Which set of wheels?

[F350farmboy]

I was looking at my parts truck planning what I'm going to rob off of it next, and I was wondering how the aluminum rims would look on the '89. They're 16.5" wheels and the clear coat on them is gone in some areas and some oxidation is going on.

I would like to have you guys' opinion on which set of wheels I should keep. And weight ratings will not be an issue, the truck will see the occasional cattle haul, and feed runs, but all the real heavy hauling is done with my '85.

This is strictly a "which one looks better" kind of thing.

These:

or this:

If the steelys look better, I'll strip the aluminum ones down and polish them up and sell 'em.


Sorry for the $H!TTY pics, the only way I can upload pics id using the vBpicGallery here and I have to make the stupid pics so small it ruins them....and taking them on my camera phone in the cold doesn't help either. Every other photo hosting site doesn't even attempt to upload my pics, and I keep getting an error when I try to attach them!!!

Anyways here they are

 

[Sycostang67]

Why dont you polish the aluminum wheels and use them?

 

[antivtec]

Why dont you polish the aluminum wheels and use them?

Yup!

 

[F350farmboy]

I'm going to. I just wanted to put them on just to see how they looked. I was looking into these because according to tirerack.com the 33x12.5x16.5 tires are cheaper than the 285/75R16. Only downside is there's only one style tire for the 16.5" wheel.

I am going to send the wheels off to my local tire place and have them dismounted so I can clean them up really good this week, while I'm there, I'll ask for their 16.5" wheel options.

 

[Sycostang67]

The size is the only real downside, as 16.5" isn't a popular tire size anymore.

 

[wpfd571]

Sell both sets and get some nice 16" wheels. It sucks finding tires for a 16.5 wheel there just isnt much options. The aluminum wheels looks a lot better than the steel

 

[Rot Box]

I'm a fan of plain jane stock steel wheels. Keep in mind some aftermarket aluminum wheels may or may not have the load range you are after.

That being said the bead on 16.5 wheel scares the crap out of me and I wouldn't want to tow a lot on them anyway regardless of whether they are steel or alum. They are losing popularity and my money is on the bead being the reason.

 

[dyoung14]

i have always loved that design of wheel in aluminum, you should sell them 16.5's to me

 

[F350farmboy]

I'm a fan of plain jane stock steel wheels. Keep in mind some aftermarket aluminum wheels may or may not have the load range you are after.

That being said the bead on 16.5 wheel scares the crap out of me and I wouldn't want to tow a lot on them anyway regardless of whether they are steel or alum. They are losing popularity and my money is on the bead being the reason.

I've read about that too over on FTE. I guess the seat is only like 5-10* instead of 15* like the 16" wheels do and that causes them to blow the bead out at lower psi and around corners. I've had them on my "parts truck" for years with no problem.

The '89 F-250 was demoted to parts truck when I got the '89 diesel. It was a rust bucket/flinstone mobile So I started putting the better stuff from it onto the diesel, ie. bench seat, running boards, bed, tailgate, bumper.

That being said, I'll go ahead and ask the tire people about getting a set and start cleaning them up. I'm going the full 9 yards on these wheels and I'll take pics along the way.

 

[towcat]

I like the idea of the third option.
with your color combination, I'd go for painted/powdercoated/anodized/whatever BLACK wheels. Steel or aluminum. I like the BOSS 302 look of your truck, and black wheels will give it a better color balance.
just my .02

 

[F350farmboy]

That just gave me an idear.....Before I strip 'em down for polishing, I'll paint black over the clear coat and see what that looks like. If I end up keeping the steel wheels, I guess it wouldn't hurt selling the aluminum ones and putting some coin in the bank for college

 

[F350farmboy]

Well, I went out and sprayed one wheel cause that's all the black paint I had, and its that rustoleum hammer finish paint. I also used the REAL camera and heres some more pics. I actually like them more like this:

Since I have to make them like 80% smaller than when they come out of the camera, they are still kinda fuzzy, but better.

 

[gatorman21218]

I got the best of both worlds. steel rims with an aluminum finish.


http://www.rustoleum.com/cbgimages/products/SR_PE_7715502_Aluminum_QT_L.jpg

 

[Sycostang67]

I think they look pretty good painted black.

 

[1994IDI]

Black is the way to go with your color scheme. Hands down. I would also sell both sets and buy a set of 16" aluminum.