Chrome Wheels

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thetoymaker

Senior Member
Is it a look at my car thing, or what?
I have a set of really nice honey-comb patterned 5 spoke, 1-peice, forged, aluminum alloy, chrome-plated wheels.
they are really nice and they look great.
Why do honda "tuners" seem to prefer the black, white or gunmetal black wheels?
I even saw a pathetic eagle talon for sale that the guy had painted over his three-spoke chrome wheels with black spraypaint.
WTF?
I used to have a black, 91 HB and it looked really really nice with chrome wheels.
At the time I had two HB, and one had silver 5-spoke wheels, the other had the chrome.
When I drove around in the black one (chrome rims) all the motorcycle guys and girls would pull up next to it and pace me on most roads i drove on.
The red HB (silver rims) was invisible, I could pass by a cop while doing 80 in a 55 and he wouldn't even look.
Both had the typical features, lowered, low-profile tires, aftermarket wheels, 1250wt systems, fog lights and the darkest tint I could buy.
Both had perfect paint jobs too, shiny they always looked wet, (Mcguires wax)
I have seen spoked chrome on some of the domestics but the local ricers have black or white rims.
White rims are a serious bitch to keep clean.
And black rims make the wheels look small.
Besides if ur gonna pay $800-2000 for rims, why not have some sparkle?
There are black rims that cost over $2k........ug.

I just want to know for a daily driver- what type of rims would u put on ur ride?
And why? Is it the costs? Is it the fear of the rims getting stolen?
Performance name brands aside, weight is the true enemy right?

16" rims are best for hondas in my opinion, perfect balance of style and performance

B)
 
because chrome weights more, and here it's go before show. That I personally I think chrome is played out, I'd take some sick a$$ white rims anyday!
 
I have had my rims stolen before and it sucks, I am back to my stock steelies, and plan to goto some black rota' slipstreams. Here are my reasons.
1. I paid over 1000 bucks for my wheels and tires and they were gone within 2 months
2. Chrome just looks all bling blingin' and just says look at my car.
3. Chrome wheels are usually heavy, and are not good for performance.
I had my wheels stolen even with those fancy lug nuts that needed a key to remove.
so fuck theives, and chrome wheels bring attention to your car which is the last thing i want.
If that is the look you are going for go for it.
Peace...
 
Yeah my chrome wheels weigh like 3lbs more than a non-chrome version.
But I can live with 12lbs extra.

I used to carry more than that in amps in my old rides
I had white 10 spoke rims on my 95 teg GSR, they were nice but hard to keep clean.
(sold the teg to build up a nice CRVTEC HB)
I don't think that 3-5lbs on each wheel is gonna matter that much.....
I race for fun not cash. (mostimes)

but then again $$ makes it move, maybe more of u race for cash- or status...?
 
damn that sux!!!
I would be really pissed if they stole my rims.

So if u use those $2000 black rims the real people out there looking for cars and car parts won't know?
When u see a "riced" out civic U know it has tons of stealable stuff in it. (if ur were a theif)
I think the black and white racing rims are the same dead give away.
And since all the rice looks the same, how do u make stock rims look good?
If I were to put 1000's of $$ into my car's exterior, like paint and fibreglass stuff, I would not use stock rims- it would look stupid.
Besides If you are turning 200+ HP to the ground how are you supposed to transfer the power without aftermarket rims to support the wider tires?
 
I don't think that 3-5lbs on each wheel is gonna matter that much.....


yes it will, read our article on unsprung weight. There is a big difference between 3 lbs in the car and 3lbs on the rims.


And since all the rice looks the same, how do u make stock rims look good?


what

Besides If you are turning 200+ HP to the ground how are you supposed to transfer the power without aftermarket rims to support the wider tires?


LSD, get good tires and learn to launch properly. Wide tires on fwd cars is gay IMO. Besides, you will rub the fenders unless you have a crazy offset.
 
chrome is heavy.... end of story
sure your chromed rims may only weigh 3-4lbs more than the non-chrome version , but how much do those weigh? 20lbs??? thats heavy as fuck for rims.... just to give you an idea a 1lb reduction in the wheel/tire weight has the same effect on acceleration as a 10lb reduction in static weight....
so your 24lb bling bling rims vs' 10lb racing wheels (tires not included for this comparison) that is a 14lb difference... now x4 for each wheel = 56lbs x10 (effective weight) = 560lbs .... thats almost 0.6 seconds in the 1/4 mile...
and on a road course the difference would be even larger because of the constant acceleration/deceleration as you go through corners

this doesnt even begin to touch on the handling issues of a heavier rim.... go read those 2 articles on rim weight and you will understand all of this a little better
 
Besides weight, which E did a good write up on ^.

Chrome looks bad. In my opinion at least. It is to shiney and looks cheap.
I really dislike chrome wheels on SUV's (i.e. 20's+). It just doesn't look like it belongs, the only reason for people to get chrome is to try to show off how much money they have.
What do you hear about in rap songs? Chrome 22's on the Escalade. I'm sorry but thats not me.

I would much rather have metal, I like black but not a ton, gunmetal is decent. I don't like white.
Chrome just ads more weight to the one place you can't afford to put it, unsprung.

560 Sprung weight pounts (E's example) is a ton of weight. That would be like racing around with either:
A-) Chrome rims
B-) Three of your friends.


Personally I like having friends over bling blinging rims. :unsure:

Besides if ur gonna pay $800-2000 for rims, why not have some sparkle?
There are black rims that cost over $2k........ug.

Rota's are ~450$ depending on what size you want. You can get Racing Harts for $2000 sure, but not many people do that since there's only a couple pound different.

Just think. 500$ on rims and 1500$ for a new valvetrain or bore and sleeving or pistons and rods, or even a small turbo. or 2000$ on chrome rims that weigh more.
Not a hard decision to me.
 
Originally posted by thetoymaker@Jan 17 2003, 05:22 PM
When u see a "riced" out civic U know it has tons of stealable stuff in it. (if ur were a theif)

And since all the rice looks the same, how do u make stock rims look good?

If I were to put 1000's of $$ into my car's exterior, like paint and fibreglass stuff, I would not use stock rims- it would look stupid.

See all of use here (meaning the diehard members) try to have a sleeper as much as possible, good things about a sleaper is...

-less attention from cops
-less attention from people trying to race us (it gets old after a while expessally when you start to have a fast car and beat all of the slow stock cars with wings)
-less attention from theives

about the RICED out civic, here we try to stay clear of all that "rice" stuff like neons, led squirters, coustom paint jobs, body kits, spoilers, 17-18's wheels ect because that again goes with the less attention stuff and all of that stuff does nothing or negates performance.

Light 15's are the best things to put on civics. And no they dont have to be stock rims, (cause stocks are 13-14's normally.) I dont like black because they can make the wheel look like it is not there and look like your driving on steelies. White i dont like anymore because everyone and their mom has them and they are also kinda a ricey fad thing. I dont like the normal silver because that is the color almost all cars come with. A dark silver like gunmetal or steal gray is my favorite choice. Mainly because it makes you stand out from the normal silver but it helps keep that sleeper look + they dont show brake dust as much.
 
now that you can make hondas fast, and people know lightweight wheels dont come in chrome, seeing chrome rims on a honda sort of says "he's slow".
 
brothersagainst.jpg
 
ok ok I get it...
People with chrome rims look slow........
thanks for the flames BART.

(now I gotta figure out what to do with these rims............)

maybe i'll get some gunmetal ones........... :huh:
 
no its not a matter of "people with chrome rims look slow".... its people with chrome rims ARE slow.... big heavy ass chrome rims are not good for peoformance at all ... its not about "looking fast" (thats what ricers try to do) light rims ARE faster than heavy rims regardless of the finish ... it just so happens that chrome is heavy, so it is completly counter productive to trying to be faster....

if all you want is to "look fast", go get a 57" aluminum spoiler, a phat azz body kit, some 18" tenzoR's, altezzas, and some LED nozzles y0!
 
I'm going with OZ chronos next time. Pretty light weight 17"s, but I'm sure a lot of people here wouldn't. I don't care. It's an improvement over my 20lb 16"s that I bought early last summer before I knew jack sh!t about cars and just wanted something decent looking for my senior pics. Also it'll be on an Integra, and 16"s on tegs look a little too small. That's why my car is being sold sometime in the next few months. I picked the absolutely wrong car to work on and now that know a bit more, I can start fresh and be fast. 95 Civic or 94 Teg. Just depends on what I find here in MT.
 
Originally posted by Prowler@Jan 18 2003, 08:01 PM
I'm going with OZ chronos next time. Pretty light weight 17"s, but I'm sure a lot of people here wouldn't. I don't care. It's an improvement over my 20lb 16"s that I bought early last summer before I knew jack sh!t about cars and just wanted something decent looking for my senior pics. Also it'll be on an Integra, and 16"s on tegs look a little too small. That's why my car is being sold sometime in the next few months. I picked the absolutely wrong car to work on and now that know a bit more, I can start fresh and be fast. 95 Civic or 94 Teg. Just depends on what I find here in MT.

thats awesome Nate! hope you find a nice teg. :) its gonna need stickers.. j/p! :p
 
I'll make sure they're yellow.

As far as a new car, I'll be looking for an early nineties Integra at the end of the year. If I can't find one that would work, I'll be looking for a 95 Civic 4-door sedan 5 speed ex. I need a four-door and can't afford to have two cars. So those two give me the best options.
 
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