12" DWT Nitros "American made"
After a few months in the seat of the RZR I decided it was time for a new set of wheels so I went to DWT and Picked up a set of their black Nitros in 12"x7". These wheels are powder coated cast aluminum with a plastic center cap that pops in from the inside. They look awesome and give the RZR a stealth look but these wheels are about more than looks. Ever been out on the trails and had a valve stem torn out? I have seen this happen on numerous occasions and most likely you have to, paying attention to the smallest detail DWT with these wheels has almost made this impossible. On these wheels the valve stem is hidden inside the design of the wheel making it almost impossible for a stick or rock to get in and damage the valve stem. I know this seems minor but in my opinion this is thinking ahead!
The Factory wheels on the RZR are 4+2 offset up front (6" wide) and 6+2 offset out back (8" wide) so rotating the wheels is not going to happen, not only will the rear wheels rub if placed on the front but if you run 9" tires on all four wheels the ones on the 6" wide wheels will be slightly taller than the ones on the 8" wide wheels because the 6" wide wheels will cause the tires to balloon a little more. I cured this by picking up 5 Nitros in 4+3 offset (7" wide) now I can run 9" non directional tires on all five and they can be rotated for maximum traction and longevity with no worries! A Plus with the +3 offset is my bike is 2" wider overall for slightly more stability. When talking offsets the first digit is the width of the wheel inside from the hub (in this case 4) and the second digit is the width outside from the hub (in this case +3).
The biggest news that goes with these wheels is they are 100% made in the USA! With a lot of companies looking to move their production over seas in order to increase their profit margin at the cost of American jobs, DWT is bringing it back and putting Americans back to work! DWT Racing has been offering cast wheels for several years and they were being produced in China but recently they have started manufacturing their cast wheels in their facility in California.
After finding out DWT was manufacturing these wheels in the USA I e-mailed and ask for some info on their production process and this was the reply I received.
"The Nitro goes through several steps. It begins with mold setup and prep. We install the mold into our low pressure casting machine and inject aluminum at 1300 degrees f into the mold. After it cools we extract a raw wheel out of the mold. It then gets heat treated, x-rayed, machined, leak checked, shot peened, and then painted. If it is a black and machined wheel it will come back to machining to take a small layer of paint off. After all of that it gets inspected and then packaged. All of our wheels go through a thorough test procedure that includes load testing, fatigue testing, as well as failure analysis."
"The Powder coating only takes a few minutes of actual spray time. They are then heat treated again for curing which takes up to 30 minutes. They are cured around 200 degrees.
We are very proud to bring this production back home. We think it is important to have complete control of our production process. "