hey all,

I am brand new to the world of rims, so please bear with me...
I have an '05 xa, which i love dearly and value almost as much as my own life. I want to spruce 'er up a bit and get some rims. The official dealer rims, are they good? or are they gonna bend on me at my first little pothole. Anybody have some good links to rims dealers? I saw lots of guys here who got great deals on rims off of ebay, but I just don't know enough about them to even THINK about bidding on a set...

please help!

Ps. if i do get rims aftermarket, what's the going fee for putting them on?

J

 

Tire rack is a ScionLife sponsor and they have a neat website that allows you to see what the rims would look like on your car.
http://www.tirerack.com/index.jsp


I got my rims from www.treadepot.com because I wanted the Konig Unknowns.

Any rims will bend if you mistreat them. The lower the profile you get the less cushion you will have if you run over something.

Good Luck!!

 

The dealer rims are indded good quality, but they're overpriced, IMHO.

Stick with a reputable wheels-and-tire shop, such as The Tire Rack, Discount Tire Direct, the above-mentioned Tread Depot or your local wheel-and-tire shop and you should be fine.

There are plenty of reputable wheel-and-tire shops on the Internet, too; if you're not sure, ask around.

 

aftermarket rims RULE..yeii yeii

 

The dealers always overcharge you for your rims. My car came with RHevo C5s from the dealer. I loved the rims, and it was the only BSP they had, so I bought it as it was. When I took it in for my 1st oil and check, one of the techs said to me, "Joo know, joo put dos reems on your car. Eef joo haff so-spenshun troubles dey no gonna feex eet undar warranty!" So I explained that THEY put these rims on. He just walked away. So I got the service manager and demanded to know why Wheels that they put on my car would void my warranty. I was shown that it was, in fact , recorded that they were purchased thru Toyota- and would be covered under warranty. When I asked what could happen to my car that would cause aftermarket wheels to void the warranty- NOONE SEEMED TO KNOW.
Maybe they were hoping I would recount this exact story to other Scion owners, so they too would pay the huge amount for overpriced dealer goods.

Anyways, with the little wheelwells on that car: The bigger the rims you go with-the skinnier the tires will need to be. On my xB the rims are 18" and Im rolling them with 215/35s. This is a big metal ring with a little strip of rubber wrapped around it. My first big pothole I hit was at night, and at about 30mph. *KA-BOOM*!!! I pulled off and checked- sure enough, a nice dented flat spot on my otherwise nice round rim.
I recommend at least a 45 sidewall. So you'd not be able to realitically go with larger than a 17" rim.

I'm soon going to go with the sportmax 002 -15x8- 0 offset. will it rub in the wheelwell during turns? Maybe. But at least I'll get more rubber between metal and pavement.

 

While going with a larger sidewall can prevent wheel damage, it isn't always necessary. My wife, who has never owned, or driven a lowered car, or on low profile tires now rolls daily on both. Her car has been sitting on 215/35/18s since last December and on 2" Tanabe drop springs for a couple of months. She hasn't had a single issue yet.

It is all a matter of learning how you can, and can't drive with the modifications you choose to do. It is perfectly safe to have a severely slammed daily driver on rubber bands. You just have to realize that you are driving a severely slammed car on rubber bands and drive accordingly.