Street vs. Off-Road Rims

I was wondering if there is really a difference between street rims and off-road rims. My neighbor has a Dodge ram that he off-roads. His factory rims are the large spoke kind. One weekend he came back really upset because he had cracked his rim by off-roading his truck. I have American racing ar-136, which are also kinda spoke style. I've done light off-roading with these rims, but now I'm worried I might crack them too. Let me know what you think.

 

[DarkFox1]

I don't do any offroading due to a few conditions that would be obvious if you saw my ride , but, from what I have heard, street rims are not constructed as solid or "rigid" I beleive someone called it to handle the rough terrain of heavy offroading, the stock rims are designed to handle light stuff, but when I purchased my current rims (AR Neptunes) I was told to be careful if I did any offroading because they were only chrome plated aluminum.

From looking at the AR-136 on the AR website, it does not look like its designed as an offroading rim, but unless you like, I dunno, do something REALLY heavy, it shouldn't be a problem.

IMO something like the AR 767 would be a heavy duty offroading rim.

don't take my word for it tho I'm just a 2wd streeter

 

[Ray Lobato]

I have Eagle Alloys AE-117s. They are the same as the American Racing AR-136s.
I don't really know if they are tough enough, but I will find out. This is a pic of my truck going through an obsticle course.
So far, so good.

 

[2001ExpSport]

If you speak with American Racing and tell them what rim you want and your intentions, they'll give you advice on that. They seem to be pretty helpful in that area. Find their number and give them a call.

[Edited by 2001ExpSport on 11-09-2000 at 08:05 PM]

 

[Rick]

Cast aluminum can crack, forged aluminum will bend first. Mickey Thompson and Alcoa are considered some of the best off-road forged aluminum rims available. They're very expensive though.

 

[riffman]

AR's Phone Number....

.....for technical assistance call: 1-800-321-5489

 

[Ray Hutchinson]

OR Rims

Sneaky1,

Another take on Offroad rims..... Many prefer steel rims for off roading for a specific reason: they don't crack, they bend.
Cracks are pretty final, and can cause you to have to be towed home! ( if you crack more than one) Steel can often be "field straightened" with a "BFH" ( Big F----n Hammer), to get you home! This happened to me at work. We run spoked steel wheels on our 4WD Brush Fire/ Rescue Patrol Rigs. (Ford F350 Crewcabs, Powerstroke Diesels. Service Bodies, Small water pump and tank etc.) While on a back country rescue, we had the road collapse under us on the front right side. The front wheel dropped suddenly about 18", and struck a sizeable sharp rock. This bent the rim enough to cause a noticeable (we could hear it from the cab) air leak. We grabbed a sledge hammer, beat the bent rim edge back into place, stopped the air leak, and finished the call.

Aside from cosmetics, there is the sprung vs. unsprung weight issue, where alumninum is superior, but for durability, I still favor steel.

[Edited by Ray Hutchinson on 11-09-2000 at 08:56 PM]

 

[Sneaky1]

Cool, this information really helps out. I called AR and they confirmed only light off-roading as the rims are not forged. Oh-Well! I thank you all for you attention to this matter!

 

[Anime]

oh gee

sooo...this info and the stock wheels are...Cast...heh

 

[Ray Lobato]

Anime4x4,
I wouldn't worry about your stock rims unless you are going to do some serious rock crawling.

 

[rpenner54]

As someone who beats the poo-poo out of his Explorer I have Steel rims. The AR-767's which all of them have some sort of a bend or a dent or scratched off paint. Now I do know that typically on hard core off-road rigs they run steal just cause it is easier as Ray H. said to beat back into shape. Its impossible to do with Aluminum. Really you just gotta weight in the differnces, do you want a pretty wheel and then worry about all the scratches it gets or do you want to get a cheap steal wheel where you can scratch it all up and at the end of the year buy another set again and have a spare set. Its pretty much just how you wheel. I went the cheap route just because I like the all black/no chrome look on my truck so I got the 767's. However at some point I may get another set of wheels too. Who knows.

 

[2001ExpSport]

I had the AR767's and I thought they were awful. They never did balance right.

Just my .02

 

[riffman]

but........

.....i got his now, and i love em!!!