Where do I get a new wheel?

[Rainbow Butterfly]

Please forgive my complete girlyness about this.. I know very very little about cars.

We need a new wheel for a 52 plate Nissan Almera Tino. My hubby avoided someone coming round a corner on his side and has bent one of the wheels out of shape on the kerb. It is the actual wheel itself that the tyre goes round, behind the plastic trim thing which popped off.

He has swapped it with the spare, but I think it is illegal to drive without a spare (??) so need to get a new one sharpish.

I have no idea how wheels work.. is it done on car model, or size, or both?

I guess the best place would be like a scrapyard? However with this being a pretty rare car im not sure there would be any local to us?

What other opions are there? Halfords? Kwikfit? Nissan dealer?

Also, anyone any ideas how much we should be looking to pay? Will also need a tyre on it as the side of the tyre was damaged too.

Thanks.

[Quinny]

Local Japenese car breakers?

If you tell us where you live,someone may live nearby who can point you in the direction of one.

Once purchased,you'll then need to visit a local tyre house,and subject to the tyre being allright,just get the said tyre swapped over to to rim you have just bought.Should cost no more than a tenner.(But you can guarantee,that they'll say you need a new tyre!!!!!)

Then simply dispose of the damaged rim,at your local council waste disposal depot.

[harveybobbles]

Are you sure he didn't hit the kerb by falling asleep driving such a dull car? :-P

Sorry, couldn't resist.

try ebay or partsgateway perhaps

[MX5huggy]

If the spare is a proper spare (ie not a space saver) don't worry too much.

It is not a legal requirement to have a spare, just highly inconvitent if you need one.

How about 1 swanky alloy http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=310106245831&cguid=ce655a2311c0a0aad262a762ffcd3f01 ! Note this may not be the correct size.

I bet its wheels are the same as something more common. Someone will know.

[tinkerbell84]

He has swapped it with the spare, but I think it is illegal to drive without a spare (??)
.

as many cars don't come with a spare, it can't be illegal ;)

[thescouselander]

As MX5huggy says, its not a legal requirement to have a spare. If you do have a spare however it needs to be in a legal condition - if its not then take it out of the car and leave it at home.

[big gay kirk]

iiirc... wheels off an almera will fit.... most cars makes tend to have fairly interchangable wheels.... all that reall matters is wheel height (not good putting a 15 incher on the same axle as a 12 incher!) widthbetween rims, and distance between the holes that fit on the studs....

[credit crunch victim]

there is a new one with a new tyre on ebay for 45-00 or they have a used one with good tyres for 38-00

[hewhoisnotintheknow]

goto a breakers yard

[custardy]

how bads the damage?

[slummymummyof3]

For new tyres, use blackcircles.com - we use pirrelli 6000's for our Tino. They are lots cheaper through black circles. Scrap yard would be a good starting point. Good money saving idea is for the woman to go in a nice pair of fitted jeans - they will usually get the part for you and fit it FOC (can't believe I have just admitted to that as a woman!!!!)

[Wig]

. If you do have a spare however it needs to be in a legal condition - if its not then take it out of the car and leave it at home.

Sorry, not true. How do you take a faulty spare to get fixed? The only wheels and tyres that matter are the ones in contact with the road.

[Wig]

You need to read off the tyre wall the tyre size, i.e. 175/65/14 or 175/65 R14

Then phone scrapyards say you need a 14 inch Nissan Almera wheel.

Just the wheel with no good tyre £5 - £10
Wheel with a good tyre £7 - £15 (£20 or above, they saw you coming)

[Rainbow Butterfly]

Thanks all. We are in North Norfolk if anyone can point us in the direction of a good scrapyard.

Just to clarify.. the last numbers printed on the tyre are the size of the wheel I need in inches?

Also.. an Almera wheel will definetely fit will it even though an Almera Tino is a completely different car?

Oh.. one last thing.. did I hear somewhere that the tread left on tyres is supposed to be equal? We now have 3 average ones and one new (spare) is that a big problem?

Thanks again. xx

[Rainbow Butterfly]

how bads the damage?

Its bent and cracked, past repair. xx

[MX5huggy]

Thanks all. We are in North Norfolk if anyone can point us in the direction of a good scrapyard.

Just to clarify.. the last numbers printed on the tyre are the size of the wheel I need in inches?

Also.. an Almera wheel will definetely fit will it even though an Almera Tino is a completely different car?

Oh.. one last thing.. did I hear somewhere that the tread left on tyres is supposed to be equal? We now have 3 average ones and one new (spare) is that a big problem?

Thanks again. xx

Yes the last number is the diameter of the wheel probably preceded by an R (eg R15) is a 15 inch wheel. But not all 15 inch wheels are the same different widths bolt hole ofsets etc.

Idealy tyres on the same axel (front or back) should have the same wear. So when you get your new wheel and new tyre put it on the front with the spare that you have on now and put the worn one as a spare.

The better tyres should be on the front (I expect someone will disagree)

[Wig]

The last number is the diameter of the wheel in inches, but we don't call it the diameter, we call it the "wheel size", it actually refers to the diameter of the hole in the middle of the tyre, not really to the wheel itself.

If they have a wheel (from any Nissan) of the right size, your next question should be what the "tyre size" is. If it is the same as yours, the chance that "it will do" has just increased.
Your tyre size 175/65/14 their tyre size 175/55/14 even though the central number is different it is the same size wheel. And just to complicate things, different tyre sizes can be fitted to the same wheel, so even a 185/55/14 could be the same size wheel. ***(see bottom of post)

Your wheel will have 4 or 5 bolt holes, check that the number of holes is correct.

So I would phone around saying,
"I need a 14 inch Nissan wheel with 4 stud holes"
Then ask what the tyre size fitted is..

I would say a wheel for a Nissan Almera has a good chance of fitting a Nissan Almera Tino.

So you ask how much, and check it has no damage, and if you are satisfied you go to the scrapyard to look at it.

Now the final test, is a bit complicated, you can do this by comparing it side by side with your old one to see any obvious differences, and/or fit it to the car to make sure it fits, and turn the front wheels left full lock to right full lock and checking it does not come into contact with any part of the underside/internal workings of the car. Really this is usually done after purchase and if there is a problem take it back for a refund. But if you want to do one final check on site before buying, you can measure the "offset". If the offset is correct, the wheel is pretty much going to fit your car with no problems..

How to measure offset?
You will need a ridged foot long ruler and a piece of wood, about 1 inch to 1.5 inches longer than the wheel size. Use your broken spare (hopefully not too broken). get a piece of wood which will sit comfortably across the rear of the wheel from metal-rim to metal-rim at the widest point, without it resting on the rubber tyre..

Now use the ruler to measure the vertical distance from the backside/inside of the centre of the wheel (where the bolt holes are) to the bottom edge or top edge of your piece of wood. ok so about 100-130mm.

When you get to the scrap yard do the same thing with their wheel to make sure it is the same, +/- 5mm

The "offset" is illustrated in the top picture below as "backspacing"

http://coolcarrims.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/windowslivewriterwheelcustomization-bc60customwheels-graph11.gif



Now then, I'm surprised the safety sheep haven't bombarded this thread with all sorts of
"never buy wheels from scrapyards"
"only 4 points between you and the road"
"you're advocating buying a wheel that may not have been from the same model of car!"

At the end of the day, if the wheel passes all the above tests it should be fine. but the decision is yours. You can get a brand new steel wheel from your local Nissan dealer, phone them up for a price.

But if you do get a scrap wheel replacement, just keep it as a spare, and use all your original 4 wheels for normal day to day driving.

Don't worry about the difference in tread depth between your wheels. When the other front wheel has worn and needs changing, pick out the wheel from the other 3 that has the least tread and change those 2 and fit them new to the front. moving your old-spare to the rear. Then change the rears as a pair when one of them needs changing. Not strictly important to do this, but it looks nicer on the car and makes future changing easier. You can if you want continue to change each tyre individually as and when needed.

*** If the tyre size on the wheel you buy is different, you must get it changed to the same tyre size you have on your original wheels. It is illegal (usually) to use 2 different tyre sizes on the same axle.

Also have a look on ebay

[Rainbow Butterfly]

Thanks all for this, its so helpful. Its gone a bit above my head though so I will sit hubby down at some point and get him to have a read. Thanks again! xx