[wannabe]

Dear all,

I had been considering ordering new tires for a while, but that has now been accelerated since one of my factory tires just popped while driving in the NJ turnpike. I have changed my two front tires (with temporary ones), but am looking to change all 4 ASAP.

That said, after looking at some of the threads in the forum, I am wondering whether I should just change the rims too (to give the car a new look). The catch is that I know nothing about rims, tires etc. short of what I have read here.

I was wondering if any of you who have the same color volt would mind sharing a pic of custom rim / tire packages and or offer some suggestions of what I could go with that would not break the bank. I have seen some grey / matte packages that look good, but am unsure if those are too heavy or just too expensive. I am open to anything though...

Your help or recommendations would (as always) be appreciated.

I assume afterwards I will need to do a wheel alignment too (since this seemed to be a reason why my tires were also going quicker).

Thank you!

 

[Tommy_D]

I would do something that is either hyper silver or hyper black on that color car. If you go all black for the wheels it looks too "RoboCop" like, which I don't care for. I did 18x8 wheels with a +35 offset. You could go up to an 8.5" wheel with. +32-35 offset on this car, but your tire size options are a bit limited in that width. If you go with 18" wheels the matching tire size is 235/45/18. This is a very common tire size so there are lots of choices. However, a 235 on an 8.5" wheel is slightly stretched. Not a big problem, but if you are not careful, you are going to curb your wheels very easily. That's why I went with 8" vs 8.5" even though the 8.5" would have looked better.

Increasing weight isn't too big of a problem (within reason), but increasing your contact patch increases rolling resistance and that leads to less range. That said, I feel that the stock 215's are too small to properly support the cars weight and it's weight distribution through corners. A slightly wider tire will dispurse that weight over a larger area leading to more overall stability and should increase the life of the tire. With that said, expect an electric only range drop of ~10% with wider 235 tires.

Also, you can use 5x114.3 wheels on this car despite it's 5x115 bolt pattern. You MUST USE HUBCENTRIC RINGS and you need to be very careful when mounting the wheels and torqueing them down so everything stays nicely centered. Tighten them a little at a time until everything is firmly tight, then do a final torquing. Take it for a quick drive, check for any wobbles or anything funny (there should be no issues) and do a second final torqueing after the test drive. If you let a dumbass with an air tool install the wheels they will likely torque them from full loose to full tight one at a time leading to a slightly off center mounting. No air tools should be used on your wheels at any time but tire shops need to save time somewhere in the process.

 

[Don M]

Most moderately priced aftermarket wheels look . . . . cheap and do nothing to enhance the look of your ride. Nice ones which do are usually very expensive. I've always liked buying 'take-offs' from newer cars of the same model as I'm driving - In this case, pick yourself up a nice, clean set of Gen 2 wheels for your Gen 1 Volt. You can frequently find them near new for 1/2 or less the GM parts counter price. You won't look flashy, but you won't look cheap either and the wheels will be much less likely to bend when you hit a pothole than if you spend about the same amount on aftermarket wheels

Don

 

[Tommy_D]

Most moderately priced aftermarket wheels look . . . . cheap and do nothing to enhance the look of your ride. Nice ones which do are usually very expensive. I've always liked buying 'take-offs' from newer cars of the same model as I'm driving - In this case, pick yourself up a nice, clean set of Gen 2 wheels for your Gen 1 Volt. You can frequently find them near new for 1/2 or less the GM parts counter price. You won't look flashy, but you won't look cheap either and the wheels will be much less likely to bend when you hit a pothole than if you spend about the same amount on aftermarket wheels

Don

Not to throw shade, Don, but you don't know what you are talking about. For one, you can get some amazing aftermarket wheels at very affordable prices. You don't have to spend a fortune to get great quality and great looking wheels. Secondly, the second gen wheels don't have the same bolt pattern at the Gen1's. They arent even close.

 

[wannabe]

Thank you for the responses.

Tommy, I am by no means wedded to a Black rim. Hyper silver or hyper black are possibilities; at the same time so are the types of stokes. That is in part why I am looking for options / suggestions that would not break the bank, or may be good and affordable. All the info you are giving is great, but it is really what I am way over my head with. I have seen some sets of rims on ebay that seem to fit and thought to pair them with tires from tirerack (then bringing it all to a shop to mount).

Dom, I do not know that I agree with the statement that "they do not look good", however I do agree that some of the cheaper ones, can bend easily or obviously compromise quality; therefore, I am asking for opinions. At the same time, I was hoping to see some pics of people with the same color car in order to see what they had done and how it looked

I had even considered plastidip (not doing it myself, but paying a shop to do it). I think the idea behind this is to give the car a new look and feel. I love my Volt and want to keep things fresh (so as to not get bored of it...). Since I needed new tires, this seemed like the perfect time.

 

[Tommy_D]

Thank you for the responses.

Tommy, I am by no means wedded to a Black rim. Hyper silver or hyper black are possibilities; at the same time so are the types of stokes. That is in part why I am looking for options / suggestions that would not break the bank, or may be good and affordable. All the info you are giving is great, but it is really what I am way over my head with. I have seen some sets of rims on ebay that seem to fit and thought to pair them with tires from tirerack (then bringing it all to a shop to mount).

Do you have a style of wheel that you like? Do you like lots of spokes (10-12) or do you like less (something like 5 or 6)? What about double spokes? Mesh sytle? Euro style? Japaneese style? Concave? Deep lip? Multi-colored?

It's hard to give any suggestions, including photos, without knowing what style of wheel you are looking for.

 

[FI Spyder]

Might be a case, he'll know it when he sees it. In my case 90% of the alloys don't look good plus ones that look good on one car won't look good on another. Photoshop comes in handy here if you know how to use it. As for rims that stand up? As with anything cost might not be sole determining factor and anecdotal might be suspect although better than nothing I guess.

 

[wannabe]

I understand it is tough to suggest. I think Spyder may be onto something; thus, I wanted to see if people would be willing to post what they had done to a similar car. I do like different setups for different cars, so I cant necessarily say I prefer less or lots of spokes; but I think that since I am inclined to go with a darker color, I am inclined to go with more spokes (not as many as BBS). I have seen some with a red accent (around the lip) that looks very nice too; but on average one color (black or anthracite gray).

These are all attractive to me, but do not know how they would look on the car, plus I do not know anything about them:

https://ebay.to/2yLWGQx
https://ebay.to/2yslcGU
https://ebay.to/2S3jJyV

 

[Tommy_D]

Here is an image of black wheels on an Ashen Grey Volt:

It doesn't do much for me, but if you like it then that's all that matters.

I used to have a Mazdaspeed3 in Metropolitan Grey Mica which was a dark grey metallic with blue and green pearl that would catch the sun well. Anyway, I put on some 10 spoke Motegi's in Hyper black on the car. I thought the wheels really popped with that color:

 

[wmtunate]

Here's my 2014 in Ashen Grey. 19" Verde V44 Empire wheels

 

[wannabe]

wmtunate, this looks pretty awesome. That said, unsure about 19's around here... my car hits in way too many places as is.

 

[wannabe]

Tommy,
You are right, the black do look a bit too Robocop-ish...

 

[jayoldschool]

Just about any other wheel will be much heavier than your stock wheels. BTW, Gen 2 Volt wheels don't fit.

For a GM swap, I think the 19" optional wheels on my CTS would look pretty good...maybe I'll throw one on our black '15 for a pic when I do snow tires...