Advice on new steer rims..?

I have Durabites on my 06 they stll look good. They wont shine like a fresh buffed wheel but they look alot better than plain unbuffed wheels. My trucks lucky to see the inside of the wash bay let alone get a buff. I like the durabrites.

 

Since 06 when I bought the truck they were on it.

 

I believe aluminum wheels warp over time. I think this is what has caused all of my steer tire wear issues over the last 3 sets of steers I've had. Everything else is fine, kingpins, wheel bearings, bushings, etc. My wheels (1.07 million miles) did have a few thousandths of run out when I jacked the tires up and checked several weeks ago. I should have bought new wheels when I replaced my steers a few weeks ago but I didn't and I am certain I will regret this decision and ruin yet another set in 110K miles. If only this thread had been around then, I would have, but I wasn't sure if my gut feeling on wheels having a usable life was right... ..dang it.

 

i just look for beadseat and cracks i am a heavy haul logger so i really watch the fronts,new tires every 6 mos,no matter what runnin bridgestone m850 for last 3 years love em,also run both accurides and alcoas both hold well,like the accurides,price is right over the alcoas

 

me personaaly I would stick with regular aluminum rims, if your like me and polish them from time to time the shine lasts quite a while. also check some places on prices you wouldnt normally think of like a local trailer dealer, i got a 2 22.5 alcoas from the local great dane dealer for $250 plus tax several years ago. just a thought.

 

If you call a truck dealer they can give you the location of an outfit that they use to inspect and straighten aluminum wheels. Call them up some will dismount you tires, check and if needed repair the rim and balance then remount the tire and balance it. I worked for a truck dealer and they did it all the time. They will polish them also if you want.
Just a thought!

 

We're talking about million mile wheels here....How do you "repair" metal fatigue?

Wheels are not that expensive to replace and on a steer axle it's not worth being cheap and trying to "get by" with a weak, old wheel.

 

The LvL One Wheel isn't the same as the DuraBrights. The Lvl One wheel is actually a step down from the mirror polished wheels. When Alcoa or Accuride Polishes their wheels they go through 3 steps of polishing. The LvL One Wheels just go through the first step (Level One). They do this on both sides of the wheel, not just steer or drive. It gets about 80% of the shine, but you can see some visible lines in the wheel. The other 2 steps finish it out. The LvL One Wheels are much less expensive as well, (ie. 24.5" HP LvLOne $274.40 vs. DuraBright Steers $380.80).

 

Alcoa and Accuride have both changed the way they do the durabright process. The first ones were a clear coat application that went on the wheel after it was polished. Since then, the new ones are actually a process in the metal. These ones can be polished, but according to them, they don't need to be... , this also may void the warrenty, I am not sure.

Alcoa switched to this method a while ago, recently Accuride has switched their AccuShield to this process as well. So if you are deciding between DuraBrights and AccuShield, I would pay the extra for the DuraBrights, mainly b/c they have been doing it longer.