Beware when buying new tyres, wheels

I found out that a large portion of people who purchased new vehicles spent additional money customising their new cars and trucks. 

The first things that buyers spent more money on, or negotiated with the sales people, were the air-conditioning system and tinted film. Although today air-conditioners are offered as standard equipment, the tinted film is not. Auto retailers usually use tinted film to tempt would-be buyers instead of offering discounts, but sometimes buyers still have to pay additional money for the film. 

Apart from tinted film, buyers also needed to pay extra for rust proofing (although today it is not necessary though many buyers still want to go in for it), colour coating and an audio system upgrade (although this is less today since auto-makers usually offer much better quality systems with the price factored in when calculating the total cost of the vehicle). 

Another additional cost for new car buyers are wheels and tyres. Some may just change the design of the wheels while maintaining the same rim size (or change to new tyres of the same size). Meanwhile, some change the width of the tyre but use the same wheel diameter. And there are some that change both the wheel size and the tyre size, and this amounts to considerable extra costs. 

As time passes, certain standard, well-equipped features that have been offered by the manufacturer after considerable testing, are not up to the standard of the users. Some buyers feel the new car they have just purchased doesn’t look good (or outstanding) enough, and still spend lots of money to customise their new vehicles. 

Although today I have no figures to support what I am going to say about the equipment that is usually changed or upgraded, I still feel that wheels and tyres still rank above the rest. And owners change both the wheel and tyre size (rim size and tyre width as well). 

They do this believing that their cars will look better and some even feel that road-holding performance will also improve. As for beauty, I cannot make any comment, but where performance is concerned, I can say that it can make the vehicle better or worse – the latter when the size of the wheels and tyres do not match the suspension and the vehicle structure. 

Wider tyres may result in the tyres scraping the fender when turning or when crossing a steep bridge. Similarly, larger rims and tyre diameter (or if the tyre width and the rim width doesn’t match) can cause accidents as the tyre can spring free from the rims when turning at high speeds. 

Those who change the wheels and tyres usually think that the tyres are more important, but in reality, the wheels are more important. And although the attractive design of the wheels is the main factor that causes people to spend extra money, it is the least important in terms of safety. 

The most important thing about wheels is that the diameter must be suitable to the vehicle dimensions. The wheel width must also match the width of the tyre, while the size of the nut holes must also match (without having to use spacers or adapters), and finally the offset of the wheel. 

Let me give you an example. Tyres with a width of 225 should be paired with 6.5-inch-wide wheels. You may use 6- or 7-inch wheels in certain cases, but the most suitable width is 6.5 inches. For 205 tyres, you should go for 6-inch-wide wheels (or 5.5-6.5 inch widths). You should also consider the width of the tyre wall by calculating the width from the wheel diameter in order to prevent the tyre from scraping the fender. 

An important rule is never choose wheels and tyres because of their attractive design. Make sure that the size matches each other as well as your vehicle dimensions.