I have an '09 F250 Crew Cab Long Bed King Ranch that had a cracked rim. I started losing tire pressure on the right front one day, after dunking it i found about a 1" stress crack in the rim, near the bead. Long story short, two failed attempts at welding it and dealer wanting $1300 per I bought a replacement off of EBAY. The rim was in great shape, seller sent the TPMS, center cap and lugs with it. After mounting the tire off the cracked rim and put it on the new rim, took off down the road only to have low pressure light come back on. I replaced the valve stem, same deal. At this point I'm frustrated and needed tires anyways so I bought a new set of Terre Grapplers, mounted them same problem. It doesn't leak when under pressure, only during rotation. It turns out this rim has a crack as well. It doesn't open up until you are driving it because of the heat generated from brakes and friction causing the aluminum to expand. I aired it up, set it in the sun for an hour then sprayed soapy water on it and sure enough....almost identical looking crack.
At this point I'm weighing my options, I'd prefer to keep the factory rims, I like they way they look (and prefer to just buy 1 instead of 4) but I have 0 faith in the other three rims and there currently isn't any other rims on Ebay. Do I bite the bullet and buy after market replacements, if so what are some good brands, rough pricing? I don't want to spend a lot of money, but don't want to buy something cheap and of poor quality.
Looking for suggestions.......
05-28-2012, 08:23 AM
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