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Think twice before fixing wider tyres
Wider wheels might be cool but you must be careful when you decide to fix them on your car. They come with advantages and disadvantages. Photo by Rachel Mabala.
It is one thing to change the overall visual appearance of your car and another to face the consequences.
We need to consider some factors that could make our cars beautiful and sporty or dreadfully uncomfortable, key among them tyres.
When you decide to fix new tyres make sure that wider wheels and tyres are closer in diameter as the original ones otherwise if you opt to do it differently you might need to do some more modifications that might be costly.
With increase in the width of tyres, there is a high risk of them coming in contact with the body of the car, especially when it is loaded. This might be a recipe for tyre bust and nasty accidents.
However, you can go around this by fixing rubber inserts or aluminum spacers. This could create a new challenge of a stiff ride without compromising safety.
As you decide on which way you would like to go, there are advantages and disadvantages that you must know of.
Better appearance
Installing wider wheels and tyres improves the car’s appearance. However, you need to be careful not to make a costly mistake of buying wrong wheels that may not fit on your car.
Do some research first to help you zero on the correct model and of course size. Also do not be enticed by the cheaper wheels, you may regret later.
Improved stability
Small wheels and tyres are not good for stability, especially in corners because they do not make a lot of contact with the road unlike the wider ones. Fixing wider tyres will cost you a little more money but it is worth it.
Shorter breaking distance
With more road contact, there is decreased braking distance. You also need to take extra caution on the type you buy.
Good tyres are costly and you need to take care of speed and weight ratings when choosing what to buy. You need to find a better balance between fair performance and durability.
All in all it is easier to get carried away by enormous wider wheels and tyres that will look hideous and cause you a lot of problems.
Take your time, do some research and carefully choose wheel sizes that do not differ much from the original combined size of wheels and tyres to help you avoid all of the inconvenience in the name of looking cool.
If you do your homework, it will help you to enjoy better stability, braking distance and improved appearance without noticing increased fuel consumption as well as slow acceleration.
Disadvantages
Increased fuel consumption
Wider wheels and tyres are heavier. This makes the engine work much harder resulting in increased fuel consumption. This varies with the engine power.
Bigger and powerful engine produce a lot of horsepower that is not economical in the first place, but due to its high power, this effect may be minimal.
On the other hand, small engines produce less horsepower that is very economical. However, more weight from wider wheels and tyres will result in a significant increase in fuel consumption. If you are concerned with fuel consumption, this is a no go zone for you.
Cost implications
If you decide to get wider tyres, you will definitely need corresponding wider wheels. This will cut into your expenditure, especially if you choose to buy new ones. However, you can reduce your spending by half if you buy second hand wheels and used tyres. However, I would strongly not recommend this because chances of landing on damaged rims and tyres are high.
Slower acceleration
Wider wheels and tyres are heavy. They will make your engine work harder thus slow acceleration. This will again depend on your engine horsepower and torque.
Bigger engines develop decent amount of horsepower that will show minimal decrease in acceleration. However, if your engine is small and you install wider wheels and tyres, you will be disappointed with the acceleration results.
You can go around this by improving your engine’s horsepower if you simply modify by adding high flow air filter and performance exhaust. You could also add supercharger or turbo.
Less comfort
If you fix wider wheels and tyres your car will be less comfortable because they are much harder and have more contact with the road.
Harder ride can also wear out other suspension components quicker. There is no cheaper solution to this problem.
