stock wheels, who made them??

[MERCMAN]

I was just wondering if anyone has info on who the manufacturer of the stock MM wheels was/are? As time goes on I have a sneaking suspicion these are going to be next to impossible to purchase. As Ford contracts out stuff, perhaps one of the major aftermarket wheel makers has the capability of making our wheels. Just curious~~

[CRUZTAKER]

Alcoa, east of Cleveland, Ohio make some for sure.

I met an employee at one of Jerry's dyno meets this past summer. The fellow makes wheels, our wheels.

I also have a local source for our wheels. Used, reconditioned, ranging in G TO Exc. condition starting at $160 each. This source will likely have wheels for years to come.

[03SILVERSTREAK]

:up: on the years to come.

[Mike Poore]

I was just wondering if anyone has info on who the manufacturer of the stock MM wheels was/are? As time goes on I have a sneaking suspicion these are going to be next to impossible to purchase. As Ford contracts out stuff, perhaps one of the major aftermarket wheel makers has the capability of making our wheels. Just curious~~
Here's a possible good guess. Grant made the special chrome wheels for Lee Laura when they did the run of '93 Mustang Feature cars. There was a big problem with vendors who couldn't make a wheel that would satisfy the Ford warranty parameters, so they jobbed them out, and it's my guess it may be the situation here.

[423REED]

I was just wondering if anyone has info on who the manufacturer of the stock MM wheels was/are? As time goes on I have a sneaking suspicion these are going to be next to impossible to purchase. As Ford contracts out stuff, perhaps one of the major aftermarket wheel makers has the capability of making our wheels. Just curious~~The Marauder wheels are a special forged aluminum wheel that was produced and polished with a special process by ALCOA Aluminum. They are definitely both a premium and unique wheel. Thats why they are so expensive to replace ($ 350 to $ 650 each!). I think they're absolutely beautiful. In fact they seem to always be the first thing that people comment about when they look at my Marauder, along with the B.F. Goodrich Ultra High Performance tires. Enjoy, enjoy!
_____________________________
2004 MARAUDER 300A - DTR
HEATED SEATS
POWER SUNROOF
TRUNK-MOUNTED CD PLAYER
TRUNK ORGANIZER
1994 TAURUS SHO - DK GREEN

[ultravorx]

Alcoa, east of Cleveland, Ohio make some for sure.

I met an employee at one of Jerry's dyno meets this past summer. The fellow makes wheels, our wheels.

I also have a local source for our wheels. Used, reconditioned, ranging in G TO Exc. condition starting at $160 each. This source will likely have wheels for years to come.
WOW!!! Alcoa makes our wheels! Thats pretty interesting, since i work in a division of Alcoa!! I work for Howmet TCC, which is a branch of Alcoa. I guess I'll ALWAYS have access to marauder oem wheels!! LOL
Frank

[423REED]

WOW!!! Alcoa makes our wheels! Thats pretty interesting, since i work in a division of Alcoa!! I work for Howmet TCC, which is a branch of Alcoa. I guess I'll ALWAYS have access to marauder oem wheels!! LOL
FrankIt is very interesting. I work in the steel and aluminum service center industry. We buy a lot of material directly from ALCOA. I tried recently to find some or any information on the wheels through ALCOA's internet web site. No luck! I tried every possible product listing, including truck wheels. I thought I could find out some intersting tidbit of Marauder data. By the way. Forged aluminum wheels are the best, and they are the most expensive wheels to produce. That explains why they cost so much to replace (besides Ford's parts mark-up). The vast majority of aluminum wheels you see on other cars are cast aluminum, which is not as strong a wheel and it is much cheaper to produce. Our Marauder wheels, like everything on this car, are strictly first class!
_______________________
2004 MARAUDER 300A - DTR
HEATED SEATS
POWER SUNROOF
TRUNK-MOUNTED CD PLAYER
TRUNK ORGANIZER
1994 TAURUS SHO - DK GREEN

[CRUZTAKER]

By the way. Forged aluminum wheels are the best, and they are the most expensive wheels to produce. The vast majority of aluminum wheels you see on other cars are cast aluminum, which is not as strong a wheel and it is much cheaper to produce.This was the very reason the (ALCOA) fellow flinched when I told him folks were widening our wheels. The way he explained was: Once cut, and having a piece welded in between drastically cut the strength of the wheel from it's original state. Kinda like gluing two 2X4's end to end to make a longer piece.

Sorry to hijack, but there was some relevence to the wheel.:soap:

[423REED]

This was the very reason the (ALCOA) fellow flinched when I told him folks were widening our wheels. The way he explained was: Once cut, and having a piece welded in between drastically cut the strength of the wheel from it's original state. Kinda like gluing two 2X4's end to end to make a longer piece.

Sorry to hijack, but there was some relevence to the wheel.:soap:Yes, you're absolutely right! You would be facing several serious issues;
1) Unless you destroy an OEM wheel first at a testing lab, you won't know the aluminum forging alloy (the chemistry) that ALCOA used, the heat treated temper they used, and the mechanical properties requirements of the OEM ALCOA forged wheel.
2) The circumferential welding of the wheel. Putting a weld in the wheel, no matter how well its performed, can seriously weaken the strength of the wheel, due to possibly incorrect aluminum alloy matching, and the welding heat affecting the strength of the heat treated aluminum at the welded joints. And aluminum can be tricky to weld successfully, with 100% weld penetration.
3) The piece of aluminum that is rolled and welded will most likely be either an extruded rectangular bar, or a saw cut wrought aluminum plate, neither of which is forged. Or, it may not be properly matched into the wheel for grain directional properties.
4) Will correct balancing of the wheel be possible once the wheel is widened by welding?

Who ever would be doing this process as a business should cover all these bases first. They should take one finished and widened wheel and also have a test lab perform an analysis of the weld integrity, and perform a destructive test in order to evaluate the strength of the welded and widened wheel. Now I'm not saying that a widened wheel will absolutely fail. But you'd be taking a risk (both the welding shop and the Marauder owner) every time you lite up your car, and take a corner a higher speed. That's just my two cents worth.
_________________________
2004 MARAUDER 300A - DTR
HEATED SEATS
POWER MOONROOF
TRUNK MOUNTED CD PLAYER
TRUCK ORGANIZER
1994 TAURUS SHO - DK GREEN

[CRUZTAKER]

423REED.....

Normally I would make reference to your use of caps....but in this case....type on man....:soap:

[GarageMahal]

So someone get ALCOA to make a wider version then :run:

[423REED]

So someone get ALCOA to make a wider version then :run:
You're right! This would definitely be the best alternative. However, I'm not sure that there would be enough demand to justify the retooling expense at ALCOA. And once a car is killed off, the OEM factory people usually aren't very interested any longer. Ford created the entire after market modification industry for Mustang GT's, due to their lack of interest.
___________________________
2004 MARAUDER 300A - DTR
HEATED SEATS
POWER MOONROOF
TRUNK MOUNTED CD PLAYER
TRUNK ORGANIZER
1994 TAURUS SHO - DK GREEN

[2003DOHC]

The Marauder wheels only weigh 23 pounds each! As an example 15X6 steel ranger truck wheels are 21 pounds each!

[NAVCHAP]

There are about 6k miles on my widened wheels with no problems, the larger contact patch seems to make a big difference, and I am very happy with them. Still have my originals in storage, and thanks to several great folks in this site I not only got them in the first place but also know to keep an eye on them now.
Thanks, -kjs-

[FiveO]

I'd really like to hear Lidio's take on this and information from his subcontractor who does the widening.

Has there been any failure of a widened rim so far?

I'm planning on getting this done over the winter on my Marauder rims....

And I'd like to know.

Considering that cars with the widened rims are pushing more HP and Torque than most cars...and hoping that there hasn't been a failure yet....I wouldn't worry too much.

I'd be curious though.