I'm configuring a car for purchase and one upgrade on the wheel rims costs over $1000. It improves the appearance of the car, but does this help improve performance at all? Is there any justification here?
2006-07-03 23:32:36 · 11 answers · asked by Smiddy 5 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Buying & Selling
Cause ppl think they are.
2006-07-03 23:35:13 · answer #1 · answered by Spinywolf 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Expensive Rims
2016-10-07 07:26:02 · answer #2 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Consider this. Lets say you keep the old stock wheels on and they weight 10 lbs heavier than the new custom wheels. Adding in the effects of inertia, when you drive your car, the spinning motion turns that 10 lb difference and makes it more like 17.5 lbs . That calculates into extra hp needed, poorer handling and of course longer braking distance. Also, there is the gyroscopic effects. There are many other advantages, depending on the design. Open wheels let the brakes breath or cool as air wisps around and over them. Bigger wheels and low profile tires offer great advantages. Why are they so expensive? I don't think they are that out of line. As Daniel put it, Summit Racing has some less expensive wheels, also try swap meets to find what you want. Does it help performance? You bet it does. Why do you think race cars have them?
2006-07-04 05:48:29 · answer #3 · answered by yenkoman1969 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Nice wheels do improve the look of a car and provide some performance benefit. Generally speaking, nice wheels are bigger and wider than stock. But the tire size gets narrower to fit in the wheel wells. The wider tread offers a larger contact patch with the road improving grip. The smaller sidewall reduces tire flex, eliminating the wobble from that part of the drivetrain. High performance tires can come up to 'z' speed rating (186mph), with a harder compound and higher inflation pressures to imcrease handleing and steering feel.
There are performance benefits to nice wheels. This all stops and becomes a waste of money after 19" in my opinion. Anyone running 20's or bigger on their gmc envoy or whatever is a dumb***. Are those stock brakes i see? Larger wheels like that REQUIRE brake upgrades to handle the higher rotational tourqe.
So anyway do whatever you want. Everyone wants a sick car.
Take my legacy coupe for example:
2006-07-04 00:24:38 · answer #4 · answered by ThisJustin 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Unless your 16-23 I wouldnt go with rims. Go stock. The reason there so expensive is because there are people out there willing to pay $1000 for rims on there Vega, Pinto, or chevette! Car looks like crap, but OMG look at the RIMS!!! Go with what your comfortable with and can afford.
2006-07-03 23:43:06 · answer #5 · answered by Jack 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Supply and demand. More people want big shiny rims so they raise the price because people are stupid and will pay 3000$ for one 24" chrome rims just to say the rims are 12000$. Most of the time the rims cost more than the crappy car its on.
2006-07-03 23:38:54 · answer #6 · answered by ....wont be me..... 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Performance is not increased with rims, although changing wheel sizes as is common when you change rims can alter performance somewhat. You can get relatively inexpensive rims from Summit Racing (under $500) -- including old school chrome racing rims that look great on anything. (http://www.summitracing.com)
Good luck!
Daniel
http://www.ipowergrfx.com
http://www.publicadjuster.com
2006-07-03 23:57:09 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The manufacturer is quite aware of the desirability of his product and that the country is highly populated with young drivers who think that rims are cool and will pay the price to get the nicest looking ones. Hence....there you have it.
2006-07-03 23:37:08 · answer #8 · answered by nothing 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You might be able to pickup some reasonably priced used rims and/or tires as the junk yard (auto recycling center) or through the Auto Trader.
You might do alright on new ones through discounttire.com or discounttiredirect.com
2006-07-03 23:55:05 · answer #9 · answered by timthinks 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
radial tires are much softer, and flex unlike old style bias tires that used innertubes. they make radial tubes, but i have not seen a lot of extended greatness from them. you can put one in, but due to the flexing of the radial tire, they neverlast too long. it will wear a whole through the tube on the inside quickly. the tire will have to be booted, if possible. or replaced. depending on the bad wheel, you may have to find a replacement from a salvage yard.
2016-03-27 03:23:19 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
if you want to improve performance then you will focus on rigidity and reducing weigh, not what it looks like
if it looks fancy then thats probably all it is - good looking
and why are they so expensive ?
because people will pay that much for them to improve their image
2006-07-03 23:38:05 · answer #11 · answered by Ivanhoe Fats 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋