Your Wheel Choice

Hammer77

Hammer77

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I was just out mowing my lawn, I live on a somewhat busy residential street. Once again I got thinking of some aftermarket wheels for my car, as I still have the stock ones. I started noticing different wheel finishes mostly stock, but a few aftermarket ones, even one with spray painted caps. I am thinking chrome, but I don't know yet, looked into it a little. Still up in the air.

So my question is whats your choice?

1. Do you stick with stock. There are some nice wheels right from the factory.
2. Or what finish? Aluminum, Chrome, Black(either gloss, flat, matte, matt, want to be politically correct on that)
3. Or do you prefer aftermarket?

Please share your thoughts.
 
Chrome all day. I think the run of the mill [clearcoated] anodized aluminum looking factory wheels that are on most vehicles these days looks pretty cheap + doesn't shine any good.
I think matte black wheels are bland and look almost as bad as caked on brake dust dirty wheels..
For me, there's nothing like shiny chrome wheels.

View attachment 52136

Anodized aluminum look...

View attachment 52137

Or nice clean chrome? :)

View attachment 52138
 
I've always been a fan of split spoke, concave style wheels. As far as finish, it depends on the color of the car. I personally think chrome should be reserved for large sedans and SUVs that want that "VIP" look, and smaller/sportier cars should go with a silver, gunmetal, or black option.


My ISF is silver, so I went with gloss black wheels for contrast... along with a black carbon fiber front lip, side splitters, and rear diffuser.
20160807-DSC_4018_HDR_zpsszdztqum.jpg

20160807-DSC_3953_edit_zps2bhdpmxt.jpg





My old IS250 was dark grey, so I went with a machined silver wheel for contrast.
20160320-DSC_0525_edit_zpstv1tv46b.jpg

25854917112_eb8df0653f_b.jpg




In the end it just comes down to personal preference... there is (technically) no right or wrong way to modify your car.
 
I like stock. Frequently it becomes part of my decision to buy the car (whether I like the wheels or not). I don't like aftermarket because they frequently have slots instead of holes, etc.

As far as the finish...I guess it depends when you grew up. Some members associate black wheels with cheap steelies, and "chrome" is desirable...silver is somewhere in between. I personally don't like the trend to gunmetal because your wheels look dirty all the time...that may be ok for a non-Geek who wants the wheels to look cleaner longer, but us 'Geeks want to see when they are dirty, right?

Oh, and I'm not really digging this two-tone trend, nor the bent/angled spoke thing.

I will say some of the wheel features we 'Geeks desire, like having the barrels and the backs of the spokes painted, are hit or miss with factory wheels. I've had two premium brands where those areas weren't painted, and they quickly deteriorated into a pitted mess I couldn't keep clean. While I have a friend with a "cheap" car and the barrels and backs of spokes were painted (a gray rather than the silver on the fronts), so go figure.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
As far as the finish...I guess it depends when you grew up. Some members associate black wheels with cheap steelies, and "chrome" is desirable...silver is somewhere in between. I personally don't like the trend to gunmetal because your wheels look dirty all the time...that may be ok for a non-Geek who wants the wheels to look cleaner longer, but us 'Geeks want to see when they are dirty, right?
Click to expand...

Very well said.
 
Wow just 3 responses have got me wondering, now I like them all.
 
zmcgovern45 said:
In the end it just comes down to personal preference... there is (technically) no right or wrong way to modify your car.
Click to expand...

Ha, I guess part of the reason I like stock wheels is I generally am not a fan of modifications/personalization. I guess Freud would have a field day with this.

Many years ago I helped my mother pick out (order) a car at a non-local dealer, because the local dealer didn't have a car for test drive. It was a special version and had a specific, additional badge on the trunk. When she got the car home, I noticed that the dealer had taken off the package-specific badge to put their junky dealer badge on. After I peeled it off, I went to the local dealer and ordered the badge and put it on...that's how much it irked me to have it "non-stock". And it wasn't even like the badge was the model/version name or anything...just that it was supposed to be there.
 
Thanks everyone!

Zach what wheels are those on your old IS250?
 
What type of vehicle are we talking about?

For me I have three rules for wheels:

1) No Chrome
2) No Black wheels
3) Nothing over 19" (Although the 20" optional wheels on the new Jaguar XE look really good)

From there I think it all depends on the vehicle, paint color, and what the OEM wheels look like. My tastes tend to stay with the silver, gray, and gun metal painted colors. I prefer the finish to be either satin or glossy as the matte wheels don't do anything for me. After bad experiences with three sets of OEM wheels, I'm also very hesitant to go with any wheel that is brushed metal covered in a clear coat. I'm 0 and 3 with the clear coat chipping/bubling and then having the wheel corrode under those spots.

I really like the designs by BBS, OZ, Enkei, Vorstiener, and Neuspeed these days. I don't think I've seen a car yet that didn't look good wearing a set of BBS CH-R's.
 
What vehicle and color?

I didn't mind my stockers and they are light and forged so I had them redone. Black powder base, heavy pearl over, topped with a clear. They look gray, and the color ranges from light to dark. You can easily tell when they are dirty because they don't shine, but even at their most filthy they don't look as nasty as my wife's polished aluminum when dirty. Its like having a silver vs. A black car.

I also like bronze and copper color wheels, but I'm not sure how well they would look on my silver car. I'd go bronze on the wife's car simce it,is dark red metallic, but she doesn't like it.
 
Some stock wheels are nice, some aren't. I like the wheel to contrast with the car: dark wheels (black) on light cars, chrome/light wheels on dark cars. Some of the larger tire retailers have an option on their website where you can put in your car model, with color, then pick wheels that you like, and it'll show you what those wheels look like on your car. Fun to play around with.
 
I'm a huge fan of some of the XD Series wheels from KMC and wheels from Hostile. I love the look of chrome on some and black on others. For me, I decided to get the gloss black with a tiny portion milled to blend in nicely with some of the chrome elsewhere on the truck. It all boils down to personal taste.
 
Yeah, knowing what car we are talking about would certainly help.
 
Hammer77 said:
I was just out mowing my lawn, I live on a somewhat busy residential street. Once again I got thinking of some aftermarket wheels for my car, as I still have the stock ones. I started noticing different wheel finishes mostly stock, but a few aftermarket ones, even one with spray painted caps. I am thinking chrome, but I don't know yet, looked into it a little. Still up in the air.

So my question is whats your choice?

1. Do you stick with stock. There are some nice wheels right from the factory.
2. Or what finish? Aluminum, Chrome, Black(either gloss, flat, matte, matt, want to be politically correct on that)
3. Or do you prefer aftermarket?

Please share your thoughts.
Click to expand...

I have an ongoing problem, I'm a wheel #####! I would like to know what type of wheels were talking about in your case, then I can go from there, thank you!
 
Different varieties of black seem to be in right now and they look good on most vehicles.
 
View attachment 52146I selected the factory wheels I preferred....

Re finish, piano black and cnc cleared faces are the most work to keep pristine of any finish
I have had to work on... Same reason polished gloss black paint is hard work.

Look awesome when cleaned... Ordinary 10mins later...
 
Whitewater25 said:
Different varieties of black seem to be in right now and they look good on most vehicles.
Click to expand...
Have you looked at them closely though. Gloss black wheels, until you get on top of them, are hard to see as far as style goes and because they're gloss black they are never EVER clean, especially barrels where applicable.

Satin black is as far as I can go with them and even then it has to be a theme of some kind.

Btw sorry to the AG staff, I see my words were ##### earlier. I guess I should've said wheel lady of the night

Sent from my LGLS990 using Tapatalk
 
I'm more of an OEM guy. I tend to look for factory upgrades over aftermarket.

Personally, I would focus on brakes & suspension first before spending on wheels.
 
As stated above, It's a model-specific thing with me. I love my chrome sport wheels on my Ram truck. They were an option, and the stock silver/gun metal ones made the ones on the lot look simply awful, IMO.

Now on my wife's Jeep Wrangler, I would think chrome would be last choice. I think the brushed aluminum ones she has, or even the matte black she is thinking of getting look pretty damn nice.

And, for the record: I'm a strict OEM guy. ;)
 
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