Aftermarket Wheels

[S204STi]

I am thinking about aftermarket wheels for my car, and yesterday I happened to be at Sears and say a neat style, sort of a BBS knock-off made by Sears' proprietary brand.  I guess my question is, are there any brands to stay away from in the aftermarket wheel segment due to poor finish/short finish life, etc.

[omicron]

How on earth do they fit Seaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs on the wheel; I ask you?

:P

[S204STi]

How on earth do they fit Seaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs on the wheel; I ask you?

:P

A tit bitsy?

[omicron]

A tit bitsy?

A.................what?

[S204STi]

A.................what?

Are we a bit tipsy?

[omicron]

Are we a bit tipsy?

How nice of you to think so

No no, I'm just mocking the over-enthusiastic pronunciation of Rs in words like Sears and Cars and such. Take no notice.

[S204STi]

How nice of you to think so

No no, I'm just mocking the over-enthusiastic pronunciation of Rs in words like Sears and Cars and such. Take no notice.

lol, mmkay.

[S204STi]

It doesn't look like Sears recognizes my car, so I won't buy that one.  But the question still stands.  What about "Sport Edition" "ASA" "OZ" and other wheel brands carried on Tirerack.com and other places?

[S204STi]

Nvm I was going to post some pics but Tirerack doesn't seem to dig that.

[S204STi]

nvm

[S204STi]

nvm

[giant_mtb]

I've wondered the same thing about those "off-brand" wheels you see in magazines in the Tirerack adds and things like that. 

[SaltyDog]

I suppose as long as they are (as) lightweight, hold the tire on, and don't break they are just as good as expensive ones.  I've never seen or heard of someone have a wheel break.

[MX793]

I suppose as long as they are (as) lightweight, hold the tire on, and don't break they are just as good as expensive ones.  I've never seen or heard of someone have a wheel break.

They apparently don't have many potholes where you live.  I've heard of it happening around here, and not just with aluminum wheels.  A guy in one of my classes in college hit a hole that crumpled a steel rim.

[SaltyDog]

They apparently don't have many potholes where you live.  I've heard of it happening around here, and not just with aluminum wheels.  A guy in one of my classes in college hit a hole that crumpled a steel rim.

I guess not.  The biggest pounding I find normally is train tracks, and at least those are predictable.

[Raghavan]

It doesn't look like Sears recognizes my car, so I won't buy that one. But the question still stands. What about "Sport Edition" "ASA" "OZ" and other wheel brands carried on Tirerack.com and other places?

ASA and OZ are good brands. Mitsubishi used OZ rally wheels on the Lancer.

[the Teuton]

If we're talking about the Legacy and not the Focus, then you have 5x100 lugnut spacing, if I'm not mistaken.  What size are you rocking right now?  15s?  Depending on whether you want to upgrade to 16s, 17s, or 18s, I'd look at different brands if I were you.  You can get larger OEM Subaru rims like what I did and they will fit like a charm unless you get Sti rims because they run a 5x114 spacing.

Also, Rota makes a lot of rims and they are one of the cheaper good quality rims out there for Subies.

If we're talking about the Focus, however, you might want to take a look online and see what's out there.

[Raghavan]

If you have 15's, don't go over 16's because then you'll either have way too little sidewall or have a messed up speedo.

[Secret Chimp]

It doesn't look like Sears recognizes my car, so I won't buy that one.? But the question still stands.? What about "Sport Edition" "ASA" "OZ" and other wheel brands carried on Tirerack.com and other places?

OZ is not a knockoff brand, sir.

[the Teuton]

If you have 15's, don't go over 16's because then you'll either have way too little sidewall or have a messed up speedo.

OK, so when my speedo says I'm going 57, I'm actually going 60 when I have the 16" wheels on.  It's just something you live with if you get bigger rims.

[S204STi]

OZ is not a knockoff brand, sir.

I don't recall saying that it was...

[S204STi]

If we're talking about the Legacy and not the Focus, then you have 5x100 lugnut spacing, if I'm not mistaken.? What size are you rocking right now?? 15s?? Depending on whether you want to upgrade to 16s, 17s, or 18s, I'd look at different brands if I were you.? You can get larger OEM Subaru rims like what I did and they will fit like a charm unless you get Sti rims because they run a 5x114 spacing.

Also, Rota makes a lot of rims and they are one of the cheaper good quality rims out there for Subies.

If we're talking about the Focus, however, you might want to take a look online and see what's out there.

Sorry, we're discussing the Scoob which has the factory 14" steel wheels.

[r0tor]

generally the only thing the knock-off brands have going against them is weight and sometimes corrosion protection with cheap finishes

[the Teuton]

Sorry, we're discussing the Scoob which has the factory 14" steel wheels.

Then everything I said applies with the exception of having 15s.? I thought they did because my Impreza came standard with 185/65R14s on them.? I thought the Legacy might have had bigger.? Anyway, you're still a perfect candidate for just about everything I said.? I'm sure you've heard it all before, but Subarus are like Legos.? You can mix and match just about anything and it will work.

[JWC]

Years ago...like over two decades ago....I read an article (Autoweek maybe, back when it was a weekly newspaper) about aftermarket and OEM wheels.  At that time, unless you were spending bucks on BBS, you were generally better off sticking with OEM.

Balance and warpage were the issues.  OEM quality was better than the cheap wheels of the time.

I would guess that computer controlled manufacturing has decreased that problem a lot.  I still shy away from cheap rims because of that article and because on couple of cars/trucks we have balanced non-OEM wheels and you can see the warp in them.  Now, that may because of a pothole, but they didn't have any impact marks on them. 

[Danish]

OK, so when my speedo says I'm going 57, I'm actually going 60 when I have the 16" wheels on.  It's just something you live with if you get bigger rims.

Yeah and when you drive 1000 miles, the odometer only reads 950

[Eye of the Tiger]

FYI, this is the best tire-size calculator I've found yet. Great for changing rim sizes, or trying to go with a diffrerent  width and maintain the diamater, etc....

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html 

[Rupert]

My old Miata had cheaper aftermarket rims. They made for light wheels, but never stayed in balance for more than a couple of weeks. It sucked.

[J86]

I have 16 inch Rage wheels on my Legacy, which came with 14s.  They work, I guess?

[Rich]

SSRs are pretty lightweight and I've never heard much about them getting damaged or doing any damage.  They are prety expensive, though.  I've never heard of anyone buying wheels from SEARS/Pep Boys/GoodYear type stores, but I'd imagine that they are pretty heavy, but durable.




I'd like to get a set of Panasports, but they are pretty expensive too, and hard to find.