Could someone explain...why are extra big rims so popular?

I know...probably already been debated and beaten like a dead horse.

But, why do you suppose the popularity is so high for extra size rims with very low profile tires?

I always thought that ultra low profile tires were developed for racing cars that need to handle the S's and hairpins at close to 200 MPH. Sure they look right at home...and cool...on a low slung Porsche or Saleen roadracing car. Even a BMW or Mercedes sport-sedan can pull off the "look", but why are they ever so popular on everthing from a 30's Hot Rod to a new Dodge Pickup?

Maybe it's me, but they seem out of place on any car manufactured before about 1990 and the Hot Rods and Muscle Cars carrying those wheels remind me of a 60 year old woman wearing a tight mini-skirt just to be "in fashion" with the younger gals.

This example actually doesn't look too bad...most are much more out-of-place looking than these....but does anyone actually think this car wouldn't look better with more appropriately sized rims/tires?



I just don't get it! But then again, I like Indy Cars with front mounted Offenhauser engines, Sportscars with hand fabricated aluminum body shells and Stock Cars with 1948 or earlier coupe and sedan bodies....so what do I know about automotive fashion?

 

I think it's just a matter of taste- and as you can see, lots of people don't have any. I think it started like you said, as a performance upgrade to make your car corner better, but then just got WAY out of hand, with the "bigger is better" mindset just fueled it on to idiocy.

 

Let me spell it for you, G-H-E-T-T-O and E-B-O-N-I-C-S and R-A-P-C-R-A-P.
The explanantion for the existence of these horrors. WHy people put them on hotrods is anybody's guess.

 

It's just a phase some people go through...like zits!

Dave

 

They aren't on hot rods... they are on street rods. As far as I am concerned, If its got big wheels then it doesnt deserve to be called a HOT rod.

 

I don't understand the trend either. I've seen so many cool cars, particularly from the '60s that would've looked much better with some tire sidewall. I don't buy into the fact that 18-20" diameter rims improve handling since the NASCAR PhoneCup get around the track rather nicely on 15" radial racing tires. You can buy these recapped by Towel City in NC, BTW. But like John56H, what do I know? My idea of a nice looking wheel is a 10"-12" wide 5 bolt pattern stock car rim..

Jan

 

Somebody should PhotoShop that 36 coupe with a nice set of 15" chrome reversed rims...just to prove my point.

 

The look is good on some cars, and not on others - the example you put there looks, imo, pretty slick. Like most fads, people see it on a car that it looks good on and assume it will look good on their own a well.

So they go out and drop 4k to bolt 300 lbs of billet to their hubs. Keeps the auto aftermarket in business, and makes those of us with just a little taste look so much better.

It's kinda like those huge sunglasses. They might look hot on Paris, but that doesnt mean they look hot on every 19 year old trailer queen.

Doesn't stop them all from wearing them.

 

Pretty big set on this one but those aren't low profile tires.

http://www.rodandcustommagazine.com...d_national_roadster_show_friday/photo_37.html

 

I'm a 14" wheel kind of guy, and I feel a little uncomfortable with the 15" wheels I'm running right now.

My favorite quote is: "Good taste never goes out of style."

 

For some cars, it's appropriate. My ranchero has 14's. I put 17's w/ 40 series tires on my camaro, and they were appropriate there. My friend had a bagged S10 w/ 20's and they looked good there, too.

What doesnt look good is the 3/4 ton quad cab dodge with 24"s and 34" Super swampers.

or an escalade, any escalade.

 

how the fuck would WE know why people do this shit to their cars?

 

I thinks its a whole subsititute for a small penis thing.

 

I really don't really like the whole larger than practicle rim size thing either, the biggest diameter I want is a 16" ford wire, or a wide 5.

But my every day truck does have 16" rims?

Whats the max width you'd use? (rears) non tubbed.......

 

I think you may be thinking more along the lines of this:

And...even worse, this should have been a nice cruiser or resto:

 

yeah, i'm on the same boat as you guys on this...but...remember back in the day, when 18" wirewheels were stock ? some hot rods still wear these (kelsy hayes) wheels BUT, they are period correct to the hot rods that they are on.
now, with the big wheel/ tire shit getting so out of hand, it's driving me nuts. seems that everyone has to have these wheels...and i say "shame on you mr. street rodder" for putting such rediculous wheels on a car that was not meant to wear them. personally, i think they look like shit...no matter what car they are on be it old or new. have you noticed how many teenagers have them on their cars ? first of all, when i was a teenager, working full time, and going to school...the only wheels i could afford were a set of junkyard corvette rallywheels. how are all these young kids buying these wheels, and the tires to go with them? how is it that they can afford $3,000.00 worth of wheels, another $2,000.00 worth of tires, and put them on a newer car that is not paid off yet ? are their parents giving them the money ?? i don't know of any high shchool kids making $25.00 an hour at a legit. job in order to afford this crap.
everytime i see a set of big inch wheels on a car or truck that rolls up next to me...i just look over and laugh. these people think they're cool...they have no concept of the word cool.

 

i have to agree with you on that.
it's the same disease that corvette owners have.
put big wheels on a corvette......and that says "i have a small penis, and my nuts are in my wifes purse".

 

When street rodders(not Hot Rodders) started to build lower & lower cars the bigger rims made the scrub line lower(the imaginary line between the rims,that nothing else on the car should be below)but then they forgot to stand back & look at what there car looked like.

 

If a car from the twenties or thirties came with 18, 20 or 22 inch wheels....that's totally different.

As far as I ever knew, the auto engineers figured out around 1905 or so that pneumatic tires were a huge leap forward in passenger comfort. Imagine "riding on a cushion of air" versus some spindly old wooden wheel with solid rubber tires or very small pneumatic bicycle tires? By the 1930's the best cars had 5" or so, of sidewall to cushion the ride.

Here we are 100 years after this auto engineering breakthrough...and people want to run around on a rock hard low profile tire because they think it "looks cool"?

And as far as the money spent...well I guess the billet wheel manufacturers and the specialty tire companies are laughing all the way to the bank. Plus, if you haven't spent enough on the rolling stock...better dump a couple grand into the brakes, that are now on display for the world to see.

 

I think one reason that the real serious rodrace cars use such big rims and low profile tires is to allow for more brake rotor/caliper clearance and maybe even some chassis linkages are inside the wheel area too. They are at such a high level of sophistication that NASCAR stocks have never been allowed to approach, that it can't really be compared....but yes, 15" tall sidewall tires WILL work on a race car.

And it's kind of funny how the Indianapolis 500 and the great European road races pretty much maxed out in popularity back in the early 1960's when they were still racing on tall, narrow, bias-ply tires that put much of the racing emphasis on the driver...don't you think?


Which one looks more like a Hot Rod to you?

 

Yeah, they'd probably go big rim/ low profile if they were allowed to.
( arent they still racing on steel wheels?)

And please stop posting pics of Donks.

We all know what that garbage looks like, no need to polute the HAMB with it...

 

I agree....NO MORE donks, and I've removed the more offensive of the two. The only reason it's even there is because someone posted something about the ghetto/gangster influence which I don't necessarily think is fair to the "street rodders".

 

werent hotrods a "phase" that everyone hated when they first got popular in the 40's and 50's and 60's? Can you really prove right and wrong on an opinion about wheel size? If your favorite wheel is a 15" chrome reverse with a white wall, and every hotrod on earth had that combo, wouldnt you get tired of seeing that? (ie: torque thrust II's) You dont have to understand it. Its their car, dont look at it if you dont like it. Maybe its jelousy? Why not say, "wow thats well done, not my favorite wheel size but damn its a nice job youve done," instead of "your cars a piece of shit because the wheels are 4" out of my favorite wheel size range." lighten up! Boyd says Hot rodding is supposed to be fun remember!

bondo

 

You guys got it all wrong...
The idiotic Donk's of nowadays are just owned by guys who have a strong desire to go way back to their roots...

 

boyd is an idiot....and so is anyone who puts those big gay wheels on ANY car.
it goes back to the"look at me..i have a small penis" theory

 

rarrrr you tell em boyd referance was a "joke" like all boyd referances. are you talking about donks or what? Big wheels can look great if done propery. ie: not 30"s with a lift kit.

 

The huge aftermarket rims are great!
They make anything I'm driving look good and they make it easy to pick up some normal sized tires on craigslist.
They are also good for a laugh every once in a while on the boring commute.

 

im with you..that is superduper funny right there

 

Fuckin 4x4, wanna be, ghetto shitbarges. Oh, and I did sugar coat that to.

 

Slap some D's on dat bitch!