Off-roading is not just a way of showing off your vehicle's capabilities, it's also a way of showing off your skills and the beating your 4x4 can take. One of the most abused components when driving on a beaten path is the wheels. This is why in 2009, Fuel Off-Road was born, to provide strong enough and cool-looking wheels for the off-roading community.
You can find everything at this MHT Luxury Alloys brand which offers everything from stock off-road wheels to lifted wheels for trophy trucks and UTVs. Everything that can drive through challenging terrain can be equipped with wheels from Fuel Off-Road. But which wheels do you go for if you have a 4x4?
What to Look for in Off-Road Wheels From Fuel
Size
The most important factor of them all when it comes to choosing the right off-road wheels and even tires. The larger their diameter the larger the tires you'll need but the better you'll be able to go over big bumps. But you shouldn't go for the biggest Fuel Off Road wheels you can find. While that may be a good idea at first, it can affect your off-roading experience in a negative way as it will make things more difficult to get out of mud or sand. This is because smaller wheels provide better traction and more stability.
Bolt Pattern
From a compatibility standpoint, you'll want to get Fuel Off Road rims that will match the bolt pattern of your vehicle. There should be an exact number of lugs and the right diameter of a circle that's formed by the position of the lugs. Otherwise, you won't be able to fit the wheels on your 4x4.
Material
There are 3 main materials you'll find any off-road wheels made of. These are steel, forged aluminum and cast aluminum.
Know that steel Fuel Off Road rims are the strongest you can find but also the least expensive option. As you'd expect their only downside is that they are not as protected from corrosion and don't look as good as aluminum Fuel Off Road rims.
Cast aluminum off-road wheels are generally speaking lighter than steel ones and they won't rust like them either. Cast aluminum wheels are going to crack under heavy load though which is not the case with steel Fuel Off Road wheels.
Forged aluminum wheels you get the best of both worlds. Since they are forged, they are quite strong for being made of aluminum but they are also light enough to make replacing them a lot easier.
Finish
While this is purely from an aesthetics standpoint, it's good to know what are your options when it comes to wheel finish. You can have your Fuel Off Road wheels for sale shiny or matte or you can have them coated in bronze, chrome and even silver. What's more important is that you have the coated in a corrosion-resistant finish to make them last a long time.
Load Rating
Although the material an off-road wheel comes made of is going to determine how strong it is but the weight it can bare it's going to be determined by its load rating. While it's recommended that you go for wheels that have a somewhat higher load rating than what you need, you shouldn't go overboard with it. This is because a higher load rating means you have a heavier wheel to deal with.
Offset
The distance from a wheel's hub mounting area to its centerline is known as offset. You can go for wheels that have negative, positive or zero offset. Wheels with zero offset have the wheel's mounting area exactly at the centerline.
A wheel with negative offset has the mounting area to the inside of the wheel while a wheel with positive offset has its mounting surface more outward. Why is this important? Well, because some vehicles need wheels with a certain offset in order to make room for the brakes suspension parts and other mods.
Hub vs Lug-Centric
Off-road wheels come either as hub or lug-centric, with most aftermarket Fuel Off Road wheels for sale including those from Fuel Off-Road being lug-centric. This is because of the lug holes found on these types of wheels.
Beadlocks
The bead retention of new wheels allows for more air to be removed from your tires. If you go for a more traditional wheel you won't have this much freedom in regulating air pressure and you also won't have as strong of sidewalls. As long as you mount them correctly beadlock wheels go a long way.
Valve Stem
You may not think of it as much, but the position of the valve stem is actually quite an important thing. If the valve stem opening is found away from the lugs they can easily get damaged by an obstacle on the path you're on. If the valve stem opening is too close to the lugs they can be hard to reach when you need to release or pump air into the tire. You can also opt-in for a wheel with dual valve stems.
