[FishingMagician]

Am strongly considering the Rideline and was wondering what the difference is between steel and alloy wheels. Is one better than the other? Living in the NE US where the snow blows what effect will salt have the either the steel or alloy wheels? I have seen some alloy wheels that are pitted. Any information that can be provided would be most appreciated. Thanks

 

[TheRidgester]

My experiance with both-
Alluminum alloy, unless you spend $$$ to have them coated, will pit and look bad after the salt from the snow days hits em. I lost 2 sets in the past and will never go back. Some make teflon coated right out of the box, to prohibit this. Others make chromed aluminum, that comes with a 3 year finish warranty...I've no personal experiance with them.
Steel wheels are heavy, harder to keep balanced, but better for hard core off road use(cant see the RL doing that) and will rust in about 3 to 5 years.. but for 20 bucks a wheel no biggie
What friends do now is go for the Alluminum Alloy...they look the best!
and keep the factory rims for winter and snow... thinner (width) tires, give you better water and snow traction.

 

[hiPSI]

My Ridgeline apparently has alloy wheels similar to what my CR-V had and similar to my Oddysey has. They salt like crazy here too and I have had no problems with pitting. The alloy wheels do "skin up" or gouge easier than steel though. I had many scars on my CR-V alloy wheels from medium size rocks (4"+ in dia.) while doing light off roading. Steel will scratch but not gouge. Hope this helps.

 

[Force5]

I had alloy wheel on a 10 year old Volvo that held up very well. In the winter, try to rinse them off once in a while. Another trick, is to put a couple of coats of wax on them - this also makes cleaining them much easier.

 

[thumper]

The stock alloy wheels on the ridgeline are powder coated or something... but not exposed alloy. you can order polished wheels for a significant amount, but why bother... the RTS comes with the coated alloy.