Accuride Corporation announced during Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week 2016 in Las Vegas NV that it has added two new lightweight aluminum wheels to its product offering. The company also launched its proprietary EverSteel steel wheel technology.
The wheels are part of Accuride’s effort to provide customers the lightest high-performance steel and aluminum wheels possible.
Re-engineered to reduce weight by 5% to 7%, the new aluminum wheels are both standard type 22.5 x 9.00 wheels produced at the company’s aluminum wheel production facility in Erie PA. The new wheels will be available effective April 1. Accuride continues to redesign and light-weight its popular aluminum wheel product portfolio to reduce weight and improve fuel savings for its fleet and aftermarket customers without sacrificing performance.
Specifications for the new wheels include:
- 41730 wheel--replaces previous part number 29730 and features a reduced weight of four pounds (total weight per wheel: 58 pounds).
- 41012 wheel--replaces previous part number 40012 and features a reduced weight of three pounds (total weight per wheel: 51 pounds).
As our customers seek to optimize the total weight, fuel economy and emissions of their equipment, we continue to refine our designs and manufacturing processes to remove weight from our steel and aluminum wheel offerings,” said Rick Dauch, Accuride president and chief executive officer. “These two new aluminum wheel options are just the beginning of what customers can expect to see from Accuride as we continue our R&D in design engineering and metallurgy to provide the industry’s lightest, most reliable wheels.”
Accuride’s new proprietary EverSteel steel wheel technology is the first of its kind in the commercial vehicle industry and comes with a five-year warranty against corrosion, according to Dauch. EverSteel extends Accuride’s leadership in value-added steel wheel coating technology that began with its launch of Steel Armor in 2013.
EverSteel provides unprecedented corrosion protection that outperforms competing wheels. In independently-performed cyclic corrosion testing (GM9540P), EverSteel demonstrated six times longer life than its North American and offshore competitors and double the operational life of Accuride’s Steel Armor steel wheels. The advanced corrosion-fighting properties resulting from EverSteel’s proprietary four-phase coating process deliver unmatched durability and wheel service life. This enables Accuride to offer customers the industry’s first warranty against steel-wheel corrosion with EverSteel.
Especially suited for trailer applications and fleets regularly operating in ice and snow, EverSteel wheels offer superior resistance to corrosion. This is significant, as traditional steel wheels subject to corrosion from road salt and harsh de-icing chemicals must be refinished about every three years in order to maintain their performance and appearance. By delaying the onset of corrosion for up to eight years, EverSteel extends the usable life of the wheel prior to initial refinishing. EverSteel enables customers to save a projected $105 in wheel refinishing and maintenance costs, as well as the downtime associated with taking the wheels out of service.