Yes, I know I don\'t really NEED them, but I just hate the plastic wheel trims on my S reg Renault Scenic. I wish I could just either order-up a brand new set of alloys / tyres from the local Renault dealer or pop into Halfords, etc to get a new set, but I just havn\'t got that sort of money.
I\'ve now opened up a can of worms by looking into getting a used set - on Ebay or searching for breakers that may have a Scenic with good wheels (undamaged) that might fit.
However, it ain\'t that easy. I\'m amazed at the numbers game. To get it right, you need to get the PCD correct, the offset correct, the width of tread on the tyre correct, the wheel size correct, the tyre wall height correct and loads of other technical stuff correct! None of this I realised would be significant - but it is!!
Apart from all that, the only missing piece of the \"choosing-your-alloys/tyres\" game is one - obvious to me but never seems to appear to be important to anyone else - is the DIAMETER of the tyre!!
Surely, this dimension is so critical to get right as it must affect speedo reading, transmission and car handling.
Why can\'t I (just a non-techy bloke) get this sort of simple information?
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This may help:
www.tyres-online.co.uk/techinfo/alloy.asp
Basically, when changing to a larger diameter wheel, the overall diameter of the tyre/wheel combination will remain pretty much the same as the tyre wall measurement will be less.
Tony
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The rolling radius must stay (nearly) the same.
This will mean that increasing the diameter of the wheel must mean fitting lower-profile tyres.
This in turn will adversely affect the ride of the car.
www.chris-longhurst.com/carbibles/tyre_bible.html
and www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html
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Donn't buy any alloys that require adaptors or spacers to fit.It is best to go for alloys supplied by the vehicle manufacturer-there have been a number of threads concerning wheel balancing and instability caused by aftermarket alloys.
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If you look in the archive you will find lots of good advice on alloys. IMHO you should be careful of secondhand alloys. They have a tendency to 'fatigue' and if mistreated they could have fractures etc. As a non-teccy you should get the new set checked first by a specialist unless you know where they came from. Wheels and tyres are paramount to your safety. They are not really a fashion item.
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It's true that wheels and tyres are essential safety items. It is also true that they are most definately a fashion accessory/statement. Both tyres and wheels have a heavy input from 'stylists' at all manufacturers (and OEMs).
One of the main things when changing the wheels and tyres on a car is to maintain the rolling diameter so that the gearing and speedo are unaffected. In the trade the measure used is TPM, this stands for Turns Per Mile and as is infered is the number of revolutions a tyre undergoes when covering one mile of flat ground. If you look at major tyre manufacturers websites they often list the TPMs for their tyres under the specifications section. You can look up your OE tyres this way and use these tables to pick a size you want which maintains the same (or similar) TPM. You should aim to keep within +/-2%.
Alternatively you can work out the TPM yourself for your original and various sized tyres. To save me describing to you how to do this I have created a very simple excel spreadsheet which will do this for you. Email me and I'll send it you back.
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Sounds like you REALY want alloys on your car,but bear in mind that alloys hate British winters.
Alloys do look great and are on both our Honda cars,but I take them off as soon as the first salt of winter is here and replace them with steels,Honda wheel trims actually look ok as they are held on by the wheel nuts.
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Sorry Mal, I just have to ask. This means that you have at least 8 spare wheels in your garage. Is it big or just full of wheels?
Do you have spare tyres or swop them over? This sounds like dedication to alloy wheels, the like of which I have not heard. We must be told! I think that if I was buying secondhand alloys I would but them from you.
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Sorry Mal, I just have to ask. This means that you have at least 8 spare wheels in your garage. Is it big or just full of wheels? Do you have spare tyres or swop them over? This sounds like dedication to alloy wheels, the like of which I have not heard. We must be told! I think that if I was buying secondhand alloys I would but them from you.
Well Bafta, if you realy must know I will put your mind at rest and please, do have a good laugh about it as I like to bring a smile to anybodys face.
We have two cars under two years old bought new.
We keep our motors long term so prefer to look after them.
Each car has it's own spare set of steel wheels fitted with tyres.
Each car is kept in its own double garage.
Dedication? well yes you could call it that,but then i look after my possesions and get great pleasure in that.
Regards Mal
Please note :-).
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Mal, I was only fascinated because most of the people in the backroom have too much junk in their garage to put their cars away, never mind two sets of wheels. I didn't mean to offend you. I admire your organisation and envy your space. Mine is full of mountain bikes which are easier to steal and more likely to disappear than my car which, sadly, has to brave all weathers.
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Bafta , "you must have a dedication to mountain bikes the likes of which I have not heard" if it prevents you getting your car under cover, how many bikes have you got!.
:-):-):-)
Sorry couldn't resist.
Ps. I wasn't offended by your reply, sorry if I sounded so.
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*Bafta , "you must have a dedication to mountain bikes the likes of which I have not heard" if it prevents you getting your car under cover, how many bikes have you got!.
:-):-):-)*
Ok. Mal, I asked for this. Five quite expensive ones but this includes my wife's and my son's. We live on the edge of the forest, here in Suffolk Coastal, so we get to ride them a fair bit. I also have my bikestand in the garage for maintenance purposes.
With my car immobiliser/alarm, and the lack of sophistication of the local burglars, I reckon the bikes are more vunerable than the car. To be honest, I have spent a lot of time building the bikes up from components so I would be most upset if they disappeared.
I do have some spare bike wheels in my garage!
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Mal,
this is totally normal in Holland. My F-in-L has had a winter set of tyres for his various BMWs for at least the last 10 years. Alloys with high speed summer tyres and steel rims with M&S ones for the winter (no wheel trims and a set of snow chains floating around in the junk in the boot).
I have a complete spare set of enormous mud tyres/wheels for the G-wagon (left over from Africa), 2 spare wheels plus an extra tyre for the Jeep (for desert bashing here) and a whole mountain of patched up, threadbare tyres of various but similar sizes for our Range Rover "bangeromics-style" rally car. It drives me nuts ;-)
CMark
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What I meant to say Cyd was that although, here in the UK where they are totally inpractical, we regard them as a very fashionable accessory, they are also wheels. I have OEM alloys on my motor and they are a nuisance to keep clean, especially in winter. I am, also, always conscious of kerbing them. If they do get damaged they can leak and, if they were serious bits of kit, they would be made of magnesium alloy. Steel wheels do the job but are not so pretty and don't make a 'statement.' Perhaps we should be thinking about improving wheel trims instead of falling into the alloy trap. However, if someone wants to spend their money in this way that's fine by me. I just didn't want 'non-techy' to end up with some dangerous second-hand bits of kit just to be 'stylish' as he seems intent on taking the cheapest route. Caveat emptor.
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Another common problem with alloys (especially s/h ones I suppose) results from skimping when the wheels are balanced by using weights designed for steel wheels. I have just corrected the fault on one of mine, and will probably have to do some others when they start to leak round the bead.
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Andrew,
Are you refering to stick-on as being the correct type for alloys or are there special types of clip-on weights?.
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Mal - when ATS fixed my wheel the other day they used a stick-on weight. But the \'engineer\' showed me clip-on weights with a greyish-white coating which he said prevented the steel clip corroding. I guess it is easy to use stick-ons to balance the inside of a wheel, but it may be harder to find an interior surface flat enough to balance the outside (if you see what I mean).
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I just hate the plastic wheel trims on my S reg Renault Scenic.
looking into getting a used set - on Ebay or searching for breakers that may have a Scenic with good wheels (undamaged) that might fit.
This would sound the most sensible option to me, ideally you want to find out what alloys were available as a factory option for your exact model, and try to find an identical car with those alloys on it. That should cover most of your dimensional worries, then it's just a case of making sure they're not fatigued, damaged etc.
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"I just hate the plastic wheel trims on my S reg Renault Scenic."
How about trying a different set of wheel trims? There are some I have seen recently that do a very good impression of alloys, on a Subaru, I think. The perfect compromise.
Billy
(forever the cheapskate).
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Hi Jeff,
A mate has just bought a new wheel for his Scenic. £85+vat. That ain't too bad is it now. Make sure you order the right wheels for the age of your car or it will look odd.
Regards ....... Robert
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