Hey there,

Got the D90 into the desert the other day and was positively surprised...

the "NAS" TD5 truck is extremely light compared to any LR I've driven...I need to get used to the TD5's turbo lag in the dunes, but its something I got to get used to by the end of the day...a couple more runs and we'll be good to go.

Anyways,

I'll be getting the 33x12.5x16 SSRs for it and will mount them on the stock 16x7 Alloys - I was contemplating putting wheel spacers on them, but Have thought of gaining width AND functionality through weld on aluminum beadlocks...

There are two companies here that can do the implementation on the welding as it is their field of welding up aluminum, however, was wondering whether it is advisable to go for it on the LR ones (are they pure aluminum?) and what your POVs are...

Thanks.

I don't now what alloy they are - they definately won't be pure aluminium as that is far too weak.

I would do it. I always wanted a set of beadlocked Freestyles.

Check out Champion.

As John said, pure aluminum isn't used for much structural, it is very soft. The alloy used for your wheels? Don't know.

Welding aluminum is a tricky thing, it tends to make the local area very brittle and can be severe depending on how it is done. Further, the different hardnesses of the metal created by the welding can cause internal stresses which will fatigue and fail. I wouldn't weld in any stressed area. If the shop is really familiar with what they're doing, or the wheel is just so over-built it can handle some modifications, go for it.

If you're having the wheels modified by welding, I would question whether they've done it before and how much knowledge/testing/experience this mod has. Any guarantee on the work?

On the other hand, if the price is right and a failure won't cause any harm, worth trying?

Anyonw knows whether LR factory alloys are cast or forged?
My RRC Threespoke are marked GKN. I assume they are cast. In that case it would be Al-Si alloy, probably with some Magnesium, for strength.
Generally cast aluminium is regarded as difficult to weld, ebcause of porosities. Probably not too big of a problem in this case, because wheels are one of the most high quality castings made and also because the lip area is the first to solidify so gets the most sound material.
The lip part is also not véry stressed, so I'd say go for it.

Tobias

sounds like a plan, I was looking at this myself. Will you buy a weld on kit or make the rings yourself? Please keep us informed of the result.

Daan

Anyonw knows whether LR factory alloys are cast or forged?
My RRC Threespoke are marked GKN. I assume they are cast. In that case it would be Al-Si alloy, probably with some Magnesium, for strength.
Generally cast aluminium is regarded as difficult to weld, ebcause of porosities. Probably not too big of a problem in this case, because wheels are one of the most high quality castings made and also because the lip area is the first to solidify so gets the most sound material.
The lip part is also not véry stressed, so I'd say go for it.

Tobias

cast, and difficult to get fusion

"because wheels are one of the most high quality castings made"

I don't think this is a true statement. I have customers that have found cig butts and chicken wire in their wheel castings. High quality castings are aerospace, not car wheels. Just my .02, doesn't really help though.

A bit of a hijack, but in automotive sector aluminium, wheels are one of the parts where quality control is the toughest. I do not doubt that there are manufacturers in say third world countries that spit out lower quality. The examples you have are they OEM-wheels or aftermarket?
Of ocurse turbine vanes and such are a bit higher on the ladder of perfecion, but I tend to limit my thinking to automotive :flipoff2:

T

A bit of a hijack, but in automotive sector aluminium, wheels are one of the parts where quality control is the toughest. I do not doubt that there are manufacturers in say third world countries that spit out lower quality. The examples you have are they OEM-wheels or aftermarket?
Of ocurse turbine vanes and such are a bit higher on the ladder of perfecion, but I tend to limit my thinking to automotive :flipoff2:

T

Good point :flipoff2: I was speaking of some of the aftermarket wheel companies. I would honestly say they make a better product than the OEM though. The castings I spoke of were made in Riverside, CA. The meth capital of the world!

I've gotta laugh, worked for two casting companies that made wheels, most of them low-pressure castings, and they were some of the lower quality castings we made. These wheels were overweight, just overbuilt. Castings for brake calipers? Now these were carefully controlled, 100% real-time x-rayed, etc. Harley-Davidson badges? High quality. Forged suspension parts? high quality. Wheels were tough business to keep because anyone could make them and meet the spec. so most of that business went overseas.

On European vehicles it is different I admit, one of my cars has cold-forged BBS magnesium-alloy wheels, ... the Disco wheels look like a melt-forged aluminum alloy (one of dozens available for that type of product depending on the weight/price ratio LandRover/BMW/Ford specifies).

It has to meet specifications, but those specifications don't take into account whether anyone is going to try to weld to the wheel. Most of the time when I consider a modification, being an automotive engineer, I perform an informal DFMEA being simply "what's the worst that can happen". If it's a trail rig and a wheel failure means swapping to a spare on top of a rock, not a big deal. If it's a road rig and a catastrophic failure means the wheel could separate and my 3" lifted no-sway-bar truck is gonna turn into a ball of tinfoil, it needs more research.

Mess with trail wheels, don't mess with road wheels, my opinion.