Allied's Raceline Renegade 8 Wheels
By Jody Campbell
Just moments after we gave our '05 Dodge Ram 2500 a 4" Superlift vertical adjustment, and right about the time we were getting ready to admire our handiwork, that's when it hit us. We knew, going into this, that we'd have to stuff the wheel wells with some new meats, but the openings at this point were colossal - as if they're not big enough from the factory, we just made matters worse. The wheel wells, and stock tires and rims were in need of a lift too - a face-lift that is.
Now, we know that if there is one thing that can make a truck, it's the right set of wheels. We also know that this is one of the most subjective areas in accessorizing any vehicle. So after a few fitment and safety considerations, 
we started choosing styles we thought would give us the look we were after. We also immediately dismissed the bosses ideas on putting 30" spinners on our truck, and diverted his attention with something shiny.
After several discussions and flipping through more than a handful of catalogs, we decided on a set of Raceline Wheels by Allied Wheel. While you may not have heard of the new Raceline brand, Allied shouldn't be a mystery to you as their name is synonymous with tough-as-nails racing wheels in the off-road, NASCAR, Sprint and rockcrawling industries. We also mounted and brutally tested a set of their beadlock wheels on our Editors' 74 FJ Cruiser.
The Raceline brand stems nicely from Allied's successes, and as we found out, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. Allied used their extensive knowledge to design the Raceline street wheels that are as tough as they are stylish.
A call to Allied/ Raceline had a set of 17"x9" Renegade 8 wheels to us in no time. The Renegade 8 wheel is available in 3 different finishes - full polish aluminum, chrome, and black powder coat. Our choice was the full polish aluminum. The Raceline 17x9 with 4.5" backspacing wheels would definitely give us the fit, function and form we needed on our newly elevated ride.
The backspacing put the tires slightly outside the fenders on the Dodge, but negated any rubbing issues we would have with the wider tires and wheels. Raceline wheels are forged using a state of the art process that produces a super strong wheel without any excess weight, allowing customers to install larger diameter wheels and tires, while keeping the overall unsprung weight as low as possible. Raceline has 40 different styles and sizes of wheels available to fit just about any vehicle so if you are in the market for a new set of wheels for any thing at all check out Raceline wheels.
After 5,000 miles of use the Raceline wheels on the big Dodge still look great and provide the strength we need.
| Allied Wheel Components |
12300 Edison Way
Garden Grove, CA 9284
Phone: 1-800-52-WHEELS
Web: www.racelinewheels.com |