- I'm wanna be honest with you guys,
mine first set of wheels that I ever bought
from a 98 eclipse
not even sure that they were even after-market wheels
they were just something different.
There were some Craigslist specials and yes
this is before Facebook marketplace was even a thing.
All I knew is that they were 17 inch wheels they were black
and they came in my bolt pattern.
Looking back on it now
I have no idea why I was willing to spend $600 on them.
Like it was a good idea.
I'm lucky that they even fit the car.
To be honest that they even worked.
I mean, they barely worked.
I don't even, they probably rubbed something free.
But so now years later, after all of that
and a couple of two, three legitimate
after-market sets of wheels later
I'm here sitting in front of this camera
to hopefully save you guys from the same situation.
I'm Gels from Fitment Industries
and today we are bringing you a complete quick guide
to buying your first set of after-market wheels
real quick though, before we get into it, don't forget to
subscribe if you haven't already, it helps us out a ton.
And it allows us to keep making videos just like this
to help everyone out.
Other than that, once you gets done watching this video
and know everything that you're ever gonna want
or need to know about picking up
your first set of aftermarket wheels,
don't forget who helped you out
stopping over to fitmentindustries.com.
Check out all the wheels, tires, and suspension
that we have available for your car.
Anyway (Clap)
The very first thing
that you are going to want to take a look at
is exactly what is going to fit your car.
You're going to need to know a few things before you even
start looking at wheels, because I'm telling you
one of the worst feelings in the world is, you know
finding a set of wheels that you really, really like.
And then to come to find out that
they don't make it in your bolt pattern
or your size that
you need in just hooked on them
you can't get them out of your mind.
So to save you from that heartbreak
the first thing you're going to want to do
is figure out what size an offset wheel
you are going to need to run .
The absolute best tool for this is our Fitment gallery.
It's a free tool on our website
that you can punch in your car and see 100's
if not 1000's` of examples
of what sizes other people are running
on their cars to help you out.
It tells you everything you would ever need to know
as far as what diameter of the wheels are
which width, what's the offset.
What's the tire size, the suspension setup
whether it's rubbing or not, whether the fenders are rolled
whether there's any additional suspension pieces
to help dial in Canberra or anything like that
to get the wheels to fit.
It gives you a first hand example
with multiple pictures to show you exactly
what that set up would look like on your car.
Diameter is probably one of the easiest parts to figure out.
Typically, everyone has an idea right out of the gate
what size wheel they are going to run on their car.
And usually it's about
one or two inches over the stock size.
The really important pieces that come into play here
are your width and your offset of the wheels.
This is really what's going to affect your fitment.
offset is the distance
in millimeters that the mounting surface
of the wheel is offset from the center of the wheel.
A positive offset let's say
like a plus 35 will be 35 millimeters towards the outside
or face of the wheel from the middle of it.
Whereas a negative offset, let's say a negative 35
for example, it would be the exact opposite
35 millimeter offset towards the inner barrel of the wheel.
A more positive offset will make the wheels sink
into the wheel weld more and a lower offset
sometimes negative offset will push the wheel
towards the outside of the car
and this can get a little confusing.
But the best way to look at it is to imagine
like a number line from plus 50 to negative 50
the further down the line you go towards the negative 50
the further the wheel will sit out.
This is really easy to see on wheels with a lip.
You can look at the difference between
an 18 by 10 and a half plus 35
and an 18 by 10 and a half negative 12
and really see the massive difference
in the size of the lip of the wheel.
So for those of you looking
for some deep dish wheels offset
and which is going to be what you're going
to want to look at the most.
At the same time offset also affects your backspacing
since a higher offset or less aggressive wheel
with that less aggressive offset brings the majority
of that wheel in towards the car.
You want to make sure
that you have enough back spacing or room in your wheel
well, so you're not hitting
or rubbing on any suspension components.
Another key thing in here is that it will kind
of change the overall look of the wheel too.
If you have a deeper wheel
it's going to look more aggressive.
Now I know that was already a ton of information
and it was like the first thing we talked about
but I promise you, it's not that bad.
You got this, just take a look at the gallery
you'll start to piece it all together.
So now, you know what size wheel you want to go with.
You punch in those sizes and as a search filter
and you're hit with pages
upon pages of different wheel options
and you see prices ranging pretty much all over the place.
Some wheels coming in at like $700
for a set and then like right below it
there's another set for like $7,000.
And you're probably thinking why?
What's the difference?
Why is this one so much more expensive?
Well, the main difference
between these price points is going to be how
those wheels are manufactured
and what brand they are.
When it comes to wheel manufacturing
you have basically three different types
of wheels that are produced.
First you have your cast wheels
probably the most common wheels out there.
These are going to be your entry level price point wheels.
Typically around that 6-700 to $1000.
Next is your float form, flow for his rotary forged
whatever term that company has coined for this process.
They're all there a ton of names for it
but it's all the same process.
The face of the wheel is cast just like the cast wheels are,
however instead of casting
the entire shape and barrel of the wheel
only a portion of that barrel is cast.
And after that process is done, the wheels brought over
to a machine that heats that portion of the barrel
and stretches it and forges it out into the rest
of the barrel and its final shape.
Not only does that make a stronger barrel
but it also saves weight
since the wheel is using a lot less material to make.
Typically these are the wheels that you'll see land
in that $1000 to $1,400 price range
and include some of our our favorites
like MKW, Kansei, Artisa, Konig and HRE flow form.
This process is becoming more and more popular
as the last few years have come on.
And is the best bang for your buck when it comes
to the wheels and then sitting at the top with
the highest price point is going to be your forge
and your forge multi-piece wheels.
These are going to be your strongest and sometimes
your lightest options when it comes down
to after-market wheels, as well as allowing you
to get really, really custom with them.
Multi-piece specifically, multi-piece wheels are usually
made to order and can pretty much do whatever you want
with them and change the color of the hardware,
the color of the face, what barely you want to go with
what type of lip you want to go with?
However, this is what drives that price up to what it is.
Tip number three is to keep your tires in mind.
Tires played just as much of an important role
into your fitment as your wheel zoo
you can pick the perfect wheel specs,
but if you've got some big old balloon tires
or rubber bands with a bunch of wheel gap
it's going to look a little bit funky.
Again you can use the gallery to help decide
what size of tires you are going to need to run
with a specific wheel size
and suspension setup to make sure you know
you're not going to look like a nerd. Good news is as well.
you can package those tires
with your wheels together through our website
we'll mount and bound and ship them all
for free to your doors.
So you can just throw them on your car
make the process real, real easy.
You don't have to go fight some guy at the tire shop
to mount your two 15's on your 10 and a half wides.
The final tip I have for you guys today is to keep some
of the accessories in mind as well.
Most after-market wheels will require you
to swap out your OEM lug nuts to an after-market lug nut.
So make sure you have some ready to go when you're
about to throw your wheels on
or it could just make for a disappointing day
nothing worse than getting some brand new wheels ready to go
on and you throw them on.
And then you find out that you can't actually do that
because your lug nuts won't fit.
Hub centric rings are also another important piece
to keep in mind, especially for your Euro guys out there.
Wheel companies usually pick a singular hub bore
that fits majority of the cars
when they're manufacturing wheels.
But unfortunately it doesn't work for all cars.
Hub centric rings are a cheap way to make sure
that the hub bores match up to your car
to make sure you don't have any slop in your wheels.
So there you have it, those are some quick tips
that are very very important to keep in mind
when you're searching
for your first set of aftermarket wheels
Thank you guys so much for watching.
Of course, if you have any questions
feel free to hop on over to fitmentindustries.com.
We've got calculators, we've got blogs
we've got the gallery.
We have a whole bunch of other tools over there to make sure
that your first experience picking up an after-market
set of wheels for your car is going to be a good one.
Other than that, you can check out
all the other videos that we've got listed out
all over the Fitment Industries YouTube channel
Am Gels from Fitment Industries.
We'll see you later.
Peace.