Whilst sitting in a car park today I noticed that all alloy wheels, no matter what the manufacturer was, had an odd number of "spokes". No car I saw had an even number.
Is this purely a cosmetic thing, that it gives the designer more of a "pattern" option, or is it from any other angle eg. strength etc?
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Plenty have an even number of spokes. A few that spring to mind are the VW ones on the Beatle and Wolfrace Voodoo's (6-spoke designs). You also see 8 and 10-spoke wheels quite often. I agree the the most common seem to be 5-spoke designs though.
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Well they're not strictly alloy wheels, but Rostyles have been around for donkey's years and they're 4 (or 8) spoked. In fact, you'd have difficulty in having anything else, with 4 wheelnuts.
Was there ever a 5 spoke version?
My 'pepperpots' on the Jag have 20 'spokes' between the holes. Is this a record?
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My Focus has 12 spokes, but I've seen lots of cars having an odd number of spokes. It's no doubt a styling thing ~ in fact alloy wheels are probably totally a styling thing.
My 'pepperpots' on the Jag have 20 'spokes' between the holes. Is this a record?
Try playing one on a record player ~ that should answer your question! ;-)
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L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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Each wheel on my Fiat Coupe has 4 sets of twin spokes, so it's not just even, it's VERY even.
Probably.
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My space-saver is black, circular, suspiciously thin, has a paper sticker in the middle and has no spokes at all.
Is this a record?
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my bike... oh I give in, I'll have to take my socks off to count that far.
John
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My mother taught me at a very young age always to deliver an odd number of flowers to a girl, as they arrange more pleasingly to the eye than does an even number.
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My Corsa's only got 3 spokes. Makes them dead easy to clean though.
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>>My Corsa's only got 3 spokes. Makes them dead easy to clean though.
You do realise that 3-spoke alloys are not fashionable anymore!
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Its not what you drive, its how you drive it! :-)
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Sometimes I look at these fancy multi-spoke alloys and just wonder how they manage to keep them clean without using the proverbial toothbrush!
My Scenic has 5 "spokes" and even though there is a decent gap between them, they are still a pain to clean at times!
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>>My Corsa's only got 3 spokes. Makes them dead easy to clean though.
>>You do realise that 3-spoke alloys are not fashionable anymore!
Were they ever in fashion?
Sometimes I look at these fancy multi-spoke alloys and just wonder how they manage to keep them clean without using the proverbial toothbrush!
Having watched some of my friends do a show and shine at the weekend i can confirm they do use toothbrushes to clean wheels with and cotton wheel buds to clean between the tyres!
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Sometimes I look at these fancy multi-spoke alloys and just wonder how they manage to keep them clean without using the proverbial toothbrush!>>
That's why they are such a pain, a purely cosmetic waste of time, and another example of the stupid stylist having his way (they're mostly men, I'm ashamed to say - a woman designer would probably be more practical) in defiance of common sense,
There are lots of other examples of style-over-sense, such as
- those silly separate starter buttons
- space-saver spare wheels, or worse, none at all
- thick C-pillars making reversing and 3/4 vision a nightmare
- BMW's I-drive
- foot-operated parking brakes
Fortunately, apart from the obligatory alloys, Audi have spared me from any of the others.
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How dare you blue haddock? ;-) Atleast they're the standard ones, not aftermarket ones.
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Standard or Aftermarket their still 3 spokes!
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I'll just give up cos I'm not going to convince you otherwise am I?
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There is one bonus to (most) alloys, and that is that there is no hubcap for the local pink fluffies to pinch.
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I must have alloys on my car, those on my Megane look gorgeous and unlike our VW, they are easy to clean. Also the alloys are well within the sidewall of the tyre, making it almost impossible to scrape them on kerbs.
I would concede that some alloys can make the ride a bit firmer, this is certainly the case with my Megane. It's got a surprisingly Germanic feel to the ride, a bit of a surprise after my previous three Renaults. My Laguna in particular was like a comfy sofa on wheels.
Don't agree with Avant about the ignition starter button. I can tell you from experience they grow on you. I love the Renault keyless system. Kids love it too, they always want to be the first to rush up to the car to place their hands on the handles to automatically unlock it; then they usually argue about who presses the starter button. Solution is for them to take it in turns...
For me, in winter I can press the button and whilst I wait for the glow plugs to do their bit, I can light a cigarette.
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>>Sometimes I look at these fancy multi-spoke alloys and just wonder how they manage to keep them clean without using the proverbial
toothbrush!>>
Easy. Let them stay dirty. Vectra SRI 12 spokes (well six pairs of two) are a pain in the posterior to clean so I don't bother.
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If you do not clean them they will look awful and begin to corrode.
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