Wheels. Oh wheels. The wheels on the bus go round and round. round and round. round and round. Well the wheels on a bus are crap because their steel, steel steel steel. Cast steel. The wheels on a bus are ugly sunken cast heavy weak steel, steel steel steel.

A good wheel consists of three different things: Size, Style, and Strength. We'll call them the three esses of wheels.

S1 - Size

Most ricers think that wheel design is all that matters. A TE37 is a TE37, or a wheel with "dish" is a wheel with dish. No. You are wrong. The way a wheel is sized is key in determining how it will look and function on the car. Since wheels MAKE OR BREAK a car, you need to make sure you get each one of the esses just right. Having wheels that flush right up to the fenders without sticking out or being to sunken in really make any car GORGEOUS. I don't care WHAT you drive, if it has flush wheels it looks GOOD. The wheel wells are there for a reason, FILL THEM UP! Ok, so that takes care of offset (whats offset? well it determines how flush those bad boys are - more info further below), but what about width? Well, naturally wider is better. Right? Well sorta. Wider means you can fit a bigger tire, which is usually a good thing, but it also means more weight, likelyhood of rubbing etc. Generally you want to fit the largest wheels you can inside of a stock body before the wheels start rubbing up on everything. How do you do this? Well simple, you research (or get us to research) what guys with your car and suspension have found works. There is no magic one wheel size for every car and setup - sorry?

So what does 17x9 +35 mean? Well a lets break it down. 17. You guessed it, tahts the diameter of the wheel, and the size of tire that wheel needs. Cool. x9 = 9 inches wide. Thats the width inside the bead, you may find the actual wheel is an inch or so wider than that, but no you still have a 9 inch wheel. Sorry guys. +35 - here's where it gets tricky. This is the offset.

Offset is how off-set the flat inside surface (the surface of the wheel that bolts up to the car) is from the centreline of the wheel. A + indicates the mounting surface is further towards the OUTSIDE of the wheel, whereas a - indicates that the mounting surface is further towards the INSIDE of the wheel. The number is how many milimeters off of centre the mounting surface is. So an 18x10 +12 wheel would have the mounting surface 12mm to the outside of the centreline. Checkout the diagram:

As you can see in this diagram, even though the wheels have the exact same width, one wheel has a lot more space for spoke design (allows for larger dish, a more extravegant spoke curvature etc). This is because of the lower offset. Generally a lower offset wheel will have a more pleasing appearance than a high offset wheel of the same size. The lower the offset the more the wheel will stick out. So for example if you had a stock wheel that was 17x9 +30, and you had 3cm of gap between the wheel and the fender, then you could install a 17x9 +0 wheel and have a perfectly flush wheel. Or you could install a 17x10 inch wheel, and the ideal offset would become 17x10 +13. Why? Well the wheel is now 1 inch wider. That means it sticks out half an inch more on either side from the mounting surface. Half an inch equals 13mm (well 12.7 to be exact), so the wheel, even with a +30 offset (as stock was remember) would be 13mm more flush than stock. That leaves us with a 17mm gap to fill, which we make up for with offset. So, 17x10 + 30 = 17mm of gap. Take 17mm of offset away and you get 17x10 + 13! (30 - 17 = 13).

Often times it is impossible to get wheels of the exact offset you want, so you get the wheels as close as possible, and then make up for the rest with spacers. Good spacers are hubcentric and are available in sizes ranging from 5mm to 30mm in 5mm increments. Usually 5mm is close enough to have a very good looking setup.

S2 - Style

The style of a wheel is also very important. Now don't get me wrong style is 100% preference based, but lets be classy about this for god's sake. Pick a wheel that is clean and suits the style of the car. You would not use a thin 5spoke wheel on a big heavy offroading jeep because it just doens't look right. A thin narrow wheel looks like it is meant for speed, and would suit a small nimble car, a big jeep likes a rugged wheel that gives off the impression of being built for strenth!

Size plays a big role in style, and going too big or too small can hurt a cars appearance. 22s pretty much don't look good on anything for the simple reason that they totally ruin the cars proportion. A vehicle should never look like it is a 4x4 because the wheels cause it to ride so high in the air - at the same time a car shouldn't have wheels so small that it has gaping openings in the fenderwells. Check out pictures to the right for do's and don'ts. I've never met anyone who didnt like the look of a clean flush wheel that was sized right. I have, however met MANY people that think 22's on a Lexus look ridiculous.

S3 - Strength

These wheels are the only things that are supporting your tires - which are the only things that are touching the ground. You don't want to mess around with a weak wheel. Light weight wheels are key these days and they help in improving car performance through better braking, better shock control (less unsprun weight), and less rotational inertia which helps acceleration. But a wheel that is too light - or too weak - may bend or shatter in an impact. A forged wheel is the strongest, as the metal is the densest. Cast wheels are now becoming very strong due to better molds and new casting technology that removes impurities in the casting, however they still do not match the strength of a forged wheel. Stay away from spun wheels as they are not strong. When it comes to wheels, you really get what you pay for. Wheels make or break a car, no matter how modified or how stock that car is. Give yourself a fair budget to buy the wheels of your dreams, because it will give you a whole new love for your vehicle!