Inexpensive Wheel Upgrade

Proper Fit
Perhaps the biggest challenge when buying take-offs is to make sure the new wheels will fit your vehicle. The safest way is to look for original equipment wheels from your model and year. However, with a little research you might find that rims designed for a different marque will fit your vehicle. (For example, some Chrysler wheels fit some Nissan products.)


Beyond the basic description of the wheel (ie 16 x 7, which means a 16-inch diameter, 7-inch wide wheel), the critical specifications are bolt pattern, offset, and centerbore. (Be certain truck and SUV wheels match OE load-carrying capacity.) Often, these specs are cast into the inside face of aluminum alloy wheels.


Bolt pattern will be expressed "5 x 4.00" or "5 x 100": This translates as five lug holes spaced at 4 inches or 100 mm. You must match your vehicle's dimensions.

Offset
The offset of a wheel is the distance from its hub mounting surface to the centerline of the wheel. Some say positive offset is when the hub mounting surface is more toward the outer (curb) side of the wheel, while other say this is negative. A similar—and possibly less confusing—dimension is called "backspace": the distance from the inner flange to the hub mounting surface. You can't go wrong if you leave unchanged both the width and offset (or backspace). Changing offset more than half an inch could result in clearance problems with fenders or brake calipers, increased wear on many components, and handling and steering issues. If you choose a wider wheel, limit the increase to no more than an inch and change the offset so that half of the increase goes to the inside and half to the outside (or add half the increase to the backspace).

Centerbore
Centerbore is the size of the big hole in the center of the wheel. If your vehicle has hubcentric wheels, this hole is designed to mate precisely with a machined surface on the car's hub. If so, match the centerbore dimension exactly or be sure that forged centering rings are available.