Moving on – All about wheels

Having a really nice set of wheels never fails to spice up a car’s personality. There are so many wheel styles and designs to choose from. You can choose to have steel or forge aluminum set of wheels, but what’s important aside from style, is the durability and dependability of your wheels, especially if you’re deeply into racing.

Light yet strong wheels are the ideal choice for racecars. Lighter means faster, but safety should never be compromised. Light wheels are usually made of forge aluminum as they are also called alloy wheels. Alloy wheels are said to improve handling and extend the life of brakes and suspensions. One drawback of alloy wheels is that they easily break. You have to take extra care in driving your car, making sure you don’t hit the curb or anything that will cause your wheel to break. Chrome finish on your wheels can definitely get more attention, but expensive. Most alloy wheel designs expose the brake pads, which is actually an advantage since it allows the passage of more air to keep the brakes cooler.

In choosing the right tire for your wheels, make sure that you have the right wheel dimensions. Factors to consider in choosing tires include durability, traction, grip, ride comfort and noise levels, or even fuel efficiency, if applicable.
Performance tires give you more control in cornering, but less riding comfort. They are also more expensive than all season conventional tires, especially if they are in unconventional sizes, normally used with racing wheels. Large wheels usually go with low profile tires. This combination will really give your car a great look. You might find putting on low profile tires noisy because you can almost feel the grains on the streets, but they can improve handling.

If you plan to get taller wheels with thinner tires, or any combination with sizes other than your original tire dimensions, always have your suspensions checked; camber, toe-in and toe-out, and wheel alignment corrected or adjusted.
Use chrome plated lug nuts to fasten your wheels to your car to complete the look.

Spinners are other interesting accessories you can add to your wheels. Wheel spinners are actually wheel covers. Once you hit the brakes of your car, these covers spin on their own even if the wheels are not rotating anymore. This action is achieved through the use of roller bearings, which separate the covers from the wheels. Spinners are more popular in the hip-hop community.