[ProdigyCustoms]

Mark, Fesler summed it up pretty well but may not have been clear enough for some. So at the risk of being a echo............

A few of the benefits are with a 3 piece wheels are:

Stonger and lighter shells. Not all, but most of the better 3 piece wheels outer shells are often made of stronger and lighter material like 6061-T6 aluminum, Lighter is better!

Forged centers: The centers of most 3 piece wheeels are forged meaning they are stronger instead of machined billet, and the centers can be lighter because more material can be removed and still be strong, Lighter is better!

Repair. When you get up into larger diameter wheels and lower profile tires, your exposing the rim to more potential for damage. Pot holes are hell on low profile large diamter wheel / tire combos. A 3 piece 6061-T6 shell will be a lot more resistant to bending and if it does get bent, you send it in have a shell changed and your rolling.

Wide wheels: 18" and 19" drums, the outer shell (drum), are made in sizes up to 10" width only, so if doing a 12" (2) piece welded wheel, instead of having a 2 piece welded wheel (RE: center welded into a drum), you end up with a sliced shell with a 2" band added to it, so you have a welded in center and 2 ring welds around the drum. Not the hot set up! My experiance trying to balacne multi welded 12" wheels with 335s has not been that the welded wheels do not balance as good as 3 piece wheels.

Cost: If your doing a 12" wheel, figure on a $400 to $500 per wheel fee for the added strap of widening material. And if you add the $1000 to the cost of the wheels, you will usually find yourself within striking difference of a racing quality 3 piece wheel. I am not into up selling products, but when I have a customer doing 12" wheels, I usually highly suggest speding the extra change for the 3 piece.

Changes: And as Fesler said, making changes to the wheels is simple. Most of us have short attention spans and style change. In a couple days I will post up some pictures of Michaels Monte Carlo SS we finished up last year at this time. We removed the centers from his wheels, striped the chrome from the centers for $75 and painted the centers magic black to match the top color on the car. After one year, we totally changed the look of the car for a net cost of a few hundred dollars.