Retro Wheels/aluminium and offroading?

[MDbeachguy]

So i have fallen in love with this look of wheel as im setting up a retro look for my bronco 2 door with white accents. And im shopping around and so far the best "match" i have found has been these from fifteen 52. However they are aluminum wheels and i have no idea if they would be suitable for medium offroading (very light rock crawling to get around trails and such , not like moab stunts)

I have heard that steel wheels are superior because you can bash them back into place if they are damaged. Does anybody know of good catalogs of wheels that would be compatible with the stock badland 33's? Preferably white in the style or close to that of the fifteen 52? I saw that detroit steel wheels makes some but i dont know anything about wheel sizing and dont know if they are more for classic cars and are off road rated.

The other problem i have is the ugly "fifteen 52" on the hub that i wish i could make say ford or nothing at all.

Am i overthinking it? are the fifteen 52s good enough for what i am talking about or could they take damage worse than other options?

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[grayshadow]

So i have fallen in love with this look of wheel as im setting up a retro look for my bronco 2 door with white accents. And im shopping around and so far the best "match" i have found has been these from fifteen 52. However they are aluminum wheels and i have no idea if they would be suitable for medium offroading (very light rock crawling to get around trails and such , not like moab stunts)

I have heard that steel wheels are superior because you can bash them back into place if they are damaged. Does anybody know of good catalogs of wheels that would be compatible with the stock badland 33's? Preferably white in the style or close to that of the fifteen 52? I saw that detroit steel wheels makes some but i dont know anything about wheel sizing and dont know if they are more for classic cars and are off road rated.

The other problem i have is the ugly "fifteen 52" on the hub that i wish i could make say ford or nothing at all.

Am i overthinking it? are the fifteen 52s good enough for what i am talking about or could they take damage worse than other options?

I emailed a guy at Detroit Steel Wheels and they have retro wheels for the Bronco. They are the company that made wheels for Jay Leno’s Bronco build if you have ever seen Leno’s Garage. They even have retro style hub caps for the Bronco.

BTW I was planning on the same type of build however, lately the black has been growing on me.

Below is the pic he sent me.

 

[Macjr]

I love the look of the Fifteen 52 wheels, yes these are suitable for what u want and there are several builds on here with Fifteen52’s on Broncos..Don’t worry about the logo, look at some of the other builds on here and the logo is subtle and classy. My favorite second build is a 2 dr blue base with a manual and a set of Fifteen52s w knobby 33’s…

 

[Macjr]

I emailed a guy at Detroit Steel Wheels and they have retro wheels for the Bronco. They are the company that made wheels for Jay Leno’s Bronco build if you have ever seen Leno’s Garage. They even have retro style hub caps for the Bronco.

BTW I was planning on the same type of build however, lately the black has been growing on me.

Below is the pic he sent me.

That’s a stunner!!

 

[MDbeachguy]

I love the look of the Fifteen 52 wheels, yes these are suitable for what u want and there are several builds on here with Fifteen52’s on Broncos..Don’t worry about the logo, look at some of the other builds on here and the logo is subtle and classy. My favorite second build is a 2 dr blue base with a manual and a set of Fifteen52s w knobby 33’s…

what about the steel vs aluminum debate?

 

[Macjr]

what about the steel vs aluminum debate?

I’d be lying if I said I know much about this I don’t. My only reference is Fifteen52 wheels are being used on several hardcore off-road builds, check them out on here as well as the product website. I’m merely referencing your post as needing them for medium offroading… I think they look amazing and it’s my favorite looking setup. Hopefully some folks on here with way more experience than me will chime in on their suitability for what you need. Good luck! and show us your build when you are done!

 

[BroncoAZ]

what about the steel vs aluminum debate?

I did a lot of crawling over the years in my 87 Bronco on 35” tires. Back in the 90’s I read the same thing about steel being better than aluminum, but I quickly found out that steel wheels warp when subjected to a heavy truck crawling. My wheels would have up to 1/4” of runout after a year or so. After 2 sets of steel wheels I swapped to aluminum and the problem went away. Steel wheels bend relatively easily, aluminum wheels crack but it takes a lot more force to damage them. I did have one occasion where I dented a steel wheel and was able to beat the bead back into place so it held air to get off the trail, but I still ended up replacing the wheel.

 

[Silver-Bolt]

You won't see many steel wheels running Baja.

 

[MDbeachguy]

I did a lot of crawling over the years in my 87 Bronco on 35” tires. I read the same thing about steel being better than aluminum, but I quickly found out that steel wheels warp when subjected to a heavy truck crawling. After 2 sets of steel wheels I swapped to aluminum and the problem went away. Steel wheels bend, aluminum wheels crack but it takes a lot more force to damage them. I did have one occasion where I dented a steel wheel and was able to beat the bead back into place so it held air to get off the trail, but I still ended up replacing the wheel.

thats good to know. I will have a spare so i guess the "beat back into place but still replace the wheel" doesnt make sense

 

[MDbeachguy]

I’d be lying if I said I know much about this I don’t. My only reference is Fifteen52 wheels are being used on several hardcore off-road builds, check them out on here as well as the product website. I’m merely referencing your post as needing them for medium offroading… I think they look amazing and it’s my favorite looking setup. Hopefully some folks on here with way more experience than me will chime in on their suitability for what you need. Good luck! and show us your build when you are done!

I mean if they work for hardcore offroading im pretty much sold. So far this thread has cleared up a bunch of information these wheels look like the ticket

 

[andrusoid]

So i have fallen in love with this look of wheel as im setting up a retro look for my bronco 2 door with white accents. And im shopping around and so far the best "match" i have found has been these from fifteen 52. However they are aluminum wheels and i have no idea if they would be suitable for medium offroading (very light rock crawling to get around trails and such , not like moab stunts)

I have heard that steel wheels are superior because you can bash them back into place if they are damaged. Does anybody know of good catalogs of wheels that would be compatible with the stock badland 33's? Preferably white in the style or close to that of the fifteen 52? I saw that detroit steel wheels makes some but i dont know anything about wheel sizing and dont know if they are more for classic cars and are off road rated.

The other problem i have is the ugly "fifteen 52" on the hub that i wish i could make say ford or nothing at all.

Am i overthinking it? are the fifteen 52s good enough for what i am talking about or could they take damage worse than other options?

I happen to love these wheels also, but was taken aback by the price. I found some Procomp 69s and can get them powder coated for 75 to $100 bucks each. Weird thing about 1552 is that their logo is almost exactly like one I did for Akaku Maui TV channel 52 in the early 2000s.

 

[mljohnson1973]

I have these in black in my garage so I love them too. Looking forward to eventually having a Bronco to put them on , lol. Good luck with your build , sounds like it's gonna be a nice one .

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