Alloy Wheels (1 Viewer)

[seremify007]

Just wondering if anyone can shed some light on the benefits of alloy wheels... I mean, I know they are lighter, look better, and supposedly get rid of heat better- but are they really that much better?

I also wonder how one can go about fitting a nice set of rims to a car with alloy wheels... or if it's even worth doing. After looking at a couple of mags- there are some really nice rims which could look great.

 

[CieL]

Just wondering if anyone can shed some light on the benefits of alloy wheels...

Good ones can also be used as a chick magnet =]

 

[alexxxz]

ability to fit wider tyres for better grip/more traction

 

[DaddyK]

Wat do you mean "how does one go about fitting rims to a car with alloys"? You take it too the wheel shop and they put them on.

 

[Pace_T]

bigger + more shiny = better. if u do decide to get alloy wheels i hope its coz they look better. itd be wierd to get them primarily because they 'get rid of heat better' or are lighter. i wanna sell my 18s and get some nice 19" chromies later on

 

[DaddyK]

Most rims are much heavier than stock wheels. Wear out components like power steering pumps/racks etc.

 

[loquasagacious]

Ok rims:

Look better (which I'll remind you is subjective).
Sharper handling because there is less tyre sidewall flex.
If lighter they will make you faster however most are not.
If weight is increased the greater unsprung mass may impair handling and increase suspension wear.
You can run wider tyres which give better traction.
Wider tyres are harder for the power steering to shift around so these will wear out the pump.

Thats what occurs off the top of my head.

 

[seremify007]

I still don't know the diff between how rims, normal steel wheels, hubcaps, and alloy wheels all compare to one another.

Btw the reason I ask is because alot of dealers throw in alloy wheels when they're trying to flog the cars.

 

[veterandoggy]

they throw them in to appeal to the poor buyer's idea of a "nice" car

 

[petar13]

As loquasagacious said, one of the biggest advantages is sharper handling, when accompanied with a low profile tyre. However, the general trend is for 'bigger is better' - and that always results in greater than stock unsprung weight (unless you can get your hands on some nifty BBS or Fikse forged numbers). This results in lesser acceleration.
And although wider tyres offer better grip, they cause rubber mounts and bushings to give up, as they can't take the extra load. At the extreme, you would have to undergo premature wheel bearing replacement.
To loquasagacious re: water pump. I think the number one reason for leaking, squealing and badly working water pumps (aside from maintenance) is turning the wheels when stationary. If that is avoided, then wider tyres should not pose much of a problem, when in motion.
A nice set of wheels, however, can give the car the look you want, offer the option of installing a big brake kit, and give improved handling. It will almost certainly NOT help straight line speed/acceleration.

 

[loquasagacious]

I agree that stationary turning is the situation that causes most damage to the pump/other components, however wider than stock tyres will further exacerbate this. If you turn while stationary and put on wider tyres and continue to turn like that then you will be causing more damage than otherwise.

Brakes is one I didn't think of, larger wheels mean you can fit bigger rotors and also that they are better ventilated (which is mostly a good thing and improves braking).

And as you say unless you get light weight mags and light weight tyres (which will cost $$$) then you will be increasing unsprung weight which is bad for the suspension.

Possibly more importantly though you are increasing rotational mass, put simply 1kg of spinning weight is equivalent to 20kg of dead weight. So if for instance you upgrade to a mag/tyre combo that weighs 5kg more than stock per corner then you are looking at an equivalent increase in weight to driving around with an extra 400kg sitting in the car. (those numbers seem huge, I may have to double check them but I'm pretty sure they're right).

 

[seremify007]

I know this is going off a bit... but how hard is it to change tyres on my car to something better? They are 16" 195/65 I think from memory. I remember my cousins forgot to recalibrate their speedo when they fitted 19" tyres to a BMW 328i (and it also made a 'scraping noise' alot)... is there any special consideration?

 

[DaddyK]

that *scraping noise* is known as scrubbing out, its when the wheels/tyres are so big they scrape the wheel arches when turning or going over bumps, this can be prevented by stiffer suspension and rolling the guards to take away the sharp underside of the wheel arch. Changing your tyres won't have these affects but if you go for bigger wheels then they might.

 

[seremify007]

I know this is gonna sound really clueless of me- but when people put huge tyres (eg 18") when the car normally only had 15"- does that require anything apart from the bigger tyres? It just dawned on me I had always assumed you could just fit bigger tyres somehow... without having to change anything else.

 

[veterandoggy]

no you dont really have to change anything else. but there are obvious restrictions, like placing 19s on a corolla. i doubt it will fit more than a 17, but even if you do put 17s on, then whenever two people sit in it the rubber of the tyre will scrape against the plastic cover above it.

there is also the problem of the tyre being too wide, and since it sticks out further than the car it will get a defect, but these are all things that imply that you cant put the tyres on. once they are on there shouldnt be problems.

lol i was joking with my dad and i told him that he should put 23s on his truck. in his mind he was prolly like "wtf?!?! i think my son forgot that the truck is a 3 tonner..."

 

[loquasagacious]

Ok you're not making much sense here...

Wheels come in a variety of sizes (eg 15, 16, 17, 18, 19... inches).

Tyres are made to fit these eg a 195/65 R15 tyre goes on a 15" wheel - nothing else. (note the R15 is inches but the 195/65 is mm).

Then there's the other two important numbers the 195 from our previous example is the width of the tyre (note that this must also correlate to wheel width though does not need to be exact). The wider a tyre is the more rubber on the ground thus this is the most important numerical indcator of traction.

The 65 again from our previous example is the aspect ratio - eg the height of the tyre sidewall as a percentage of the width. So our 195/65s are going to be 126.75mm tall. Generally speaking aspect ratios below 50 are considered low profile - though they go much lower to get to the rubber band tyres.

And in answer to the impending: why low profile tyres?

When you increase the wheel size (eg move from 15" to 18") you decrease the aspect ratio to maintain as near to the same overall diametre as possible. This is to preserve speedo calibration and prevent scrubbing.

 

[CieL]

Well.. neglecting the overall diameter, I thought that if you had R15s, then went to a R18, it'll still be considered a "defect" because it's over 2 inches bigger?

I'm not sure about that.. but can anyone clarify?

 

[veterandoggy]

you shouldnt be defected if the speedo is calibrated and the rims dont make the car wider, ie some rims are wider than others, and on some cars they will poke out of the car's body. if it can comfortably fit low profile 18s then you shouldnt worry. my cousin's SSS couldnt hold 5 people cos the tyres were a tad too big.

 

[Jiga]

Scrubbing though doesnt always occur (from my expereince at least) becuase you have got bigger tyres, obviously if you go from 15's to 19's it will but within reason it usually occurs because of the width of the tyres. My damn tyres rub when theirs 5 people in the car, Ive only got 225/55/R16, and they do it! And a lower profile tyre wouldnt help to much because its rubbing quite high up... its not that bad either, like theirs a groove in the tyre from where it has rubbed, but its barely 1mm deep. And Ive already got stiffer suspension as well. Im going to have to downgrade to 205's

 

[DaddyK]

I have 15's on my pulsar and the rear has heavy duty springs so the thing looks like its jacked up like a 4wd and it still bloody scrubs out with people in the back or when i take corners hard, bloody peice of crap.