Stupid question: I’m looking into buying a new car, and one of the options you can get is bigger wheels. Do bigger wheels actually provide me any benefit? They seem superfluous, but I don’t know enough about cars to totally dismiss them without worrying that I’m missing something.

You know what they say about a man with bigger wheels?

Bigger brake pads?

Oh yeah, baby. Oh yeah.

RumorsDaily, bigger wheels do not have any benefits on the average street car. In fact, one decent pot-hole and the rims are damaged or even trashed. There are no potholes on a road race type of racetrack. They also make for a harsher ride, since the special tires (“low profile”) used have smaller and stiffer sidewalls.

On race cars, the low profile tires that make the bigger rims necessary improve cornering. On street cars, however, you’d never notice the difference (unless they’re on a sports car and it’s 3AM on Mulholland Drive, but that’s another story!)

These rims make a car look like a Hot Wheels car, a really, really expensive Hot Wheels. And just about as childish ;)

Fantastic. Thank you.

i like mike