- All right. So you're looking to pick up a set of wheels,
you came to the right place, baby. Welcome.
I remember my first time I bought wheels for my Mustang GT.
Oh, I had no idea what the (beep) I was doing.
I never even heard of offset,
and I just selected the ones
some random website suggested for my car.
Now, they looked okay for my 16 year old self,
but the fitment was completely off,
and they were sunk harder than the Titanic.
I don't want you to go through that,
so I am here to help.
We don't need to guess anymore, SpongeBob,
we have technology AKA the Gallery.
So my first step I'm gonna have
is to go over to the Fitment Industry's Gallery
and look at the cars that are your make and model,
and get a good idea of what type of fitment
and look you're going after.
The Gallery is a super helpful tool
we built that's used by enthusiast everywhere.
Seriously, I've even had TJ hunt,
and the guys over at Donut tell me
that they've used it to help find their fitments.
It just, it helps a lot.
By going to the Gallery,
you can see all different setups
made by car communities around the globe.
This will get you a great start to figuring out
if you want a flush, tucked,
hollow flush, or even poke setup.
And if you're wondering what those are,
we did a video covering different kinds of fitment,
and you can take a peak at that video.
So once you figure out a direction
you wanna go with your build,
the next thing to think about is budget.
When it comes to wheels, you can literally spend
an unlimited amount of money on them.
The amount of customization that's out there nowadays
with custom wheels is insane.
Now, you're probably wondering, "Well, they're all round.
Some may have a couple more spokes than others,
and maybe some are wider, but why is there a difference
in thousands of dollars between these wheels?"
That's a great question.
Wheels are made in all different ways,
and even in different materials.
For example, some brands use a casting process
that helps keep them affordable.
There's a bit of a trade off to this casting,
takes aluminum and heats it up super hot
until it's in liquid form.
Once it's there, it gets poured
into a mold to get its shape,
which makes for quick work, making a wheel,
but it's at the cost of the wheels strength.
This process makes the wheels generally heavier
than a forged wheel, too.
By pouring the aluminum in and letting it cool,
this makes the structure more porous,
opposed to a forged wheel that are made
from a piece of solid metal,
that then is pressurized and formed into its final shape,
so they can use less material
and have a stronger overall wheel.
Casting for wheels are kinda
like cheap sushi and expensive sushi.
You know how when you get the cheap sushi,
it all kind of falls apart when you pick it up
and the rice doesn't stick together well,
but expensive sushi, it's a uniform piece,
that you can pick up and it stays together well,
because the rice was prepared by hand and compacted.
Okay, so that was a bit of a stretch,
but you you should get the idea of what I'm talking about.
Also, while I'm fat, because I always need
to relate everything back to food in some way. Damn.
Now, it probably sounds like I'm talking
a lot of (beep) about cast wheels,
I'm not at all.
Modern cast wheels are plenty strong
to go on your daily driver or your fun car.
There are still requirements and testing
that needs to be done to make sure
these wheels are safe for the road.
Now, if you're tracking your car every single weekend,
and beating the absolute (beep) out of it, and abusing it,
I'd probably recommend getting a forged wheel,
that makes more sense.
Forged wheels are going to be a bit price here,
but for good measure. They're lighter, stronger,
like I talked about before,
and made with the motor sports in mind, you know.
Now, there is multiple different ways
to cast and forge wheels, and each does its own job
of increasing strength and saving weight,
but this should give you a good idea
of what you're getting into.
Also, some are even hybrids of sorts,
like very own signature brand, Anovia.
It uses a combination of the two.
If you want some places to start, cast wheels I enjoy,
include Kansei, Konig, Enkei,
Rotiform, BBS, and, of course, Anovia.
Some forged brands I really like are Volk, SSR, Work,
BBS, and guess what? Still Anovia.
You'll see brands offering both options,
because people like you and me
need different wheels for different situations.
All right. So you looked at the Gallery,
you know the difference between cast and forged,
next up is the numbers.
Lots of numbers when buying wheels.
Numbers weren't my strong suit in high school.
Anyway, so first let's look at the wheel.
There's going to be three main numbers
you're gonna be looking at, and they are all important.
You have the diameter, the width, and the offset.
Diameter is going to be how big the wheel is.
Like it's a 17 inch, and 18, and 19.
A good rule of thumb when buying wheels
is to look at your stock wheels diameter,
and either get the same size or size up one.
So if your car comes with 18s,
there's a good chance to 19s will fit too and look good,
but generally speaking,
staying same diameter will be the move.
Now, with obviously this is how wide the wheel is.
I think it's a bit of a misconception
that width of the wheel determines
how much concavity or lip your wheel has,
but honestly, offset is going to be a bigger factor in that.
Now, what's offset, besides that one dude
who's a part of the Three Amigos or whatever,
it's where the mounting pad of your wheel lines up.
I'm gonna grab a wheel for this.
So you're like, "What's the mounting pad?"
See that right here, that's where they meets your hub,
you mount it, that's the mounting pad.
So for example, if the mounting pad
was dead nuts center of the wheel,
it was about center give or take,
that would be zero offset.
When you have a higher offset,
meaning the face of the wheel
is coming out more toward of the roadside,
you're gonna have less concavity.
When you have a lower offset,
that's when the wheel is gonna be more sunk in,
and you're gonna get the concavity like this, ooh.
That lower or negative offset
is what's going to give you more lip,
more concavity on your wheels.
A lot of people think that you have wheel diameter,
and the width, and that's all you need,
that's not the case.
Figure out what offset pairs well
with the width you're going for.
Sometimes, it's not even a factor
of the wheel being too far out and hitting the fender,
but it could be too far in and hitting the strut
on your coil over, or whatever suspension you're running.
Once you browse around in the Gallery some more,
you start picking up on how two different 18 by 9 1/2
can look so different.
Next up, though, is tires.
And your tire size is just as important as wheel size
when getting the perfect fitment you're going after.
Tires can be a make or break for your setup.
So now the three numbers you need to know
on your tires, let use an example.
So let's say I have a set here, and it's a 215, 40, 18.
The 215 is the tires width.
It's measuring across the tire in millimeters.
So as that number goes up, the wider the tire gets,
as it goes down, the skinnier.
40, that's your aspect ratio.
The bigger this number is,
the taller the side wall of the tire is.
About one thing to note is that
it changes with what tire are buying.
So in the example where we're using a 215, 40, 18,
40 means that it is 40% as high as the tire is wide.
So a 215, 40 and a 295, 40
are going to have different sidewall heights.
Then the last number, if you haven't picked up already,
the 18, in our example, is just the diameter of the wheel.
Now, I know the wheel is the flashy part,
and probably where you're gonna put a lot of your money,
but please don't cheap out on tires.
Tires are what connect you to the road, literally.
A lot of times tires are an afterthought
when buying your first set of wheels,
but in reality, it should take as much consideration
as buying the wheels they're going on.
Some good places to start are Michelin,
Continental, and Falken, all great brands,
and there is even more great brands out there,
but that's a great place to look first.
Okay, great. Now, we're really cooking
and should have a decent idea
of what's going to be taking place in your fender well.
Now, I know there's a bunch of crazy Instagram builds
out there making a thousand horsepower,
or having negative 20 degrees of camber,
and two 15 stretch on, and 11 wide,
but I truly believe for your first set of wheels
you should be a little bit more modest.
Get something you know is going to fit,
and not going to rub to holy hell.
You can only sell your wheels
on marketplace when you're done with them
and move on to your next set later.
I'm not saying that your first set can't look good
or you can't have good fitment,
just don't go crazy out of the gate.
Mounting your first setup will give you a way
better understanding of what's going on
and seeing how your wheels line up with the fender,
clear your strut, clear your brakes, et cetera.
The final stuff is gonna be the fun stuff.
Go browse around and look at some different finishes.
Wheels nowadays come in tons
of different colors and finishes.
Go check out wheels that are more concave,
or have a step lip, or a reverse lip.
All of this, I can't really give you advice on,
it's just more personal opinion.
I hope this video, though, helped you out.
And if you have any questions at all,
make sure to drop a comment on this video,
or just shoot us an email, or a DM on Instagram,
and we would love to help you out.
Don't forget wheels, tires,
and suspension over at fitmentindustries.com.
Happy wheel hunting.