Alloygators.....

[madman1]

Not sure how many will have seen these (link given below)?

Hard plastic rim that you fit between the tyre and alloy wheel. Sits just proud of the wheel rim so it should, in theory, be the first thing that makes contact with a Kerb rather than the metal of the wheel itself.

Not cheap, although I managed to grab a set on eBay for £36! (normally £50-£60 I think).

Just fitted them and I have to say pretty please with the results. Fairly unobtrusive as I have the black colour (other colours available although not too sure why you'd want any colour but black personally).

Not too difficult to fit, web site suggests an hour, which might be fine for a trained professional, more like a couple of hours (involving a bit of bad language) to mere mortals!


http://www.alloygator.com/

[stu0710]

TBH - even with the 18" rims I can't see kerbing being an issue, might be with the 20's though?

[darbs]

Originally Posted by stu0710

TBH - even with the 18" rims I can't see kerbing being an issue, might be with the 20's though?

agreed. i bang the tyres against pavements all the time on the 18" alloys i have. i've been fortunate enough to not have heard that awful alloy against concrete noise to date.

it's great to know something like this exists though. will be really helpful when i revert to low profiles in the future.

[madman1]

Originally Posted by stu0710

TBH - even with the 18" rims I can't see kerbing being an issue, might be with the 20's though?

Fair point, which I hope continues to hold true!

I certainly only gave them serious consideration when I put 19" on the car, with the fact that they're the more unusual (= potentially more expensive to repair) dark grey colour in my case.

[ladywotlunches]

I also don't see a need for these on mine either. I'm loving the fact that for the first time in years I don't have to worrry about not going too close to kerbs - and that I can hop up on the kerb 'off road' style, if I need to, without that heart-dropping scrape!

Might recommend them to my Mum and Dad though - going through a later life bit of craziness with a low profile sports Merc!

[DesertDog]

These things are as ugly as the nasty pieces of plastic which people put on the edges of their doors.

[darbs]

Originally Posted by DesertDog

These things are as ugly as the nasty pieces of plastic which people put on the edges of their doors.

agreed, if you go for red, blue or yellow, but the black tyre coloured ones look fairly unobtrusive. from a short distance they can look like part of the tyre.

[DesertDog]

I suppose everything serves a purpose, but surely if you take pride in your ride, then kerbing your rims is way up there in the mindset and it doesn't happen because of that?

[srooks]

Did you get the old design or the new one? A new design was released in May with clips to lock onto the wheel.

etyres who had the contract for fitting these has dropped them, due to them flying off at high speeds and damaging body work.

I suggest you keep a good eye on them!

[darbs]

Originally Posted by DesertDog

I suppose everything serves a purpose, but surely if you take pride in your ride, then kerbing your rims is way up there in the mindset and it doesn't happen because of that?

i suppose it depends where you are. the low profiles on my rx8 were kerbed to b*ggery. i blame the narrow streets and high kerbs in the city. when parking in london you have to get as close to the kerb as possible, and in a lot of cases you have to be touching it to fit into the parking bays - some of which are at the minimum legal width of 1.62m. if you're outside it, you get fined.