Your car is more than just a vehicle to get you from Point A to Point B – it’s your car. You want to be comfortable while you’re driving it and you also want it to look good. While there are many aftermarket options you can pick up to trick your whip both on its interior and exterior, a big part of customizing your vehicle is putting some focus on the wheels – specifically wheel accessories.
Yes, there are special tires, custom rims and specialty hubcaps, but here’s a further look at five wheel accessories that you can add to make your car handle better, ride smoother, ride safer and look cooler.
5 Types of Wheel Accessories
-
Wheel spacers
Wheel spacers help widen a vehicle’s stance. And this doesn’t just improve its style, but also how it handles. For instance, the thicker your wheel spacer, the wider the stance of your vehicle. Spacers can increase the stance by several inches, in some cases. And studies have shown that a wider stance equals a faster vehicle. Spacers can also mean a safer vehicle, as a wider stance means a greater center of gravity, minimizing the risk of rollover accidents and such.
-
Hub rings
It’s not uncommon for cars to vibrate. That’s where hub rings come into play. They fit tightly in the small gap between the wheel hub and centerbore, thereby minimizing vehicle vibration.
-
Wheel locks
There’s lug nuts and then there’s customized lug nuts, or wheel locks, which are designed to deter thieves who might be eyeing those custom rims you’re sporting. They work by bolting wheels to the car and they can be configured to install on the likes of rims and tires. Unlike lug nuts, which can simply be removed with a conventional wrench, wheel locks must be unlocked with a key. Wheel locks typically come in three varieties: closed -end long and short styles and open-end. They’re particularly useful in urban areas with high theft rates or for people with customized wheel configurations that often have to park in a parking structure or high-trafficked public areas. They’re also useful for those that have to work night shifts, a time of day when theft is historically higher.
-
Stud converters
Stud converters come in a variety of sizes and essentially change stud bolt type vehicles to lug nuts. Simply put, they are conversion accessories.
-
Lug nut
Perhaps the most simple wheel accessory, lug nuts are arguably also the most essential wheel accessory. They secure wheels to a car by connecting a tire to wheel studs, which thereby connect it to a car or truck’s axle. Lug nuts are essentially what keeps a car’s wheels intact, and they must be removed to facilitate brake work, to rotate tires or to replace a tire. Standard lug nuts can be removed simply with a wrench. Lug nuts come in acorn, spline, tuner and extended thread verities to suit the needs of any vehicle. What’s more is that if you have a customized wheel configuration on your car, you’re likely going to want to pick up a set of aftermarket lug nuts that suit your vehicle’s look better than the manufacturer’s.
Visit us online at www.FastWheelAccessories.com to browse our wide selection of low priced wheel accessories for your wheels and rims.
