

Trawling the Interweb for a set of aftermarket rims? You need to know what all the numbers and dimensions stand for before dishing out your hard-earned. If you regularly swap rims, you’ll need two sets of nuts. Generally, the wheel nuts used on a steel rim are not suitable for use on an alloy rim, and vice versa. Your life, your family’s life, as well as mine, are more important than riding on dangerous rims.Ī critical aspect many overlook are the wheel nuts. Don’t risk them just to save a few bucks. Any accident you may have with unrated rims will probably void your insurance too, so don’t chance it.Ĭheap, non-rated or non-approve rims have no place on our roads. Load ratings are essential to take note of some cheap aftermarket rims are either not rated or rated unsuitably low to allow your 4X4 to be packed to the gunwales for your dream trip. Regardless of which type of rim you purchase, you must ensure they are the correct size for your vehicle – width and diameter – as per the handbook, as well as ensuring any legal changes don’t foul guards, brakes or other components. Mag rims which can be anything from a generic term for an alloy rim to an early version of constructing aftermarket rims from magnesium mixed with other metals.Forged alloy rims are the bees’ knees of the highest strength, lowest weight and unfortunately, highest cost and There are gravity cast rims (generally dodgy aftermarket cheapies) and pressure cast rims (generally more costly, stronger and the type supplied by most original equipment manufacturers as well as some quality aftermarket manufacturers). Cast alloy rims are generally speaking lower quality and cost and are often weaker too. Alloy rims are a mixture of aluminium, nickel, magnesium and a few other metals depending on brand and quality.

#Black steel rims crack#
Let’s have a crack at setting the record straight, bust a few myths and share a few real-life experiences.
