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Alloy Wheels

Alloy wheels is a term that refers to wheels that are made of… you guessed it, an alloy. What is an alloy? Well Merriam Webster defines an alloy as “a substance composed of two or more metals and a nonmetal intimately united; usually by being fused together and dissolving in each other when molten.” Anyone else want that sentence again, in English? Simply put, alloys are a mixture of metals and at least one non-metal which is created while the metal is molten to allow the non metal to disperse evenly through the mixture.

So how does the semi abstract term of alloy work its way into your car wheels? Well all car wheels are made of an alloy. Really, they are! The baseline material for car wheels is steel. Steel itself is an alloy of carbon and iron. But when people refer to alloy wheels, they’re generally not talking about steel, since that particular alloy is prevalent enough to warrant its own single syllable name. This runs in stark contrast to the names of most alloys, such as duralumin, which look like they were formed by random association in combination with heavy drinking. Incidentally, duralumin is the alloy of copper, aluminum, manganese, and magnesium.

The most common alloys used on car wheels are aluminum and magnesium alloys. It should be noted that aluminum alloys are separate from magnesium alloys, and both categories are distinct from aluminum-magnesium alloys, which also exist. All three varieties see heavy use in the alloy wheel department, primarily because of their strength, weight, and visual characteristics.

Aluminum especially is a pretty metal when alloyed properly; it can be shined to a finish that stands up well on its own. This is a significant departure from steel, which must be painted or covered with a hub cap in order to be made presentable. Aluminum and magnesium both have higher strength to weight ratios than steel does, making them the preferred option when weight is a concern. This is usually done in racing and sports cars. Magnesium alloys are less stable than aluminum ones, but they are lighter and have better physical strength characteristics. Of course, they also have the potential to light on fire and burn at 6000 degrees until the magnesium is consumed. But hey, we can’t have everything be perfect!

                When you shop for alloy wheels, it’s good to know what you’re looking at, because it’s very easy to be buried under the jargon. Imagine for a moment your conversation with a salesperson. You are inquiring about different wheels, and you bring up the stability and temperature dispersion factors of two models. Suddenly the sales person buries you under a deluge of technical terms just to avoid having to answer the question coherently. If you come to a table with a basic understanding of which alloys have which characteristics, you can avoid having to threaten the salesman’s manhood by asking questions he can’t answer, and save yourself the trouble of digging out from under the pile of crap he tries to bury you in.                

 

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