World of Wheels

Custom Truck Wheels (Toyota wheels)

Look around and you will see an increase in custom wheels used on trucks today. Less than 20 years ago trucks were just cargo hauling vehicles. In the early 1900s trucks were used primarily for local wholesale and retail deliveries. Today when we talk about trucks we are talking about light trucks. Light trucks include pickup trucks, minivans and full-size vans, and sport utility vehicles. Twenty five percent or more of all new vehicles sold are light trucks.

There is an huge amount of accessories that allow pickup truck owners to convert their weekday work horse to comfortable, efficient and enjoyable transportation. Accessories like lowering kits, lift kits, tonneau covers and custom wheels. Most of these accessories don’t have to be practical, people just want to modify a truck to suit their life styles.

Custom Truck Wheels are one of the best accessories you can buy when it comes to improving your ride. It’s important to make the right choice for your light truck custom wheel needs. Weather you own a regular cab, extended cab, 4X4 or 2X4 Chevy, Ford or Dodge truck, custom wheels can have a big impact on performance.

Shop on line and get the best price. Save even more on wheel and tire packages and have them shipped to your front door ready to install. On line merchants always know which custom rims will fit best. Find truck rims ranging from 15 inches to 26 inches. If you have a 4X4 they make them even bigger. Look for wheels on line marked RWD for rear wheel drive.

If you have been thinking of restyling your truck lately, start with custom truck wheels. Replacing your wheels will make your truck look sportier while enhancing handling and ride quality when matched up with a new set of tires. We recommend Alcoa wheels, American Racing and Weld wheels for that eye catching look. These manufactures have been stealing the hearts of truck lovers everywhere for years.

Steve Farber is an author and web site publisher on custom wheels including custom truck wheels and car wheels. Read articles and reviews on the top 60 custom wheel manufacturers in the market today at http://www.custom-wheels-n-rims.com and http://www.just-spinner-rims.com

Add comment February 19th, 2008

Cobra wheels – Wheels and Tyres

The first custom thing that we would like to put on the car and for the matter of fact that they may be the only custom that we ever put on the car. No matter what, how complicated your ride is, most often we start with the tweaking of wheels. The focal point of most cars, lies in the rim and tire package and can make or break the look and style of your sedan.

Tires also spelled tires in British English are the pneumatic enclosures which are used to protect and augment the effect of wheels.

Tires are made use of on many types of vehicles, varying from big to small, from cars to earthmovers to airplanes. The Tires facilitate vehicle performance by providing traction, braking, steering, and load support. Tires are puffed up with air, which offers a supple cushion between the vehicle and the surface of road and smoothes out the shocks of a rough road and provides the drivers and passengers with a comfortable ride.

A wheel is the earliest invention known to the man and the most useful thing after fire. Wheel is a circular device that is known to the capable of rotating on

its central axis, facilitating the movement, transportation or performing labor in machines. A wheel together with an axle overcomes the friction by facilitating the movement by rolling. In order for the wheels to rotate on its axis a moment needs to be applied to the wheel about its axis, either by the use of gravity or by appliance of another external force. Common applications are found in transport applications. By and large the term is also used for further circular objects that rotate or turn about their axes, such as a Ship’s wheel and flywheel.

There are many varieties of tires available in the market. Normal tires usually used are made of Aramid. It’s a synthetic fabric that is used in tires

that is stronger than steel. A precisely engineered tire is an assembly of rubber, chemicals, fabrics, and metal designed to provide a rated amount of traction, cushion road shock and to carry a load under varying conditions.

In winter or during snow falls special tires known as winter tires; a special type of tire with a tread and compound giving better traction in snow is used. It is identified by the M + S, M & S, or M/S on the sidewalls. All season tires must include these descriptions on the sidewall.

The variations found in wheels are a plenty and the most used are the steel ones. The trend of using alloy wheels are catching up as it is more sleek and stylish than normal ones. Alloy wheels of aluminum/chrome/magnesium are used as they reduce the weight and improve the performance of the vehicles. Hubcap or full Wheel Covers cover the entire wheel and they do not

look that great alone. The hub caps are not usually used when the alloy wheels are used.

Add comment February 18th, 2008

Spinning Wheels (Tires wheels)

A spinning wheel is a device used for spinning thread or yarn that comes from the natural or man-made fibers. This device allows these well spun fibers to twist together to form yarn and eventually fabrics. The initial step of the spinning technology was the invention of the spinning wheel in India between 500 and 1000 A.D. It reached Europe only after passing through the Middle East in the Middle Ages. It replaced the former method of hand spinning with a spindle. A series of developments occurred in the 1700s and resulted in the establishment of the first rotor or open end spinning mill in the US in 1790.

The rotor is kept spinning, and the fibers in the roving are separated at the open end which is then wrapped as the yarn is drawn out from the rotor cup and gets simultaneously twisted.

There are many advance machineries that may offer even faster yarn production consisting of the friction spinning, an open end system, an air jet system, spinning a drafting system.

The change in the modern spinning techniques have had their objectives that consisted of providing automatic means to rotate the spindle, an automatic method of drawing out the fibers, and portable devices to facilitate working of large groups of spindles together, at rapid speeds.

Numerous types of spinning wheels exist such as great wheel also known as walking wheel or wool wheel which is known for rapid long-draw spinning of

woolen-spun yarns; the flax wheel, which is a double-drive wheel used with a distaff for spinning linen; Saxony and upright wheels are all-purpose treadle driven wheels used to spin worsted-spun yarns and the charkas, native to Asia.

The charkha is a small, portable, hand-cranked wheel and is ideal for spinning cotton and other fine, short-stapled fibers. The charkha works in the same way to that of the great wheel, with a drive wheel being manually turned, while the yarn is spun off the tip of the spindle. The ground charkha and the great wheel closely bear a resemblance to each other.

The great wheel is typically over five feet in height. The great drive wheel turns the much smaller spindle assembly, with the spindle rotating many times for each twist of the drive wheel.

The traditional pointed distaff spindle is not a familiar feature with the treadle wheel. Most modern wheels make use of a flyer-and-bobbin system which twists the yarn and winds it onto a reel simultaneously. These wheels can be of single or double-treadle; which is a matter of liking and does not affect the operation of the wheel.

The flax wheel is a good illustration of a double drive wheel.

The double drive wheel is named after its drive band, as it spins wheel twice. A single drive wheel has one drive band, when compared to the double drive wheel, where the drive band goes around the wheel two times. Most of the drive bands for single drive wheels are prepared from synthetic cord, which is elastic and does not trip easily on the wheel.

Add comment February 14th, 2008

Mag Wheels (Mountain bike wheels)

Alloy wheels are automobile wheels that are made from aluminum/magnesium/chrome metals that serve as the base alloys. These alloy wheels differ from normal steel vehicle’s wheels, as they are lighter in weight. They improve the cars’ performance by increasing their mileage. Alloys are also known for their heat conducting property that surpasses the steel wheels .This improves the overall heat dissipation of the brakes, thus reducing the chance of brake failures in extreme driving conditions.

These alloy wheels are also considered to be chic as they are not hidden behind the hubcaps. Thus they reduce weight of the car. However these alloy wheels are pricier than ordinary wheels making then slightly less palatable for general consumers.

Magnesium alloy wheels are also referred to as mag wheels , are sometimes used on racing cars, instead of the heavy steel or aluminum wheels as they give better weight reduction and acceleration. The wheels are formed in only one-step by hot forging from the magnesium alloys ZK60 and MA-14. The Russian variation of the ZK60

is used in this process. The disks made of cast magnesium are also used in dirt bike wheels. The weight of a typical magnesium automotive wheel is about eight-twelve kilo grams.

Magnesium wheels may be lighter than aluminum alloys but are easily flammable and are banned in some arenas of motor sports in the United Kingdom due to occurrences of fires. These fires are very difficult to extinguish and are really hazardous as they can become fatal for the driver. The fire initiates as and when the tire gets punctured and the wheel scrapes the rough road surface for a prolonged period. There are some variants of Magnesium alloy wheels available which may have low corrosion resistance.

These hazardous features of Mag Wheels along with being expensive make them impractical for usage in most common vehicles. Aluminum wheels are often popularly referred to as “mag wheels” and are preferred over the mag and chrome wheels.

Many wheel brands which include Panther Wheel, American Racing Wheels, Motegi Racing Performance Wheels, Weld Racing, BBS, 5Zigen, Volk Racing and Konig are known manufacturers

of quality alloys. The aftermarket wheels have also been inundated with the vast incursion of reasonably priced chrome wheels from East Asia.

With India, investing in alloy wheels through Synergies Castings Ltd. and other companies – of late has also emerged as a leading supplier of chrome wheels. They are able to manufacture products to a universal scale due to the availability of cheap but highly trained and experienced labor. One of the oldest aftermarket wheel companies dating back to 1956 is the American Racing, which owns Motegi Racing and Weld Racing among other famous brands.

A recent trend in the manufacturing industries includes joint venture partnerships being shaped between offshore firms, local importers and distributors. These partnerships have initiated a stern competition between

the giants of manufacturing and thus leading them to do an extensive R&D. This has left the market flooded with a vast collection of superior alloys to choose from, thus benefiting the car users.

Add comment February 8th, 2008

Used wheels – Hot Wheels

Hot Wheels is a brand of die-cast toy cars that was launched in America by an American toy manufacturer named Mattel in the year 1968. A Die-cast toy is any toy or collectible item manufactured utilizing the die casting method. These toys are made using metal and plastic. The metal most commonly used is ZAMAK, which is an alloy of zinc and aluminum. Initially, these cars were designed to on a 1:64 scale and were used on Hot Wheels track sets. However, in 1970 a series of Hot Wheels cars were designed on a 1:43 scale. This new range of cars became adult collector series vehicles that were replicas of Formula One and NASCAR cars, which were extremely successful. The Hot Wheels logo was designed by Rick irons, a Californian Artist who worked with Mattel.

Elliot Hander, co-founder of Mattel, wanted to manufacture a range of die-cast toys for boys. He wanted to dominate the toy cars industry which was once upon a time dominated by Lesney, a British company with their Matchbox cars. Even though, Hander’s executives thought it was an awful idea, the toy cars became a

major success. In 1968, Mattel released nearly sixteen castings. Eleven cars were designed by Marry Bentley Bradley. The first one manufactured was an elegant dark blue Custom Camaro.

In 1968, Hot Wheels introduced the custom-built Volkswagen, which was one their first cars. Some of the other cars they released in the same year were: Beatnik Bandit which was designed by Ed Roth, Custom Barracuda, Custom Camaro, Custom Corvette, Custom Cougar, Custom Eldorado, Custom Firebird, Custom Fleetside, Custom Mustang, Custom T-Bird, Custom Volkswagen which was designed by Ira Gilford, Deora, Ford J-Car, Hot Heap, Python which was designed by Dean Jefferies, and Silhouette. All these cars had colourful paint work, bearings, redline wheels, and working suspensions.

In 1969, Twin Mill was one of the most popular and accepted Hot Wheel cars. In 1970, the famous Sizzler, the rechargeable electronic car was made. In 1985, the Hot Wheels Torino Tornado was

one of the most renowned cars. In 1995, the Hot Wheel cars were differentiated into specialized series i.e. the Model Series which was later renamed First Edition, and the Treasure Hunt Series. In 2000, a new range of Hot Wheel Cars came into the market. These cars had exquisite paint jobs, and functioned like their original counterparts.

Over the years, Hot Wheel cars have not only been collected by children, but it has become a collector’s item for many adults too. There have been estimates that over 41 million children have collected Hot Wheels toys throughout their childhood years, and an average collector has over 1,550 cars to his collection.

The Hot Wheel range of toys include many different kinds of tracks, accessories, different kinds of vehicles like the ‘Sizzlers’ the rechargeable electric cars, ‘Hot Line’ trains, ‘R-R-Rumblers’ motorcycles, and ‘Hot Birds’ aeroplanes,

but they have always been most popular and well known for their collection of small scale free-rolling models of custom hot rods and muscles.

Add comment February 7th, 2008