Are light alloy wheels really lighter than steel counterparts?

By dpa | 13 January 2017


HANOVER: When buying light-alloy car wheels - also known as aluminium rims - buyers often cite the wheels' slicker appearance as their main advantage.

The conventional wisdom is that they are also lighter than steel wheels. That, according to a major German safety inspection agency, Tuv Nord, reduces the vehicle's weight slightly and, in turn, reduces fuel consumption.

However, nothing stays the same. Thanks to recent technological developments, modern steel wheels are being made of thinner sheet, so they are not as heavy as they used to be. Makers have optimised them to take a pounding from the road without carrying excess weight.

That means you will often be offered die-cast aluminium rims suitable wide range of applications, from small cars to SUVs, that weigh barely less than modern steel wheels of comparable size. Sometimes they are even heavier.

The conclusion? Steel rims are attractively priced and more robust, but you may not like painted wheels. Light-alloy wheels remain more aesthetically pleasing for many people because of the shiny bare metal.

In both cases, weight has been reduced thanks to modern production processes such as flow-forming.

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