Key Takeaways
Land Rover will no longer offer steel wheels for the 2024 Defender, replacing them with lighter aluminum Style 9013 Gloss White wheels. The new aluminum wheels save roughly 8 pounds per corner, potentially improving fuel efficiency over time. While the Style 9013 wheels look fantastic, they come with a $1,800 price tag and require additional bundled options, limiting customization for the Defender configuration.
The Land Rover Defender is one of only a few vehicles on sale in the United States that is still available with steel wheels. Steel wheels (or steelies) are typically associated with inexpensive cars, but also look great and are cheaper to replace on off-road vehicles, like the Defender. Unfortunately, it seems as though very few people ordered the Defender with the steelies because Land Rover will no longer offer this option for the 2024 model year.
In their place, Land Rover will sell what it calls 20-inch Style 9013 Gloss White wheels. The Style 9013 wheels look just like the steel ones, but they are actually made from aluminum, so they are lighter. Ford offers something similar on its Bronco and Bronco Sport models.
Better Than Steel
While the new aluminum wheels look similar to the steelies, they will cost more to repair or replace if they are damaged. However, they are significantly lighter. The outgoing steelies were only 18 inches to keep the weight down, but the 9013s can be two inches bigger without adding any weight. In fact, Car & Driver weighed two identical Defenders on a scale to find out how much weight the new wheels save.
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The old steel wheels tipped in at 39.85 pounds, while the larger aluminum ones were 31.96 pounds, roughly eight pounds per corner. That isn’t going to drastically improve the Defender’s handling, but it may save a decent amount of fuel over the life of the vehicle.
Land Rover
Hard To Order
We’d personally order the Style 9013 Gloss White wheels because they look fantastic, but it greatly limits how you can configure the Defender. These wheels themselves only cost $1,800 but are only available with a $600 County Exterior Pack that is bundled with other options totaling $5,650.
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Land Rover forces you to equip the Defender with a 20-inch full-size spare tire ($100), Robustec Ebony veneer ($600), illuminated metal treadplates ($600), Tasman Blue paint ($950), and a white contrast roof ($1,000). If you want a steelie-look-a-like wheel with any other color besides Tasman Blue, it’s not available. Land Rover will offer the Style 9013 wheels on the 110 and 90 body styles, but not the longer 130.
Source:
Car & Driver