So what do you suppose would make an aluminum wheel crack?

[253862656971]

I'm not sure where to put this so since it's not a mopar I'll put it here.

I have a set of Eagle Alloy 580 wheels on my pickup.  Today I was messing around with it and happened to notice a crack on the front passenger wheel.  The crack runs around about 1/3 of the wheel outside of the lug nuts.  The cracks do not run through the lug nuts.  Then I went to the other side and I see that there is a crack in much the same fashion on that side but it is only about 6 inches long.  Again the crack runs around the outside of the lug nuts.  Now my curiosity is piqued and I pull off one of my rear wheels.  I did not see any cracks in this wheel. 

Tomorrow I'm heading to the tire store to see if I can get a couple rims but I'm wondering how the heck a crack could develop.  The lug nuts have been on tight all the time I've owned the pickup and the cracks seem to be a bit aged but I'm not sure.  The pickup is a 96 F-350 dually.

[dodge freak]

Think of all the abuse the wheel gets, potholes , high speeds and the front get hotter than the back if there is only drum brakes in back. Those disk brakes get hot, very hot sometimes and then it gets hit by all the bumps in the road. You don't notice it as much inside the cab. Thats why I do not have  alloy wheels on my car. They are lighter and that would help get me going quicker but its not worth it I think. Maybe they make very good ones now but last time I looked all the cop cars around here have steel wheels. Yes they are cheaper but I think they have them cause they are stronger too. If they are not very old maybe the shop would do something, I would get a different type and get rid of those back ones too.

[hemihead]

Maybe the wheel was overtightened?

[Chryco Psycho]

there is a lot of stress on the front wheels of a dually especially if it has a sure grip diff , possibly the wheels are simply not engineered well enough to take the load

[253862656971]

This thread was posted in OT first so I'm sorry you mods had to move it.

I ordered another pair of wheels today at $125 each.  The wheels are specifically designed for dually's but I'm not sure if they are just designed to fit or to also take the load.  We'll see if these wheels crack too.  If they do I'm going back to stock steelies.  I bought the pickup with the wheels on it so I don't have the originals and I don't know what kind of abuse they have seen.  I got to wondering today if the wheels have been on long enough to reach the end of their fatigue life.  I know aluminum will yield and return to shape much better than steel.  I also know though that aluminum will flex back and forth and it strength goes down and down until it's zero and it tears.  Steel though can flex and flex and its strength will go down but it reaches a certain point and it doesn't get any weaker.  Maybe I reached the end of the fatigue life?

Anyway I was just curious.  Thanks for the insight guys.

[Bandit72]

i had the same problem with my truck's rims and it turned out my wheels were way out of alignment (i knew they were alittle bit but i never was too worried about it until i started breaking rims)

later