Does anybody in here run Alcoa rims? I got an email from Alcoa and they said that they don't have any Alcoa rims for my 2019 XLT F350 DRW 176" wheel base crew cab. What type of rims are you all running?

 

This won't do you any good but my 2019 F-450 came with Alcoa's - they're unfortunately 19.5's and 10 lug!!!

 

I don't wish to be the bearer of bad news, so next time you rotate your tires and wheels, or have occasion to pull a wheel off your hub, have some soap & water and a flashlight handy to find out who the manufacturer of your wheels is, and where they were made.

 

.............

 

Not my truck....a good buddies. He runs Fuel wheels and they look really good. He consistently tows very heavy loads which is why he runs Fuel.

 

Those are Ford wheels made in PRC. The only Alcoa wheels Ford uses are on the F-650 & F-750 as optional equipment. The last time Ford used a Alcoa branded wheel on a pickup was 1997.

 

I run Fuels as well.

 

Oh! Well, then!!! As Gilda Radner used to say on Saturday Night Live, "Never mind!"

 

I have always liked the big rig look of the Alcoa wheels. I kinda wish We could still get them on our Fords. I tend to prefer the classic look. I don’t care for the modern aftermarket wheels that some are putting on their trucks these days.

 

"Made in China"

 

The Ford 19.5" (and many other sizes of) OEM aluminum light truck wheels which have the cryptic symbol shown below dot embossed on the back side of the wheel are manufactured in China by Citic Diecastal.










One can still get genuine Alcoa branded wheels in the aftermarket for the following Fords:

• F-450 pickup
• F-450/550 chassis cab
• E-350/450/SuperDuty cutaway
• Transit 350HD vans and cutaways

As to where these Alcoa branded wheels are made, is anyone's guess.

Howmet Aerospace (a spinoff of Arconic in 2020, which was a spinoff of Alcoa in 2016) operates aluminum wheel manufacturing facilities in China, as well as Alcoa's former acquisition of an aluminum wheel making plant in Hungary. Howmet operates additional wheel producing plants in Japan, South Africa, Australia, and Singapore, but it appears likely that the largest volume of Alcoa branded wheels destined for the North American market are made by:

Howmet Aerospace
Monterrey Operations
Av Tecnológico #1255
Fracc. Industrial Estrella, Ciénega de Flores
65550 Monterrey, Nuevo Leon
MEXICO

Howmet Aerospace offers guidance to international suppliers on how to ship raw materials to Mexico, but not the United States. This indicates the possibility that Alcoa branded wheels may not necessarily be made with Alcoa mined raw materials. Alcoa, the aluminum material miner and producer, separated itself from the wheel making business and rolled sheet business when it spun off Arconic, and Arconic later bisected the rolled product and wheel making businesses into two separate businesses, of which Howmet Aerospace is one... making engine castings, rings, rivets, and wheels.

Howmet Aerospace inherited some of the formerly Arconic, and prior to that Alcoa operations in the United States, which are in Denton, TX, Chillicothe, OH, Cleveland, OH, and Barberton, OH. The Barberton OH plant had a fire in February, and has since then scaled down due to Covid. It appears that the Denton TX facility is a distribution center that receives and redistributes finished products manufactured in Mexico, and largely supports PACCAR, also in Denton TX, where Peterbilt and Kenworth trucks are made (which use a lot of Alcoa wheels). The Chillicothe OH plant was where Wearever cookware was manufactured between 1948 to 1990, and it wasn't until 2005 that Alcoa was able to come to some sort of agreement with the Ohio EPA about land use. The Cleveland OH plant manufactures passenger car wheels, such as the wheels used in the Chevy Cruze.

Regardless of where the Alcoa wheels are made, or where the materials are sourced from, one can at least assume that Alcoa branded wheels are made with the Alcoa innovations in finish and structure, as well as the weight and pressure capacities, that are advertised with the wheels. For example, the Alcoa branded aftermarket wheel fitting the 19.5" F-450 application has a 130 psi pressure rating and a 4,000 lb weight capacity rating, as opposed to the 115 psi pressure rating and 3,750 lb weight capacity of the OEM Ford wheel. Alcoa also advertises innovating a forging process that reduces the weight of this wheel down to just 26 lbs. I do not know what the current OEM Ford aluminum wheel weighs for the F-450 application.

As the OP found out, Alcoa does not offer a 17" diameter, 8 x 200mm bolt circle diameter dually wheel, so there is no Alcoa branded alternative available for the current F-350.