While having 2 new tyres fitted on my car saw an advert for new Wolfrace wheels .£75 each £300 total for the set .Thats £50 LESS than i paid for 2 wheels for my bike !!!!!. Either they were a bargain or bike bits really are overpriced.

Bike bits are overpriced.

Pah. My 4 bike wheels didn’t cost that much

Bike bits are expensive, and WolfRace are sh*te 🙂

Bike bits are very expensive for what they are, wolfrace wheels are also shite & heavy.

The last set of wheels I bought for a car of mine were over £400 each, they’re now £478 each, but only weighed about 4.3kgs each, pretty damm good for one piece forged alloy wheels.

They were Volk CE28N’s and looked like this ->

alloy wheels are pointless unless you use your car on a track.

but they look good

I take it then Mr Nutt you don’t have them on you car?

alloy wheels are pointless unless you use your car on a track.

The point is they look nicer than steel wheels, so there is a point.

alloy wheels are pointless unless you use your car on a track.

Aluminium alloy* wheels are pointless for driving round a track with unless you’re racing.

*After half a bottle of wine I’m in a pedantic mood – steel wheels are an alloy of iron, carbon and some other things.

I used to have some Peugeot “lions”, got shut of them and suck some scabby old steel ones, the car rides and handles like it was designed to now. like a boring road car.

Stick alloys on a track car, its worth it, stick them on a road car, its gonna be less comfortable and noisier.

its just a tarty waste of money that would be better spent on your bike! (but then I’m of the shit car good bike school of thought!)

Remember everyone – Failing to declare after market alloy wheels will void ones insurance if you are involved in a crash.

stick them on a road car, its gonna be less comfortable and noisier.

Not necessarily so – provided the suspension is tuned for them, the lower unsprung mass should help the ride. I suspect you’re think of bigger wheels, not lighter ones.

I like steel wheels

Yummy old car

what on earth is the point in “tuning” the suspension to accommodate alloy wheels on a road car? It’s like fitting four inch deep shag pile through out your house to accommodate to wearing roller boots indoors!

Yeah baby! Rollin’ on dubs! Peeyump that sheeit! Show some respect, etc.

^^^^^^^
That is the point.

The wolfrace wheels probably cost c£25 to produce, dependant on exchange rate, LME Aluminium price and whether Wolfrace agreed an escalator based on metal market movements with their manufacturer.

The advantage for road cars is that they’re lighter, therby pushing their green credentials

MrNutt – Member

what on earth is the point in “tuning” the suspension to accommodate alloy wheels on a road car? It’s like fitting four inch deep shag pile through out your house to accommodate to wearing roller boots indoors!

MrNutt, why so aggressively anti-car? Almost everyone I know that rides bikes is into cars in some way. Alloy wheels, about 95% of cars come with them these days, so it’s not a case of “track use only”. They generally make an older car that had steel wheels look better (provided you’re not fitting chavvy ones that is, and are fitting a more modest design and size) than it did with the steelies.

Anyway, I’ve spent lots of money on cars in the past, and lost most of it in depreciation. I’ve spent lots of money on bikes, and lost most of it in depreciation too! I’ve enjoyed both though. Would say these days my priorities have changed more towards the spending less on cars to keep more to spend on bikes, but I still like cars.

Almost everyone I know that rides bikes is into cars in some way.

Agreed – I don’t spend much on cars (current is 10 years old, 130k miles and steel wheels – also missing one wheel trim since the floods a couple of years ago), and treat one as transport more than anything, but that doesn’t mean I’m not interested, simply that given limitations of money I can think of better things than throwing several £k into depreciation every year. If I won the lottery it would be a different matter.

MrNutt – Member

I used to have some Peugeot “lions”
Was that on a GTI6, perchance? Utter cr*p wheels, was amusing seeing people bending over backwards & spunking loads of money on them!

I have both steel and alloys on my cars, to tell you the truth I prefer the steel wheels because there much cheaper to replace and the performance in the alloys is not significantly better. As for alloys being lighter therefore being greener I’m not so sure, if they are after market wheels the energy used produce the alloys would definitely nullify any green credentials. I would agree that they look better though.

Not being anti-car or anything, but I think MrNutt has a point about alloy wheels. I wonder what they give the car, other than looks? They are lighter but I would guess less aero, so I would be interested to see what effect they have on efficiency. My main trouble with them is that they are now corroding on my car, meaning the tyres don’t seal quite as well as they should. Apparently this is quite normal, according to lots of tyre places I’ve been to? Expensive and don’t last, so other than looks which are totally meaningless to me for a car, I really don’t see the point?

I can only assume that MrNutt means the alloys that are biger than the normal size wheels with low profile tyres on as my car has 205/55/16 tyres on which is not a low profile and the ride is extremly good. I don’t see the point of putting tyres on that are extra low profile on to a car that just doesn’t need it ie. a 4×4 with large alloys and next to no tyre they just look wrong. you only have to look at what the top performance cars come with to see you don’t need super low profile tyres.

Most aftermarket alloys weigh more than the equivalent size steel wheels anyway so all this talk of them lowering unsprung weight and being greener is not accurate.

alloy wheels are pointless unless you use your car on a track.

Have you ever driven a car with steel rims then swapped for alloys? I was stunned at the difference in steering, cornering, responsiveness when I had soem fitted. And I honestly wasn’t expecting any dfference at all. I just had them fitted for free as an apology by a garage after having some major problems with a car I got from them. Before that day, I had thought that alloys were purely for vanity and served no real purpose, but I could easiliy tell the difference when I wasn’t even expecting (or looking) for any.

The steel wheels on my car make my car look better than the alloy version.

Plus, you get that steel is real feel than a harsh ride…

😉 🙄

Mine came with 19″ alloys as standard. I don’t think I can get steel wheels for it. It is already a very comfortable car but am I missing out?

I’m still chuckling at my OWN joke (sheesh)

eBay is good for grabbing alloys. I prefer to grab standard manufacturer fit wheels, usually very cheap from breakers. I recently picked up 4 wheels with good quality tyres for £60. Only purchased for ‘looks’ as they were the same size as the steel wheels on the car, however it seems daft to throw £200 of tyres on stock steel wheels when used alloys with good tyres can be so cheap.

What joke, Hora?

A mate of mine fitted some alloy wheels to his little Corsa. He said that the acceleration and braking were improved. Having felt the weight of both, I can see why; the steel ones were a lot heavier, and surely would require more energy to get rolling, and stopping?

Having been in WCA’s big car, I don’t think it would make much difference if you fitted solid lead wheels, tbh. That car is **** ridiculous. The engine’s bigger than one in a bus.

I’m going to nick his wheels, and replace them with those breakdown 50mph skinny ones…

Unfortunately, and I was very sad, 15″ steel wheels weren’t an option on my car 🙂

They are lighter but I would guess less aero, so I would be interested to see what effect they have on efficiency.

Priuses come with alloys, with wheel trims on them. Apparently the wheel trim helps with aerodynamics. In the US you can get aftermarket completely smooth metal covers to go over the whole wheel. No idea how much fuel it saves (or if it makes your brakes overheat) but they look mental!

But didn’t the old original Sierra flat wheel trims make the car really unstable in side winds? Does a similar thing happen with the Eco-Tree-Hug friendly Prius ones?

alloys are far better for a car as they are lighter, just as light wheels are good for bikes.

things that cause differences are the wheel size and the profile of tyres put on them. you can buy an mx5, one that comes with 17inch alloys and low profile tyres the other comes with 16inch alloys and not so low profile tyres, both cars have identical suspension but handle differantly due to the alloys and tyres.

most chavs who pimp up their corsa will go for massive alloys & low profile tyres, which will ride more harshly, besides which the chassis would not have been designed with large alloys/ low profile tyres in mind.

But didn’t the old original Sierra flat wheel trims make the car really unstable in side winds? Does a similar thing happen with the Eco-Tree-Hug friendly Prius ones?

No idea, never driven them..

[hijack]Did you know that the 2010 Prius is going to have 140bhp whilst still being more efficient than the current one? :)[/hijack]

So apart from looking a complete pillock, will I gain anything by fitting alloys to my 406 Estate (Diesel with a turbo and all 90 horses)? Original steel wheels are 195/65/15, alloys would be the same size. Anybody?

hairychested, I’d be suprised if you gained anything noticeable, apart from the look.

I was thinking of replacing my wheels with some aftermarket ones, as the original ones that came with my car are corroding quite badly. To get them dipped, blasted, have a few erm kerb marks cleared up and then powdercoated is going to cost £280!!
A set of nice looking Wolfrace wheels that will suit my car WITH 4 new tyres (TOYO Proxes T1-Rs) costs less than £500. So, pretty much the same as getting mine refurbed and getting new rubber. Hmmmm.
Plus, the 1″ larger wheel I would go for (17″ over 16″) means that the tyres are generally about £8 cheaper each. Yes, really.

And yes, I am sure that proper racing alloy wheels are lighter than steel, but I doubt most of the ‘for show’ alloys on the market would make much difference to the weight of the wheel/tyre combo. No proof either way, but just a suspicion. There’s a reason that ‘proper’ alloys are so expensive.