UKC

I'm looking to put new 18" alloy rims and summer tyres on my car. The last few years I have been swapping summer and winter tyres across the same set of rims but now the summer tyres have worn out so thought I would take the opportunity to get some fresh rims and also avoid having to swap the tyres every 6 months. I've not bought rims before so no experience to help me here particularly with regards to manufacturers. 

Any helpful hints / recommendations appreciated.

Thanks Marq

In reply to Marq:

Buy wheels you like.

Simplest is a salvage set off the same make/model.

jk

In reply to Marq:

From the things I learnt when getting some winter wheels and apologies if you already know this.

Have look on the inside of your current wheels for the dimensions.  Your handbook will most likely call out the diameter and widths but you'll also need the offset which is usually designated with ET.  You'll need to match this, or fit spacers to match this, to make sure you don't catch the wheel/tyres on the brake disks or wheel arches.

After market wheels will also have a load rating indicated, so make sure this is at least your maximum axel weight.

Gavin

In reply to Marq:

If you google your car make and a model and the letters 'PCD' you will find the bolt spacing of your wheels, then technically any wheel with this bolt spacing will fit, opening up your options to more than just factory wheels from your model of car.

As long as you keep the wheel width and offset close to your current setup (width within a inch and offset +-10mm ish) you should not have any trouble with fitment, and you can also play tunes with the tyre size (or slip on spacers) to make sure you don't either stick out of the arches or rub on the suspension arm if you find a set of wheels you particularly want that don't quite match your current wheel dimensions.

Be careful of 'too good to be true' cheap new wheels on ebay and such, they are often very poor quality and will likely buckle or even break with prolonged use, especially on larger cars. Be careful also of replica OEM wheels which are often poor quality imitations.

Some cheap-ish brands that have proprietary designs and are actually decent quality; Rota, XXR, JR wheels. 

Thanks for the replies. Some useful bits of info. 

Cheers Marq

In reply to jkarran:

Yep my local scrap metal yard has them all racked up and cheap.

The local car breaker charges 3X  the price

In reply to Marq:

tyremen.co.uk are supposedly good.

In reply to Marq: I’ve bought a couple of sets of alloy wheels with winter tyres from these guys https://www.wheelbasealloys.com/  they are a local company for me (Oldham), so easy to drop in and discuss with them the options.

In reply to Marq:

Thanks, I'll look up Tyremen and wheelbasealloys was somewhere that I had stumbled across already so useful to know they really exist!

Marq

In reply to Marq:

I've used tyremen a few times. Initially for a set of winter tyres on allow rims, then twice more for replacement tyres. Always a good service, happy to recommend.

LR

In reply to Marq:

What are your winter tyres on?

If your winters are on Al wheels then put the summer tyres on them and get steels for the winters. Steels are far stronger and lighter than any Al wheel that is of equal strength and they are a good choice for winter conditions. Only high Mg content alloy wheels of equal strength are lighter than steels but they are crazy expensive. 

In reply to Jim Fraser:

Hi Jim,

Thanks for the reply. The winter tyres are on alloys. Unfortunately my understanding is that the rear brake discs are such that I can't get steel rims to go over them, 255/40R18. So now the alloys are 6 years old and a bit scuffed whilst the paintwork is still in good nick I was going to make the car look smart again for the summer.

Cheers,

Marq