I have a 1995 F-350 dually. Stock aluminum rims. They looked like crap when I bought the truck and look even worse after 55,000 more miles on them. It's about time to buy new tires and was wondering if you could use the stainless steel wheel simulators over the aluminum wheels.
I have contacted a few people and they either tell me no they are not compatible or they might be but they are not sure.
SO... has anyone on here done it or know of someone who has maybe your brother told you of his girlfriends brother who had a friend that had them on the truck he inherited from his uncle.

Maybe you know of a nice set of wheels for sale near Northern KY or are the new aluminum wheels from Summit a good replacement?

I would really just like to find a good set of simulators so I don't have to polish aluminum wheels on a work truck.

Thanks

 

Personally I'd just paint the wheels, because I hate the simulators. The simulators sit on a lip around the wheel bead that the aluminium wheels may not have.

I'll have my simulators (and steel wheels) up for sale soon but they're easy enough to find on eBay or Summit.

 

NO, simulators will NOT work of aluminum wheels.

If they are Alcoas they will clean up VERY nicely with a little work and the are very easy to maintain once they are in good condition. PLEASE do NOT sand and paint them. If you want to RUIN them, just sell them and buy some steel ones for about $50 each

 

If you want simulators you could probably just keep your eyes open as you travel and find a full set along the roadways in the ditches in a short time! These things seem to be notorious for falling off.

I would agree with the previous post: Just refinish your current rims. Blasting them (with walnut shells I believe so as to not hurt the aluminum) would remove the nasty looking clearcoat and allow you to then redo them in a clear or a transparent color to match or complement your truck. This way you also retain the desirable feature of a lower unsprung weight.

 

 

I just cleaned up a tired set of weld wheels that hadn't had any attention in at least 10 years. It took a couple days of polishing but I'm happy with the results. 0000 steel wool with heavy metal polish followed by the same polish on cotton rags. Then a coat of wax to keep em nice. It was work but worth it.

 

i just used the above combo on my aluminum toolboxes.they haven't look so good in years.best part is,it wasn't work at all.

 

My rims are oxidized and pitted on the good sides. The rears are so contaminated with what I guess is brake dust and metal fragments they are next to being destroyed. I spent 3 or 4 hours just on the rear set last summer. They are still partially crusted with metal.
here is a shot of them before I scrubbed the daylights out of them with scotch brite pads.


About 3/4 of that came off the rest will need sand blasted off. It is embedded into the aluminum bad.

 

I would try an aluminum ACID

 

I do believe I still have some aluminum acid here in the garage. Forgot all about it.