Glamor rollers: why big wheels are needed. And about the disadvantages of low-profile rubber ...

A rare young mother, when choosing a stroller, looks at the wheels. We are interested in color, different features of the stroller, its convenience. In addition, they all ride great in the store. But as soon as you go outside, it turns out: our wheels and asphalt are not made for each other. So which wheels should you choose?

Let's first see what kind of wheelchairs there are in general.

Air, foam or rubber
Each of us has been familiar with air-filled wheels since our cycling childhood. Strollers with inflatable wheels usually heavier, have a smooth ride. There are two major downsides. The first is that the wheels periodically have to be pumped up (some models of strollers come with a pump). The frequency is different - some mothers said that they pump up every month. The second terrible minus (due to which I chose a stroller with different wheels twice) is the likelihood of piercing them. For example, during the infancy of her daughter, my friend took the stroller to the tire shop three times on three wheels. Agree, a very unpleasant situation. Of course, skillfully you can patch at home. But I've always been haunted by the fear of blowing a wheel far from home and being essentially helpless. There is an opinion that wheels are more often punctured in inexpensive strollers, such as Tako, and more expensive ones are more reliable in this regard, such as Inglesina. I think there is some truth in this logic

Next wheel type - rubber. Lighter, more reliable. But! Depreciation leaves much to be desired. For an infant stroller, it is difficult to come up with such a depreciation system that would have a smooth ride with rubber wheels. If the roads are uneven, the baby will shake. It happened to us, it really upset me.

The third type is the middle way. Wheels filled with foam (foam rubber). They cannot be pierced, but they move softer than rubber ones. There are many such wheels in European strollers. But in the conditions of our frosts, they become hard and rattle a little.

3 big wheels or 4 small wheels?
Next, decide how many wheels you want on the stroller. Three wheels - unusual, but maneuverable. 4 wheels is familiar and most of us choose this option.

Next, you need to decide for yourself whether you need swivel front wheels. They improve maneuverability, it is very convenient to go shopping, the stroller can be turned with one hand. Minus - it is difficult to go through the mud. But here, too, manufacturers offer a solution - the wheels can be blocked. All my strollers have classic wheels. And I had to tilt the wheelchair to turn around ... it seems to me - this is already the last century.

The next criterion is the size of the wheels. Many wonderful European strollers are equipped with ... no, I don’t dare to call them wheels - wheels. It is understandable: such dirt and snowdrifts as we still need to look for. Therefore, if you are buying a stroller oriented to the European market, check about the wheels and really evaluate the quality of the roads in your neighborhood. Big wheels - great maneuverability. But if you do not need to ride on rural potholes, then you can choose medium-sized wheels.

Well, I hope I managed to convey the idea of ​​the importance of choosing wheels. Happy shopping to you and your baby!

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Ensuring safety on the road is the main task that every motorist faces. Therefore, the first place for the car owner is the choice in favor of a reliable car, taking care of its good technical condition, compliance with traffic rules. One of the important, and sometimes the key point and the key to a comfortable and safe ride, reducing the cost of servicing and refueling a car ...

How to choose wheels for a car in order to increase comfort and safety, as well as unlock the potential of a car? Every driver asks this question.

The main elements of the wheel

An automobile wheel consists of two main elements. This is a rim and tire, the competent selection of which will significantly improve the performance of the machine.

Disc selection

As a rule, motorists encounter the replacement of rims less often than the replacement of rubber, which is usually carried out twice a year (according to the season). However, the need to replace disks, nevertheless, sometimes arises.

The disc is the basis, support, and therefore the criterion for its choice is the maximum reliability: strength, resistance to deformation, wear, corrosion.

The most inexpensive option seems to be stamped or standard welded metal discs. In most cases, this option is included in the basic configuration of the car. They are distinguished by a rather high weight, which in itself does not seem to be an advantage, because it increases fuel consumption, creating additional loads, it is quite easy to deform under high loads and quickly corrode with frequent contact with moisture. And therefore, for an aggressive driving style and operation of a car in off-road conditions, it is not the best option.

Budget choice of wheels for a car

In addition, the wheel is an essential element of the overall aesthetics of the car, and the “stamping” here is much inferior to more attractive options. The only advantages of welded steel discs are low price and maintainability (a damaged deformed disc can be rolled in a car repair shop).

Light alloy wheels are distinguished by their aesthetic appeal and a number of high technical and operational properties. They are lightweight, resistant to corrosion and deformation, provide lower fuel consumption and better maneuverability.

There are cast and forged wheels. The former are represented by a variety of external designs and are relatively inexpensive. However, such a disk cannot be restored; a replacement will be required.

The second ones are the most high-tech, durable (the suspension is more likely to fail than the disc is deformed), but also expensive. True, due to the complexity of the technological process and the many mechanical operations, forged alloy wheels do not differ in particular design variability.

When deciding to purchase a kit, it is worth considering that the choice of wheels for a car must be carried out based on the recommendations given by the car manufacturer for the optimal and permissible wheel sizes. The range of options is limited, and the wheel size set by the manufacturer is considered the most suitable and effective.

Tire selection

Another thing is the choice of tires. The tire tread ensures the contact of the wheel with the road surface, which can be in different technical conditions, with different terrain, wet, slippery, rocky, warm, frozen, etc.

The tires installed on the car should meet the conditions and specifics of the car operation as much as possible.

The selection of tires is made taking into account the dimensions of the rims installed on the car. If there are doubts about how to choose wheels for a car, choosing wheels and tires separately, then buying a complete set of wheels can be the right and safest decision. In this case, you can be sure that the tire clearly matches the parameters of the disk. In addition, such wheels have already been balanced and are ready for operation.

A car tire is classified according to seasonality:

• summer tires, the composition and features of the structure and tread pattern of which are aimed at the best grip properties of the tire with the road in the warm season, as well as effective removal of moisture from the contact patch;
• winter tires - the most adapted to the conditions of cold, snow, ice;
• all-weather tires - considered a universal option, but controversial and losing in efficiency to summer and winter tires (although manufacturers are constantly fighting to improve their quality and properties).

The choice of wheels for the car is made taking into account that the tire eventually does not touch the protection of the wheel arches, leaving sufficient clearance. Therefore, when installing disks larger than standard ones, as a rule, low-profile tires are selected for them, and high-profile tires for smaller ones.

You can also experiment with the width. For summer conditions (warm roadway, dust and rain), it is important to provide a sufficient contact area, thereby the car will confidently and tenaciously “hold on” to the road. Many car enthusiasts “change shoes” for the summer in wider tires.

Winter roads, often covered with snow, are a colossal test for a car. The number one task is to ensure efficient driving in the conditions of the need to literally "scoop" out of the snowdrifts. Narrower tires do this better. For this reason, discs are sometimes changed to smaller ones.

Tire Calculator

A tire calculator will help a novice motorist choose the right tire for the parameters, which you can use for free on the website of a specialized online store of rims and tires.

When choosing tires for the season, you should take into account the rating of brands and models, decide on the budget. However, price should not be the primary selection criterion.

In general, the height of the rubber profile is selected not only based on the parameters of the disk, but also the condition of the roadway (or lack of it) and driving style:

• The high profile additionally protects the wheel from deformation and disassembly in off-road conditions and the deplorable state of the roadway, as well as when cornering, but it does not affect handling for the better.
• Low profile tires - the choice for aggressive driving style, provides excellent grip, stability and maneuverability of the wheels and the car. But it is worth using it on good or at least satisfactory roads. This will help reduce the risk of an accident.

Tire selection form

Especially to make it easy for you to choose the right tires for your car, we have developed the most convenient form of tire selection.

With this form, you will be able to choose the model that suits your car. So, now it will be easier for you to decide which summer tires are better to choose.

Imagine that you are choosing wheels for your new car as an additional option at a car dealership. And so, you have the opportunity to choose 17-inch, 18-inch and 19-inch wheels. What will you choose?

Do not rush to choose. This is a very important decision, since it will directly affect not only performance, but also the comfort and noise level in the car.

Unfortunately, when there is a dilemma of which car to buy, as a rule, another one arises, with wheels. We cannot test drive a car with different wheel diameters. That is, before buying, we cannot determine with which wheels the car will behave better on the road.

In order for each of us to understand how different wheel sizes affect handling, comfort, economy, ride, etc., the authors of the British Tire Review website conducted interesting tests on wheels with different diameters.

For the test, they took a Volkswagen Golf GTI and tested it on wheels of different diameters. The test took place on the Goodyear test track in the south of France.

To make the wheel comparison fair, the experts used "Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3" tires in three different diameters, i.e. of 17-inch, 18-inch and 19-inch rims.

Then the car, on each type of wheel, went through six different tests on the test track.

You can see detailed test results on their website.

Below, you can watch a video detailing the unusual testing of different wheel sizes on the same car.

It is worth noting that according to the test results, both on wet and dry pavement, the car showed excellent results on all wheel sizes. According to experts, all three types of wheels showed excellent results in the aqua glide test, in the braking test on different types of asphalt, etc.

As a result, the experts found that the difference in the use of different wheel diameters is noticeable only with handling and power. But only a professional will notice this.

Which wheels are better: Big or small?

So. What then wheels to choose: more or less?

Judging by the test, it all depends on what you want. For example, in what conditions will you often drive. If you live in a region where the roads are not so good and it may often rain all sorts of things, then, as experts advise, it is better to take 17-inch ones, which, during testing on the Volkswagen Golf GTI, showed more predictable handling on wet pavement.

With smaller wheels, tests have shown that the driver experiences better ride comfort, as the height of the tires complements the performance of the suspension. True, there is not much, but, experts noted, an increase in the softness of the suspension slightly reduces the very stability of the car at speed.

On the contrary, 19-inch wheels and 19-inch tires make the car's suspension stiffer compared to 17-inch wheels, and as a result, there is a significant decrease in driving comfort.

In terms of noise, the winner was the 18-inch wheels, which proved to be the quietest of the bunch during testing.

In the end, after testing all wheel sizes, the experts agreed that the ideal purchase would be 18-inch wheels, which have advantages over 17 and 19-inch wheels.

The fashion for the most individual vehicle - roller skates - is gaining momentum. More and more beginners join the ranks of roller skaters and learn to "steer" on their own two feet. The speed of learning depends not only on personal talents, but also on the choice ... not only there are no rollers ... but the right roller wheels.

Interest in the diameter of the roller wheel arose relatively recently, after a year of learning to ride, and quite suddenly. Having bought cheaper skates in my time, I saved a relative amount of money and spent ... a huge amount of time in a futile attempt to enjoy skating. Having got out on a ride with a friend the day before, I noticed that in order to overcome the same distance, I spend three times more strength and energy than he does. Attributing this to his fitness and strength, she shared her observation with a friend. To which I received an answer that stunned me .... it turns out that he practically does not spend any effort on developing and maintaining the speed, he does not shake at all on uneven asphalt and he is not afraid of accidentally falling branches.

Of course, I guessed that the better the wheels, the more efficient the ride. However, she naively believed that good things are for professionals, while simple models will do for a beginner. But, as it turned out in practice, just a beginner needs wheels that will allow you to quickly and pleasantly master the world of roller skates. And the main criterion here is the diameter of the wheels.

It is measured in millimeters and is indicated on the wheels themselves. Having visited a sufficient number of sites in search of information, I found out that the optimal diameter for beginners is from 76 to 82 millimeters. My wheels could "boast" only 65 millimeters. From the range indicated above, I propose to choose the largest wheel diameter - 82 mm. More, of course, also exist. But you should not be zealous - wheels from 84 millimeters and more are used by those who prefer high-speed running, experienced people in skating.

Magical 82 millimeters will help us to feel the real joy of riding, to look not only under our feet, but also around, not to feel small bumps and bumps in the asphalt, to spend less effort on acceleration.

By the way, the principle "more is better" also works because polyurethane wheels are especially actively erased during the period of their operation. And they will throw off a couple of millimeters in the first two months of their work for you.

Speaking of polyurethane. An excellent invention, in no comparison with plastic and other materials. Modern roller manufacturers use this material of varying hardness to give their products different qualities from each other. Finding the stiffness of the wheels is also very simple - it is written on the wheel, next to the diameter, in the form of a two-digit number with the letter A. You should not pay special attention to the letter, it is always present on all wheels and means a unit of measurement.

A hard wheel will go faster than its softer counterpart, this is its main and only advantage. It is extremely sensitive to small roughness, twigs, sticks, and even on bends it can skid and the risk of falling increases - after all, the smoother and stiffer the wheel, the less its adhesion to the asphalt surface. Here, choose for yourself what is more convenient. The stiffness of the comfort level for beginners ranges from 78A to 80A.

Keep in mind that castor wheels are not durable at all. If you ride all summer three times a week (with an average rider weight of about 60 kg), by the end of the season the wheels will be in a deplorable state. That is why it is so important to buy rollers that provide for changing wheels.

By the way, there is one little trick to make the wheels last longer. After a month and a half of use, they can be turned over, that is, unwound, turned the other side (inside out) and screwed back.

To summarize - we need skates with large polyurethane wheels, quite soft. The priorities are set, it remains to go to the store to buy roller skates.

Wheels and tires are one of the most important elements of a modern car, providing not only driving comfort, but also safety, and therefore the choice of tires and wheels must be taken seriously. To make this task easier for you, we have put together all the rules and nuances associated with the selection of wheels and tires, as well as the subtleties of their various combinations.

Let's start with the simplest. If you are going to buy new wheels and tires, be sure to look at your car's owner's manual, in which the manufacturer, as a rule, always indicates the necessary information about the allowable sizes of wheels and tires. It is categorically not recommended to deviate from factory recommendations, especially for novice motorists, since discs and tires that do not correspond to the correct size, at least, can lead to faster wear of the suspension and the wheels themselves, and, at the most, can provoke a sharp deterioration in the driving performance of the car, which is fraught with an increase in fuel consumption, a decrease in controllability and even an accident on the road.

Before choosing wheels and tires, you need to understand their markings. Wheels are usually labeled something like "R13 4×98 ET35 J5 D58.6", where R13 is the diameter of the rim in inches, 4×98 is the number of mounting holes and the diameter of their centers in millimeters, ET35 is the wheel offset or distance from the plane of symmetry of the rim to the plane of the disc mounting (mm), J5 is the width of the disc rim in inches, and D58.6 is the diameter of the central hub hole. In turn, tires have the main marking of the type “235/70 R16 105H”, where R16 is the diameter of the rim for which the rubber is intended, 235 is the width of the tire (profile) in millimeters, 70 is the percentage ratio of the tire width and the height of its profile (series), and 105H - indices of permissible load and speed.

• When selecting new wheels, first of all, you should pay attention to the diameter of the rim, which must correspond to the inner (landing) diameter of the tire. That is, if you buy R14 wheels, then the rubber, respectively, should also have a diameter of 14 inches.
• Do not forget that the permissible load index and the permissible speed index of the tires you have chosen must fully comply with the characteristics of your car, which can be found in the owner's manual.
• Next, it is necessary to take into account the ratio of the width of the rim and the width of the tire profile, while the width of the rim of the rim should be about 70 - 75% of the width of the selected rubber, since it is at this ratio that the correct fit of the tires on the disks is ensured, guaranteeing the calculated driving performance. The problem here is that rim widths are given in inches by manufacturers, and tire profile widths in millimeters, so you'll have to use a calculator to convert millimeters to inches using a special formula. For example, your choice fell on tires 195/70 R15. Divide 195mm by a factor of 25.4, resulting in a width of 7.68 inches. Next, reduce this value by 30% and get 5.38 inches. Now it remains only to round the resulting value to the nearest standard size and you will get the desired rim width, ideally suited to the selected rubber, in this case 5.5 inches.
• The fourth point is the correct selection of the wheel offset, which can be negative (the hub is recessed), positive (the hub sticks out to the outer part of the disk) or zero (the hub is located strictly in the middle of the disk). In this case, you should strictly follow the recommendations of the car manufacturer, since the offset is calculated in order to minimize the load on the wheel bearings and other suspension components, and any deviation from the norm, even by small amounts, can lead to rapid wear of the suspension elements, loss of vehicle stability and controllability.
• And finally, the last point is the selection of fasteners. If you buy standard wheels for your car, then there should be no problems with this item. But, for example, in the case of changing stamped wheels to alloy wheels, the length of the old mounting studs may not be enough, so you will have to purchase a new set.

Now let's talk about different combinations of rims and car tires. Let's start with the standard, i.e. optimal sizes recommended by the manufacturer or simply used as basic ones for the corresponding equipment of your car. In this case, the closest correspondence of all driving characteristics to factory engineering calculations is ensured, which will ensure a balanced car behavior in all respects (dynamics, braking, handling, comfort, etc.).

However, each automaker allows the deviation of the permitted sizes of rims and tires up or down, which is indicated in the instruction manual. If you choose the minimum size of the rims, then it becomes possible to install tires with a higher profile, which can help improve the car's behavior on bad roads and extend the life of both the wheels themselves and the suspension. At the same time, there are also disadvantages - deterioration in grip, reduced controllability and loss of power.

In the opposite situation, when choosing the largest permitted size of rims, it is possible to use low-profile rubber, which improves the dynamic characteristics of the car, as well as increases its directional stability. True, it is worth noting that low-profile tires are very demanding on the quality of the roadway, reduce driving comfort and are prone to aquaplaning.

Quite often, motorists tend to put on their car the widest possible tires, usually low-profile. But this is justified only for powerful cars that involve a sporty driving style. If you own a compact or mid-size car with a small engine, then narrow tires are a much better choice, since it is impossible to appreciate all the advantages of wide tires on low-power cars, but all the disadvantages inherent in them will fully manifest themselves. Returning to wide wheels, we add that you should not use rubber whose profile width exceeds the dimensions allowed by the car manufacturer, as this entails the removal of all insurance obligations in the event of an accident. However, even without this, too wide tires will not allow you to fully drive the car, because during maneuvers (especially when the car is fully loaded), the sides of the tires can touch the arches, which is fraught with a decrease in handling and rapid wear of rubber.

The last thing we would like to talk about is the static diameter of the wheel, i.e. the full diameter of the rim, together with the tire seated on it, inflated to working pressure. When changing wheels of one diameter to a larger one, it is sometimes difficult to find a rubber that allows you to maintain the factory static wheel diameter that is optimally suited to your car. In this case, manufacturers are allowed to increase the static diameter, but it must be remembered that this leads to a change in driving characteristics and may adversely affect the operation of modern electronic assistance systems, which are equipped with a large number of cars now produced. We also note that it is not recommended to increase the static diameter of the wheel by more than 3 cm, since a further increase leads to a noticeable deterioration in the traction characteristics of the car and to increased fuel consumption.