When your car needs a set of new wheels, honestly, you don’t have many alternatives. Hence, your search must be well guided by correct and current information.
Finding the right wheels for your cars can be tricky. When you are looking at wheels for sale or at least competitive pricing, a little homework will help you against any sham.
Therefore, some top pointers would be:
Table of Contents
1. Wheel Material
In terms of material, wheels can be primarily of two types—alloy and steel. The kind you buy depends on your personal choice and the make and model of your car. Alloy and steel wheels are very much different from each other, and they both have their strengths and weaknesses, including:
- Alloy wheels are made of aluminium and steel, and steel wheels are manufactured using an iron and carbon alloy.
- Alloy wheels are much lighter, while steel wheels are pretty heavier.
- Alloys are more rigid and improve your car’s cornering and handling. Steel wheels can put a lot of strain on your car’s suspension.
- Alloy wheels tend to bend and crack sooner. Steel wheels are more durable.
- Alloy wheels are one of the costliest modifications you make to your car. Steel wheel maintenance and repair are more pocket-friendly.
Additionally, the market will offer you more classifications, like pressure casting, gravity casting, aluminium alloy, flow forming, forged aluminium, rotary forging, etc.
2. Composition and Construction
Although they appear to be so simple, the biggest wheel manufacturers are constantly researching to develop more advanced and high-performance products. Be it alloy or steel; wheels are available in different designs, commonly termed as multi-piece wheels:
- Single-Piece Wheels—As the name suggests, they are formed from one single mould, which means the rim and the centre cap are forged from one integral substance.
- Two-Piece Wheels—If you have heard of two-piece wheels, they are made up of the wheel face and the rim and then fixed together by rim screws.
- Three-Piece Wheels—In this case, the wheel is built using three separate components assembled. They are also known as split rims.
It’s a fact that these multi-piece variants are weighty and a bit weaker than the single-piece wheels. But the ‘rolled rim’ feature launched by BBS has improved its strength quotient.
3. Wheel Cosmetics
Evidently, the cosmetic finish on your wheels can make a difference in their appearance. And wheel cosmetics can be divided into two categories:
- Clear-coated—This is all about painting and polishing your wheels with a protective coat of sealant on top to prevent air and water from wearing away the finish. For instance, almost all OE wheels are either machine polished or painted. The BMW wheels, which are often mistaken for having a plain metal finish, are silver painted.
- Non-Clear-coated—This involves the conventional hand polish finish or chrome-plated finish and does not include any protective coating.
4. Seller’s Repute
If you didn’t know, the internet is littered with replica wheels that hardly bear any visible difference from the original ones.
When you are trying to lay your hands on the wheels for sale, naturally, you aggressively start browsing on the web. But be very cautious of the fake brand products. They are cheaper and can lure any potential customer who has a limited budget.
Although they look irresistibly attractive, they lack the resilience and stability that an OEM wheel possesses. So it’s essential that you run a background check of the seller unless you know someone reliable.
Hopefully, this post helped serve you with the essential and trendy info about buying new wheels. Henceforth, whenever you seek wheels for sale online or offline, make sure you crosscheck the material, design, finish, and dealer’s standing to make every drive happier and safer.
