BLE is entirely correct. That is the double-blind experiment.
I’d love to see this done with a CD and the vinyl equivalent. Of course the CD output would have to have added the typical noise, wow and limited frequency response of the record.
Double blind experiments on tires and wheels?
The company I used to work for tried to do such experiments, and even though our test drivers knew they weren’t supposed to look, they always did. They couldn’t help themselves.
It is incredibly difficult to eliminate this from the experiment!
I’d be amazed if the average driver could tell the difference in handling between steel and alloy wheels.
I’d be equally amazed if the average driver ever cornered hard enough for wheel flex to matter.
I’d be equally amazed if the average driver ever cornered hard enough for wheel flex to matter.
It was embarrassing to have to go back to retrieve the wheel covers for my Plymouth after a hard turn. I replaced the plain steel wheels with rally/styled steel wheels, no more chasing wheel covers. I suppose the average driver doesn’t slide around corners in a Plymouth Fury.
If I recall correctly the Dodge Charger in the movie Bullitt lost 7 wheel covers during the chase, that’s a lot of wheel flex.
That’s true… the average driver doesn’t slide around corners in a Plymouth Fury… or any other daily driver, for that matter. Nobody should be driving on public streets in a manner that would cause the wheel material to make a difference.
I should add that if you’d had some of the lightweight aftermarket wheels I’ve seen on some cars, you probably would have suffered more than a lost hubcap. Some of these are spindly beyond what I’d feel safe with.
Steel or alloy wheels?..Doesn’t much matter to me. My Versa has steel wheels and they work fine. Alloy wheels are nice, but you have to be careful to not scrape them up on curbs. That said, I would NEVER want to go back to the days of econocars with 13" wheels. I had a 1987 Escort with 165/80/13 tires and it was just ridiculous! When the OE tires wore out I started putting 185/70/13 tires on it and it was an improvement. My '94 Saturn SL-2 came with 195/60/15 tires on it and it handled quite well. I think we may have gotten a bit crazy with the 17" wheels on economy cars, but I do like somewhat low-profile tires. An emergency braking/steering maneuver in my Escort with the 80 series tires was hit-or-miss…And I just didn’t think it was safe.
Almost all of our trucks at work have stamped steel rims. They work just fine, even if the truck as 11r22.5 tires
I’m not talking about fuel economy savings
I’m just saying that stamped steel rims work just fine
There are cases where one truck has stamped steel rims, whereas its twin . . . same model year, engine, transmission, tire size, etc. . . . has alloy rims
I’ve driven all of them
I’m no race car driver, and I haven’t taken any of them “to the limit” . . . but I can’t notice any performance advantage with the alloy rims
And I’m applying that statement to ALL trucks, from a Ford Ranger all the way up to a class 8 truck. No discernible handling difference, alloy versus stamped steel
My point was that if you don’t take cornering to the limit, you won’t notice the difference. However, it’s easy to imagine differences to suit our biases and prejudices. (the placebo effect) As the wiser hot rodders of old used to say “don’t mistake noise for horsepower”.
Yeah, @B.L.E. I recall friends flipping the air filter lid on the family sedan with a 4bbl. When leaving a light at WOT it sounded like they had unleashed a beast. Truth is the engine lost power due to the loss of the velocity stack on the breather. It did sound good though.
Whoops, once again the conversation has moved faster than my ability to keep up. Yes, my current (primary) car is an econobox, and on its last legs to boot. My previous comment was meant to both inspire a chuckle and burnish my image here as a curmudgeon and a tightwad. 
Response to @Nevada_545 “. . . If you had replaced the belt, tensioner and oxygen sensor on your Grand Cherokee yourself you would have money left over for custom wheels on the vehicle of your choice.” Well. . . if I had just kept my old '92 Chevy pickup truck and never taken (tooken?) possession of that #$%^ Grand Cherokee in the first place, I’d probably have enough money left over to buy a nice waverunner, PLUS, I’d have a functional tow vehicle to pull it with. (Hindsight is always 20/20, huh?)
Regarding the several comments about the average driver not taking corners hard enough to notice the difference between steel and alloy wheels. . . . well, I’m not so sure about that. . . being out driving around in traffic for so many years is one of the main reasons I am even considering buying a new, as opposed to a used, car. I see 'em out there, taking corners with the wheels squealing, stomping on the gas, stomping on the brakes, weaving in and out of traffic tailgating at 70+ mph on the highway. . . . yeah, yeah, I know, “MOST” people don’t drive like that, we just remember seeing the few @#$%^&'s that DO.
On motorcycles, the weight of the rim can make a remarkable difference in how the bike feels to the rider. Also it’s amazing how much difference REAR tires make in how easy a motorcycle is to steer.
Because of the desire of people for low price and the alloy wheel look many of the alloy wheels weigh MORE than the standard steel wheels. I hate having to pay for things I don’t want or need, I did want power remote locks because my wife is short wit short arms and cannot lock and unlock all the doors from the drivers seat like I can, but I had to take a large touchscreen radio that is brightly lit with no way to dim it. Why should my car have Bluetooth when I have no phone or music device to link to it.
I also prefer narrower tires because they do better in rain, snow and ice. Wide tires only have an advantage when it is dry.
If people really wanted the performance advantage of light wheel they would be buying magnesium not aluminum wheels.
@oldtimer Twenty-five years ago a (different) old timer told me custom wheels were once made of magnesium but this was discontinued due to fire hazard, once ignited magnesium is difficult to extinguish. I heard tales of people placing broken VW blocks in the campfire for entertainment, the old blocks were said to be made of magnesium.
As for your multi-dispaly, if it is a Toyota do you not have a “Display” button to adjust contrast and brightness?
One of the guys at work says he tossed a few VW blocks into the campfire
Of course, he already had SEVERAL beers in his belly, when he decided to do this
You mean mag wheels used to be made out of mag? Who would have thought?
Nevada, that’s very true. That’s where the term “mag wheels” originated.
Rims on dragsters were made from magnesium for a very short period in history. The lower weight (less rotating mass) allowed the wheels to get spinning a tad bit faster.
There are still places that will make magnesium wheels, but they’re very, very expensive. That stuff is downright dangerous to work with. In addition to toxicity, it can ignite, and if it does it can burn at temperatures in excess of 3,000F… it’s very difficult to extinguish. Some restorers do, however, pay the price for the sake of authenticity.
Pure magnesium wheels are also quite fragile and would not stand up to rough long tem use. All in all, alloy wheels are an appearance item, and you can duplicate that with good looking plastic ones for $80 a set. The advantage is you can change them of you get tired of them.
I had no idea that magnesium was a toxic metal. I’ll have to quit using epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) and milk of magnesia (magnesium hydroxide) then.
Magnesium is so old tech in racing. Carbon fiber is even lighter and stiffer.
BLE: magnesium metal is toxic, not compounds such as you list.