- It's your boy, Alex.
(moans)
It's your daddy. (laughing)
(crew laughing)
Hey guys, what's going on?
It's Alex from Fitment Industries,
and today we are here to talk to you about something
that happens after you buy after market wheels,
because hey, you know I picked some cool new wheels.
I'm feeling pretty fresh.
We got IG tags, we got subscribers, I have ramen,
things are good, I am happy.
And I realized that when I picked out these wheels
after measuring them 24,000 times
and finally getting them in.
That there's a couple things that even probably
took me a little bit by surprise,
when it came down to buying wheels and receiving them,
and actually doing all the stuff
to get the wheels onto the car and all of that stuff.
So we thought we'd make a video.
Five things you expect when buying aftermarket wheels.
I'm Alex from Fitment Industries.
You can subscribe if you want to
so that we can continue making cool videos.
And if you haven't been subscribing
you're going to want to 'cause look at all the great stuff
that you're probably just sort of missing out on.
(yelling)
And also we'll start your suspension.
Fitmentindustries.com, thanks.
If you're wondering where the nasally thing is coming from
it's because I was sick last week
and now I'm back, I'm feeling pretty good.
However, I have destroyed at least three bottles
of NyQuil, DayQuil, a couple Kleenex boxes
and probably some other things that you shouldn't.
So, anyway, here is some five things
that you should expect when buying aftermarket wheels.
As soon you get the confirmation email
you're probably on the hype train,
you're super excited, you're gonna email us
10 minutes after ordering to ask
if we actually got the order.
Then you're gonna check for tracking the next day
and that's just pretty much how it goes.
We see the comments, we see the messages, we see the DMs.
Because now we live in a world of just instant,
instant response, which we love.
So, number one, whenever someone gets a minty fresh
(kisses lips) wheels they're like
the most careful person in existence
because they don't want to curb them.
But it happens.
(loud engine noise)
- Oh! Busted your rim!
- So whether you're going through a drive-thru,
or whether you're going through to the mall,
or you're trying to be a cool kid and drive
in front of the mall so everybody sees you before you park.
I know that you've done it.
And you're gonna see that you probably gonna end up
having to be a little bit more careful.
But what it really comes down to
is that you're running a more aggressive set up,
that you're gonna wanna be careful in terms
of where your wheels stick out.
So, if you're going down in some sort of
aspect ratio for a tire size
or you're going with more of a stretch set up,
you're actually going to be exposing your wheel
to more chances or risk of you actually damaging them.
And the one time you're not paying attention
is the one time that you're going to curb them.
Usually what we recommend is that when you get
your first set of wheels,
when you get 'em and you get 'em on,
to just be more careful than you ever were before.
That includes driving recklessly,
that includes Speedy Gonzales,
the things that you're gonna do on the highway,
that pretty much includes everything.
A lot of times people don't take
a little bit of a break in period
and next thing you know a wheel falls off
because they didn't torque it to spec.
Or they curbed the wheel because they forgot
that a 12 wide in the rear
actually pokes a little bit on their WRX.
And there's just gonna be some things that we'd
want you to take into consideration
'cause then we're gonna get an email saying,
"Hey guys, I curbed my wheels
"because this one time at band camp,
"Fitment Industries told me that these wheels
"were uncurbable and they got curbed."
You can't, it's just, it's not gonna be a good time.
Clair has to deal with all those emails now,
and I just don't think she needs to deal with that.
Another thing that you're probably gonna wanna expect
after buying aftermarket wheels,
is the wheels that you saw may not actually
end up being the exact wheels that you get out of the box.
For instance, there are different brands
that do semi-concave, deep concave, super deep concave,
other words that describe a super deep concave,
and if you didn't know that and you purchased wheels,
let's say Four Stars or things like that,
they're gonna be different than what you thought
you were getting.
I mean, if you take 'em outta the box
and they're like, as flat as a board,
you're probably gonna be a little bit disappointed.
But maybe you unknowingly ordered the semi-concave
and you thought you were getting a flat profile
in which case you couldn't be really that mad.
But you have to remember that offset and width
is Paramount Pictures important if you plan
on getting the wheel style the exact way that you want to.
Because wheel and offset is ultimately going to determine
a lot of concavity with your wheel.
And what it really comes down to is that when
it goes to those stock images and things like that,
they're probably gonna show you the most aggressive set up
because that looks the coolest.
It looks the most baller.
It looks the neatest, it looks the meanest.
Everybody loves that one,
that's the picture that everybody likes.
They're not gonna like the one of the flat, ya know?
You go on out on the Instagram,
and I'm telling you, I'm only showing pictures of the rear
because the fronts are a little flat.
That's why you only see the rear.
It happens, it's a thing, okay.
What you can expect is that if you're looking
to see what a wheel's actually gonna look like
in the width and offset that you're choosing,
just go look at our gallery
at fitmentindustries.com and see tens of thousands
of vehicles that have aftermarket wheels,
tires and suspension.
You can see exactly what it looks like.
So when you finally get the wheels put on your car
and you're really excited and you're taking your pictures,
you're tagging your buddies, you're doing the things,
and you go to take them for a first test drive,
it's probably gonna feel a lot different.
So don't be alarmed.
It doesn't necessarily mean that your ride quality
is gonna be like that permanently
but a lot of times it's going to change
the ultimate dynamic of the car,
especially if you change your tires as well.
A lot of people, after they buy their first set of wheels,
they really don't understand what the (beep) going on
underneath them because they don't know what to expect.
Here's a couple things that you can expect.
If you're going down in an aspect ratio
in terms of your sidewall or something like that,
you're gonna anticipate that you're gonna be able
to feel the road more, generally speaking.
You're also going to,
depending on the quality of tire that you're getting,
will also feel more planted.
You'll be able to turn corners faster,
you're going to be able to behave a little bit quicker,
and then it goes the opposite way.
If you're going with the same super tall
sidewall profile of like a 225/60,
you're gonna have a ton of just comfort
and little road noise and not a whole lot of issues
because you're going the safe route.
And then you put 225/60s on some seven and a half wides
because that's just what you wanted to do.
But when you are changing out your aftermarket wheels,
or when you are changing out your wheels,
you're going to experience some different stuff
and it's gonna feel a little bit funky.
The only time that we would recommend that you actually
start to worry a little bit about it,
is if after you get your alignment,
after you get all of that stuff adjusted,
if you're going for the camber and the toe,
and all of that stuff that you're planning into.
You're going to want to do all that stuff first
before you just determine that the wheels
are just behaving a little bit funky
with your aftermarket tires.
Because I'm gonna tell ya',
if you pick up Toyo Proxes R888Rs
and then you were running some Continental all season things
that you got on the car when you first bought it,
and then you're concerned about your wet traction,
and then you start getting slippy-slidey on a rainy day,
that's not...
(sighs)
That's what the tire, I mean,
you gotta know what you're buying.
Which goes into another thing.
After you figured, you finally took the wheel outta the box,
or maybe you bought them with tires,
and then you take them out and you're like,
"Holy crap these are semi-concave,
I thought they were flat."
And then you go to mount them
and they feel a little bit different.
But then you start looking at them in the light
and you're like, "Wow, this gunmetal is awfully grayish."
Because they named their finishes nine million colors.
Not all finishes or paint is created equal.
Quality is a determining factor for how a wheel
will handle the elements and how it's gonna look.
So not every aftermarket wheel can handle
freezing cold arctic temperatures to blazing hot stuff.
If you're going to buy, let's say, an entry level wheel,
and then it starts to fade,
or maybe it has issues over time,
a lot of times you do have to remember
that there are situations, in which case,
that's where certain companies will cut some costs.
So not all paint and not all clears are created equal.
And that's why a lot of times those higher-end brands
seem to last for so long
and you see them in the aftermarket
Facebook Marketplace thing forever.
Is because of that exact reason.
Quality and taking care of your stuff
is gonna make it last a long time.
But if you're looking at something
with any sort of wheel protruding,
or if you're looking at any sort of stretching
or something like that,
you'll also gonna have to take into account
if you're going to maintain the wheel
you gotta keep an eye on the lip as well.
The lip is actually probably one of the first things to go,
especially in terms of damage
because you don't notice it.
And when rocks kick up and things like that,
they hit your lip first.
So just be careful with that and take care of it.
And last but not least, if you're watching this
and you've already bought your wheels
and you're thinking to yourself,
"Gosh, I can't wait to get these wheels that have
a very flat profile on my big brake kit Subaru Impreza WRX,"
I have news for you.
They don't, probably aren't not, going to fit
because that's just how big brake kits work.
So, when you're going out
and you're buying aftermarket wheels
you're going to want to make sure
that if you have a different brake system,
sometimes even a different roter system,
or you've swapped brake systems into your car,
you're gonna wanna make sure that the wheels actually clear.
Because there's so many times where we do all the things,
we get the wheels out of the box, we get them mounted,
we go through the test phase,
we make sure we get the alignment.
We're like, God, that's a little bit more gray
than gunmetal than I remember,
but I'm gonna clear coat them,
because I watched Alex and he said to do that.
And then you're doing the whole thing and you go,
and all of the sudden you've got a problem.
Because as you're driving,
you're realizing that there's something hitting,
or there's a (thumping) noise.
And that's your brake line,
or that's something hitting your wheels.
That can be super dangerous,
in which case we would recommend that if you're trying to
keep the wheels that you end up buying some spacers
to space out the wheels from your actual brake components
and all of that sort of hub assembly stuff.
If you're looking for a short term solution.
Otherwise if you just wanna be a big baller
and you wanna try it all over again
and buy a whole another set of wheels, you can do that too.
Things like that also matter
even after you buy the wheels.
Because if you're buying the wheels
and you plan on doing that in the future,
you may find that the wheels that you bought
aren't going to fit the new Brembos
or the new StopTechs to whatever it is
that you're looking to install in your car.
So, try to future-proof your build
by planning for what you actually anticipate
you'll be buying.
And a lot of times, I like to say
is that if it's within a year of you building the car.
So if you're buying something in this year,
to plan out what all of those products look like together,
instead of thinking five years from now,
10 years from now because probably never gonna get that far.
But if you can get a year out,
and you say this is the thing I'm doing this year.
And you plan for wheels, tires, suspension
and maybe a brake upgrade,
make sure that the brake upgrade is taken into account
before you buy aftermarket wheels.
So, if you guys have bought aftermarket wheels
and you got a tip drop them in the comment section below.
My name is Alex from Fitment Industries.
Don't forget to subscribe.
Wheels, tires, suspension, the whole nine yards.
Fitmentindustries.com
We will see you guys later, peace.