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Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story.
- Plenty of engineering horsepower has gone into fixing potholes, yet few solutions have genuinely resolved the issue.
- Steel wheels have long been forgotten, but could prove a great interim solution against potholes—able to bend, instead of cracking and failing.
- Despite being considered outdated, many new off-road vehicles come with steel wheels from the factory.
Let’s face it, roads have become a minefield with seemingly invisible wheel- and tire-killing potholes. Engineers have devised specialized materials to fill them in, guerrilla groups have begun packing them with asphalt, and some have even explored using 3D-printing drones to solve the issue, with limited success. But what if there was a solution that’s been around for nearly 100 years?
Good old-fashioned steel wheels could be the answer. Those of us in colder climates swap these “steelies” on during the winter months. But what if you could just leave them on for the whole year? What these wheels lack in appearance, they more than make up for with their strength, reliability, and affordability. However, the real party piece of these steel wheels is that if they get damaged, they’re designed to bend instead of crack and fail like most aluminum wheels on the market.
What are Steelies?
People often say that steel is real. And they’re right in the sense that it’s a brilliant material to work with. Unlike modern alloy wheels, which are cast using molten aluminum, steel wheels can be stamped from a roll of sheet metal. One sheet forms the barrel of the wheel while another acts as the wheel face—where the lug nuts fasten it to your car. The two are welded together, and then voila, you have a finished wheel.
Nearly all automobiles rode on steel wheels until the 1980s, when cast aluminum wheels began to hit the market. The new technology represented a quantum leap, making wheels significantly lighter and even allowing for new designs that would have been impossible to stamp out of steel. However, it didn’t take long to realize that the new wheels weren’t perfect. Cast aluminum suffers from porosity—tiny air pockets—making the wheels prone to cracking.
Low-pressure casting has improved the porosity issue by forcing the molten metal into the mold, but hasn’t entirely solved the issue.
Are Steelies Making a Comeback?
It remains a mystery how or why trends emerge and fade, but perhaps that’s what makes them so interesting. Steelies are having a moment again, with many new off-roaders offering them from the factory; namely, the Land Rover Defender, Jeep Wrangler, Ford Bronco, and Ineos Grenadier are all available with steel rims.
It’s unclear why these wheels are back in the limelight, but we’d guess it’s the form-follows-function ethos. For those of you who are maybe more into vintage clothing, it’s comparable to why people pay way too much money for vintage Carhartt stuff; those garments weren’t made to look good, they were made to work in. And yet, they’re still timeless pieces—most of which are now being worn by people who have never stepped foot on a farm.
Bringing things back full circle, there’s a Facebook group called “Every Car Is Better With Steel Wheels.” And we think that says it all. Go check it out.
