When your rims give in to damage or when you simply want to freshen up the look of your car, you will have to buy a new set of wheels. This doesn’t necessarily mean, however, that you have to replace your tires as well. If you’re trying to work on a budget and your tires are still in good condition, you can buy new rims and reuse the tires you already have. When doing this though, you should be sure that the new wheels and tires you have match to get the best of your purchase. Wondering how you can match your rims with your tires? This simple guide should get you on the right path.
How to Match Your Replica Rims with Your Tires
Measure the Wheels’ Width
Once your wheels and tires are disassembled and laid flat, you will want to take measurements. The first measurement you should take is the width of the wheel. This is done by placing the zero marker on your measuring tape or device on either the outer or inner lip of the wheel. Extend the tape to the other lip and take note of the distance. This will indicate how wide your wheels are and how wide your new rims should be.
Multiply for Fit
Now that you have your measurement for the wheel width, you can multiply it by 25.4. Make sure that the measurement you got was in inches because this is how wheels are commonly measured out. Multiplying the value you got by 25.4 will convert the measure into millimeters. You can add up to 10 millimeters if your choice of rim doesn’t completely coincide with the size you got.
Find Out the Height of the Rim
The height of the rim or the diameter can be measured by placing the zero marker of the measuring tape at the lower edge of a rim lip and then extending it towards the top. This will tell you the diameter of the rim you should buy. If you get a fraction or decimal points, round it off to the nearest whole number. So if for example, you got 16.3 inches, you can round it off to just 16. The .3 extra measure could either be the result of error or could be caused by the rise of the rim lip towards the edges of the wheel.