between the tyre bead and the rim BEFORE you take out the valve, as the air comes out, it ■■■■■ the liquid in between the tyre and the rim, and it comes off piece of ■■■■
i have had steel rims where i could not get the tyre off, but never failed to get a tyre off an alloy
Aaaah…i’ll try this next week!
Sent from my HTC Flyer P512 using Tapatalk 2
i used to struggle getting the tryes off the alloys, until a tyre fitter told me this trick
literally, put a thin line of neat washing up liquid where the rubber meets the rim before you let the air out 
i know, i know, that sounds so wrong 
They do make a difference when payload matters for people like us on bulk or powder.If its not a show truck and its for weight dont buy the shiny ones or you will soon get fed up with polishing them.Although if you dont mind sitting next to a hot wheel on a hot day rubbing in polish when you could be at home or want som bling then get them.Never known anyone have problems with alloys cracking and the previous bulk job i was at we were in quarrys and coal mines alot.I think about a saving of 300 to 400 kgs over a full artic which is alot of extra income over a year.
Yeah I don’t see why just prostitutes and convicts have them.