The paper discusses the reasons for the current trend of substituting ductile iron castings by aluminum alloys castings. However, it has been shown that ductile iron is superior to aluminum alloys in many applications. In particular it has been demonstrated that is possible to produce thin wall wheel rim made of ductile iron without the development of chills, cold laps or misruns. In addition it has been shown that thin wall wheel rim made of ductile iron can have the same weight, and better mechanical properties, than their substitutes made of aluminum alloys.