What's a fair price difference between aluminium wheels and standard aluminium extrusions?
Short answer: Alloy wheels typically sit below extrusion pricing because they are a cast, not wrought, product — often a higher-silicon casting alloy with clear coat and sometimes steel valve stems or weights attached, all of which reduce yield on remelt. Clean wheels with weights and valve stems removed will price closer to standard cast aluminium than to extrusion.
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List Free →Casting versus extrusion again
Alloy wheels are cast, not extruded, so they fall into the same lower-value bracket as engine blocks and other cast aluminium — a different alloy family from the low-silicon 6xxx series used in window and door extrusion.
What actually strips value from a wheel
Steel wheel weights (balance weights) and valve stems are small but genuinely magnetic contamination that buyers will deduct for or ask you to remove. Clear coat and paint also add a small oxidation-loss deduction, the same as with any coated aluminium.
What to do before selling
Pop off the visible wheel weights and valve stems if you can — it is a two-minute job per wheel and removes the most obvious contamination deduction. Beyond that, there is not much more you can do to lift a cast wheel’s price toward extrusion rates; it is simply a different, lower grade.
How ScrapTrade Makes This Easier
If you are clearing a full set of wheels, listing them as a batch on ScrapTrade with weights and valve stems already removed signals a cleaner lot to buyers upfront, rather than leaving them to assume the worst and price defensively.
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