Sooner or later, every car owner has to replace or upgrade discs, which is usually associated with high costs. Upcoming expenses directly depend on what type of acquisitions are planned. Therefore, it is necessary to imagine how much this type of spare parts costs.
The price of a rim is usually close to $90. It increases with an increase in its dimensions and an increase in the quality of the materials used in its manufacture (alloy, steel or chromium).
Next, we will talk in detail about what the costs of such purchases are associated with and what parameters affect their cost.
Product price
Today, the market offers consumers a very large number of various options for such products, differing in the materials used in their production and design features. Therefore, the price of discs varies significantly. This issue needs to be looked at more closely.
Steel
Rims and wheels made of such material are always in demand. It is used in the production of any machine – from trucks to premium vehicles.
But recently, the market has begun to widely offer products from alloys. Now they are equipped with a large number of compact or ultra-compact cars.
The main advantage of steel is its reasonable price, which suits almost any car owner. Depending on the dimensions of the wheel, a steel rim costs from $30. Such an amount will not seem too high to anyone.
The disadvantage of steel is its heaviness. Weight becomes one of the criteria that affects performance and fuel economy. In addition, the material does not dissipate heat like alloy or chromium. Therefore, it negatively affects the braking system.
Alloy
Aluminum alloy wheels are now used in the manufacture of a huge part of vehicles, as they are quite light and durable. The material is made from a special blend of metals that improves performance and extends the life of the vehicle.
Unlike steel, alloy models have good thermal conductivity and the ability to withstand extreme braking loads.
Manufacturers usually paint them gold or gray to make them look like chrome. However, the price of products is significantly different downwards. When buying an alloy, you should carefully study the offered products and choose the most suitable one from them.
There are four main types to be mentioned:
- diamond cutting;
- anodized;
- powder coated
- separate rims.
Alloys are usually more expensive than steel. As a rule, their price for one wheel reaches 50 dollars and more. It is also worth considering the dimensions and type of material of manufacture.
The disadvantage of products is that they wear out quickly, becoming a victim of various defects, breakages and scratches.
Chromium
Most often, due to the high price, chrome wheels are installed on expensive and luxurious cars. In fact, this type of product is not made entirely of chromium, since the cost of materials is too high. As a result, the cost of the entire product becomes unaffordable.
Therefore, a significant part of manufacturers use a single chrome finish to make the product look chic, but not too expensive. A chrome-plated steel vehicle sometimes costs several tens of thousands of dollars.
But chrome doesn’t improve the car’s performance too much. The biggest difference between such a material and an alloy is due to the fact that it prevents oxidation. If the owner of the car often drives on wet roads, then this type of disc will be a profitable purchase for him.
Factors Affecting Rim Price
If you want to replace the rim of your car, there are a number of conditions that you need to take into account before purchasing:
- You should imagine the car as a whole. The more expensive and unique it is, the more difficult it will be to find discs for it.
- Service life of the vehicle. It is also required to determine in advance the amount of the allocated amount. Often, when maintaining an old car, you have to pay more than when operating a new one.
- Dimensions. If the car has large wheels, then finding the right rim for it will be more difficult.
- Type of wheels. The choice between alloy and steel wheels is due to the fact that products of the first type will cost much more. The difference in price is associated with significant difficulties in their production.
Reasons for the high cost of rims
The final price of products is influenced by a large number of criteria. It becomes more expensive when you take into account the design, the period of operation or exclusivity.
Therefore, it is necessary to understand that there are certain parameters that affect the cost of products. These include the following factors.
Production costs
You will have to pay for the time and labor of the masters. They will need to put in a lot of effort to make a quality rim for a custom vehicle. If it is also equipped with a large number of complex parts and its maintenance will have to spend a lot of time, then the price will be much higher.
Manufacturing
Alloy variants are made from a different number of parts. If solid edges are processed on a special machine only from pieces of aluminum, then for composite edges it will have to be spent much more.
Retail
Most often, buyers look for discs directly from various sellers or find them indirectly through friends or manufacturers. If you buy OEM products, the cost will be higher.
When manufacturing products, the following is taken into account:
- great experience of manufacturers;
- use of high technologies;
- quality of management;
- strict safety rules.
Dimensions measurement
The choice of rim replacement option must be made with great care, since from a mechanical point of view, the use of a large product does not provide safety. Therefore, you should make sure that the new acquisition will not affect the driving technique of the vehicle.
Experts believe that all types of cars need their rim size not to be increased by more than 2.5-5.1 cm from the original wheel size.
Fremont Motors reports that large wheels can give a car a beautiful and luxurious appearance, but this does not take into account its complete safety. In any case, there should be enough space for the system to work smoothly.
In addition, it will be quite difficult to find and change a large rim. The larger it is, the less likely it is that the manufacturer will release it at all.
It also happens that high-end cars turn out to be even more expensive when the size of such a product increases.
Therefore, it becomes clear that the cost of rims for a car needs to be thought in advance. The above information will allow you to make the final choice, providing a large amount of information. Its study will contribute to the development of a reasonable approach to acquiring the most successful product model suitable for a particular vehicle.