Car Wheels for Dummies

26ers in real life

You gotta love people who take on freelance assignments when they have abso-friggin'-lutely no idea what the topic's about. You have to love them if they do in-depth research, work their freelancing butts off and put out quality work that knowledgeable people can rely on to be accurate –freelancers, say, like Mary Roach. At the opposite end of the freelance spectrum (where we at the Antisocial Network find our awardees) is the freelancer who scribbles down something butt-stupid and then pretends to have researched the topic. A case in point? eHow.com's Khalidah Tunkara, who produces content of the quality of "Vehicles That Fit 26-Inch Rims."¹

You think Khalidah knew enough about cars to write content on the subject? We didn't, and we were right: for the evidence just check out her introduction:

"Rims are usually used to protect the inner covering of a tire's main base. Often, to make a car appear large or more exotic, car owners may install large rims with 26-inch wheel-bases to the tires. These type of rims are often expensive and require kits to allow the car to drive properly. Before applying a 26-inch rim to your automobile, it is recommended to check to see if your tires are compatible and that the car can withstand the rims' extra large stance."

Ummmmm... where to start, where to start... Well, for starters: Rims don't "protect the inner covering of a tire's main base" : rims are friggin' wheels, you moron! People don't use 26-inch rims to "make a car appear large or more exotic"; they use them because they're fashionable. Before you say "owners may install large rims with 26-inch wheel-bases to the tires" you should probably know that wheelbase (one word) is the distance between the front and rear axles and has jack to do with tires! And you don't "install... rims... to the tires"; it's the other way around! Tunkara then went on to list three – exactly three! – vehicles that can take 26-inch rims: the Tahoe, the F150 (which she called the "F-150") and the Navigator (note that the article title image here is of a Camaro...). According to Khalidah,

"The size of [the F150] requires large rims, as the actual tires measure at least 32 inches."

Ummm. Yeah. Original equipment (OE) for most F150s is 17-inch rims; some packages come with 18-inch wheels.

What Tunkara never got around to pointing out is that, if you want to put oversize rims on your car, you need to buy low-profile tires (and drive like a Q-tip); in some cases you'll have to monkey with the suspension to lift the car. Given that 26-inch wheels have a diameter at least nine (and probably 11) inches greater than OE, the vehicle had better be big. Oh, and no matter what, it'll look stupid.

Tunkara obviously knew nothing about cars, wheels, tires, or anything automotive, yet she took this assignment. Know what that makes her? Right: our Dumbass of the Day!

¹ The original has been deleted by Leaf Group, but can still be accessed using the Wayback machine at archive.org. Its URL was    ehow.com/list_7555461_vehicles-fit-26inch-rims.html

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