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Member
Posts: 7
| Steel wheels or aluminum wheels. Does it make a difference on a horse trailer? |
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Expert
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Location: western PA | Other than costs and damage repairs, no. The aluminum wheels are more expensive to purchase, and easy to damage with pot holes or off roading. The steel wheels will rust if not kept painted, the aluminum will corrode if not kept clean. The clear finish coating on the AL can become chipped, allowing the bare metal to be affected by road salts. Various inexpensive wheel covers are available, that can be used on the steel wheels to mimic the look of expensive Al wheels. As far as trailers go, the only advantages of AL over FE, are slightly lighter weights and improved looks. At a distinct difference in pricing, your atheistic values will determine if their higher costs are worth their value. |
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Member
Posts: 7
| Thanks for your quick reply! |
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Expert
Posts: 3802
 
Location: Rocky Mount N.C. | I prefer steel... |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 404
Location: Valentine, NE | I have had both come loose but seems that the aluminum ones have more prone. I am OCD about keeping the lug nuts tight...just checked them again tonight..
I just bought a trailer with hub centered aluminum wheels instead of lug bolt centered. I wonder if that will make a difference? All my other trailers have been lug bolt centered. |
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Veteran
Posts: 113
Location: Wi | I would go steel with wheel covers. However wheel covers can be cheap or expensive. The less expensive ones have come off and at $50-75 a piece to replace it becomes expensive. Go with the covers that use a lug nut to keep them on instead of just snapping into place. Phoenix USA is a company that is great to work with. |
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Location: Tulsa, OK | stepping over a dime to pick up a nickel - just go with aluminum rims and be done with chasing hub caps/simulators.... |
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Veteran
Posts: 113
Location: Wi | Originally written by trailerconsult1 on 2014-03-14 8:23 AM
stepping over a dime to pick up a nickel - just go with aluminum rims and be done with chasing hub caps/simulators.... You are probably right. I guess I made the assumption (wrong) that they currently had steel and wanted to "upgrade". |
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Location: Tulsa, OK | You can go with aluminum wheels or you can go with ALCOA aluminum wheels..... |
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Expert
Posts: 5870
Location: western PA | EBay has many dealers that sell a variety of full wheel covers of ABS plastic, that are ~$40 a set including shipping. I had a set on a BP trailer for over a decade and never lost or broke one. They are securely held into the steel wheels throughout the entire circumference, and not just snapped over the center hub points. Last year I bought a similar set for our newer trailer which uses 15" wheels. Available in many styles similar to "mags", they are quite attractive. On our 16" steel wheeled trailers, I use bolt on stainless SIMS that are impossible to loose. They however, cost over four times the price of the plastic sets. Dimes and nickels are a long way from actual pricing. |
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Location: Tulsa, OK | Purely an (nickels/dimes) example - upgrade retail $695. for 5 aluminum whls, ALCOA upgrade for 5 is $1650.00 these are average pricing and can be adjusted per area of country (US) and the bolt on SIMS average (set of 4) $350.00 - all these are for 16" whls/tires.....and yes PHOENIX is the best place for SIMS.....btw - I just love it when a horse paws that shiny new SIM on your trailer and you have to buy one or 4........ |
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Expert
Posts: 3802
Location: Rocky Mount N.C. | Maybe train your horse not to paw, LOL!!... Or not tie them to outside of trailer... Another reason I pull a head to head trailer, everyone has they're own stall!! |
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Expert
Posts: 5870
Location: western PA | .....btw - I just love it when a horse paws that shiny new SIM on your trailer and you have to buy one or 4........
You enjoy watching someone's belongings being damaged ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 404
Location: Valentine, NE | Our Alcoa rims on our new trailer, the manufacturer put solid center caps on...no way to get to the easy lube hubs to grease the bearings without taking the rim/tire/cap off. Why they didn't put in the open center caps on, I have no idea.I will know a lot more in a year about these rims on a trailer. We had them on several vehicles, and had a few issues---one fell off, one came loose and ruined the lug bolts and rim, and one got bent... |
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Expert
Posts: 5870
Location: western PA | We have aluminum wheels on our Ford truck and two GM automobiles. All of them have experienced corrosion problems and required more maintenance, than the many steel wheels on our other vehicles. If you are not able to mechanically buff out the corrosion and re-clear coat the rims, a company can do it for you at a cost of ~$200 per wheel. |
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Location: Tulsa, OK | No gard - I do not enjoy people's property getting damaged. I think my earlier statement applies to your $200. polish per wheel - never have seen an alcoa wheel do that.... You get what you pay for - there are less quality aluminum wheels just like wheel liners and steel wheels..... |
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Expert
Posts: 1351
Location: Decatur, Texas | just my .02 cents worth.... I got a set of factory Ford polished Alco wheels off of a 1997 F-250 and they look super on my trailer.... Easy to keep clean and been running them almost 4 years now and have never lost a simulator since!But I also do not have the road salt and mess you northern guys have to deal with either.... |
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Wheels
