How do I maintain my wheels?
Click here to download our split-rim maintenance PDF
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Terminology:
Dishes / Lips / Front Half - Outer part of the front of a wheel. Usually polished on split rims and powder coated/painted on a single piece wheel.
Barrels / Rear Half - Rear or back part of the wheel whether a split rim or single piece wheel.
Monoblock - Single piece wheel.
3pc or 2pc - 3-piece or 2-piece split rim.
Stepped Dish / Lip - A dish with a taper or slanted edge halfway up / a dish that the tyre would fit on from the front / the front of the wheels facing upwards when fitting a tyre.
Reverse or Flat Dish / Lip - Quite literally a flat dish with no step or taper half way up / the tyre would need to fit on from the rear of the wheel with the front of the wheel facing down.
Powder Coating - A coating three times more durable than paint, but which can only be performed on metal and not plastics, i.e. Plastic Centre Caps cannot be powder coated.
Slant Lip / Dish - Looks the same as a double stepped dish but usually the terminology used alongside classic JDM or European wheels of the 1980s.
Bubble Lip / Dish - Similar to a step lip / dish, but uses a curved or rounded step instead a straight edge to step the dish. Common on vintage German wheels like BBS Magnesium Split Rims of the 1980s.
Sand Blasting - Fine sand media is used to remove corrosion and prep the alloy ready for paint. Air is used as the propulsion.
Aqua Blasting - Uses ceramic media or aluminium beads alongside water to prep or finish the metal parts. Leaves a shiny finish rather than a matte finish left by sandblasting. It also closes up the pores of the casting, leaving it less prone to corrosion or grease getting inside the casting.
Polishing - A finish most often used on aluminium dishes / lips or centres to leave them looking as close to chrome as possible. It will need to be maintained with an aluminium polish to keep the shine and temporarily seal up the aluminium itself.
Hardware - Wheel bolts and nuts to secure the dishes / lips / barrels / centres together.
Silicone - Used to seal the gap between the lip / centre / barrel to ensure an air tight area.
Cast - When molten aluminium alloy is used with a mould.
Billet - When a centre is machined out of a solid block of aluminium.
How can I tell if my dishes are anodised?
If they are original dishes / lips from Work, SSR, Enkei or 99% of another Japanese Wheel brand, they are most likely clear anodised over polished. If you have never had to polish your dishes / lips but only clean them with soapy water and they stay looking mirror polished, they are either clear anodised over polished aluminium or stainless steel dishes.
How can I tell if my wheels are genuine split rims or not?
When you see wheels day in day out, you can tell in a few seconds whether they are genuine split rims or not. These are some giveaways to help you to determine:
If there is a small gap, i.e. approx 0.1 - 0.5mm between the centre and dish / lip or barrel and centre, this could mean they are split rims.
If the hardware is plastic, they are fake split rims.
If the dishes are a diamond cut but they still have split rim bolts going through the lips, they are fake split rims.
If they are brand new and under £500.00, they are very likely to be fake split rims. Most 15” upwards brand new split rims start at £1500.00 per set.
If the dishes are secured by a nut and bolt, they are most likely split rims - but not always.
If they are welded around the lip and barrel, they are still a 2 or 3 piece, but a 2-piece or 3-piece welded split rim.
My split rims are welded around the lip and barrel. Can this be split on a lathe?
Yes, we can do this for you. This is mostly seen in vintage Japanese wheels pre-2000, but is occasionally seen in more recent times. It is a way of strengthening the wheels whilst using less hardware to enable an incredibly strong, lightweight wheel.
How much are dishes for my wheels?
All you need to do is work out what size dish you need and then head over to our dish / lips chart for pricing.
How can I measure up which dishes I need?
By measuring from where the dish would sit on the centre, you can measure from that point to where you would like the outer edge of the lip to sit. Once you have that measurement in inches, you would need to minus 0.5” inches for the current measurement. The reason you minus 0.5” inches is to take into consideration the additional material on the lip used for supporting the tyre.
How do I measure my wheel correctly?
For the correct diameter, measure directly across the middle of the wheels from one side to the other, then minus 1” inch. You will then have the correct diameter. You may need to round up or down to the closest inch, but it will only be by a fraction of an inch. For the width, measure from the tyre bead to the other tyre bead, also known as the inner edge of the lip and barrel. This will give you the correct width. Wheels are always measured in inches, apart from a few very rare metric alloys made in the past.
