What's with all these new cars and their blacked-out wheels?

Black wheels can be a stylish addition to any or most cars. Owners looking to save a quick buck in place of buying new wheels could opt to paint the wheels for a new look, and manufacturers seem to be on that trend as well. 

A good portion of mildly updated cars in the Philippines seem to include blacked-out wheels as a selling feature along with a bevy of other additions. Not only that, but we’re also seeing totally new models out with black wheels, but they’re often sportier variants in the lineup. So are there more reasons as to why we see a lot of black on wheels now? Well, there are a few reasons we can infer and back up. 

The first and foremost reason is mostly on the looks side of things. We guess some people are just tired of the old silver song and dance from brands, either that or the dual-tone wheels just aren’t cutting it. The thing is, it depends on the customer on what they would like for their car. Some cars also look better with blacked wheels. As mentioned, sportier trims can be seen with black alloy wheels for a sleeker look. 

It’s all personal preference at the end of the day. Heck, there are some people that have wheels in white, black, bronze, gold, gray, or even a wilder hue like teal, green, yellow, or even pink. Black seems to be a very safe color to customize wheels with. Black is perhaps the most neutral of these colors, and they often give the car’s wheels a smaller look. It also helps that black hides stains relatively well compared to bright silver or even two-tone wheels. To top it all off, it certainly gives the car a sleeker appearance overall blending in with the black of the tires. 

Cars like the Toyota Vios are commonly seen with silver wheels or hub caps with black steelies on. While having black wheels that are made out of steel isn’t really something to shout about, a top of the variant like the Toyota Vios GR-S wears, which wears its black loud and proud along with a bunch of other enhancements to really set itself apart from the other variants. Also, the wheels are nothing like we’ve seen before in the Vios lineup, and look exclusive to the variant. 

There are also other models like the Nissan Navara and the Ford Ranger that both use black to emphasize sporting intent with variants. Some of the more affordable to mid-range offerings in the lineup come with silver or two-tone wheels, but the extra special ones come with black. Again, more sporting intent, and setting itself apart from the rest of the crowd. 

Companies could spray on a new coat of paint on a car’s wheels to help it sell, or spec out a car from the factory to incite a little more interest. Sometimes, you will encounter new old stock with the old wheels just simply painted over. Other times, you will receive a totally new wheel design, and that’s way better than just a coat of paint over the top of a standard wheel design. 

If you remember the Nissan Terra prior to its next-generation update, you will notice that there was a small launch for the updated VL variant. In place of the chrome trim, you got black, and in place of the two-tone wheels, the silver was seemingly painted over. Other than that, there were no added features and to top it all off, the launch of the new Terra was on the horizon. We speculate the move was to liquidate some of the older VL variants prior to the launch of the all-new Terra, but with no definitive proof from Nissan on our end, it seems like a bit of an informed guess at this point. 

Alright, we know manufacturers and brands all have to meet quotas and sales figures in order for a product to be deemed successful. Product lineup updates are also big things because they produce a decent amount of noise and that certainly helps to get the word out. Though a new variant with a set of blacked-out wheels and trim is classified as a minor update, it could be enough to make people buy a car. 

In the brand’s point of view, this could be a sign that they’re liquidating a bunch of old stocks, or they got a new trim specifically to keep people interested. Either way, an old model with a new coat of paint doesn’t exactly warrant huge amounts of excitement, unless it’s an actual performance model. 

You could probably trace back blacked-out wheels back to the early 2000s or 2010s. Manufacturers began going crazy for the sleek look back in the day. Plus a bunch of these cars looked amazing when paired with a contrasting color like white, or a sporty color like red. Luxury and premium brands also specced their cars out with black-colored wheels to achieve a sleek look, and the trend has since stuck. Now even people in the aftermarket have grown to like the look of black wheels on cars. It provides a nice contrast especially if your car has colored brake rotors and bright body colors. Though, something can also be said about an all-black setup. It looks very under-the-radar, and there are quite a few people that like that kind of look as well.