im a noob when it comes to rims and tires, but im curious what actually determines if the wheel is high disk?

 

mainly the spoke design. for high disk wheels, the spokes will curve outward more, creating more space for the brake calipers

 

ahh icic.

 

so yes, that's the theory behind high disk, but in reality that doesn't really help much at all, coz' there is no definite "measure" on how much the high disk will help

 

Rom, its funny this was posted, I was thinking about this yesterday.

Is the disk fittiment also a measure of where on the wheel the center is located? ie, offset has more to do with the hub and backspacing, correct? But disk has more to do with where the center is located in relation to the width of the wheel?

Example: high disk, the venter is closer to the lip, (less lip action, more brake clearance)
low disk, its closer to the center, (more lip action, less or no brake clearance)

or is it a "give and take, measure of both" type deal

 

well i wasn't trying to make things complicated, but since you ask, i will just throw it out. the disk type is mainly just the design of the spoke. now does that mean it will clear all the brakes out there it's another issue though. davegs4 is a good example. his piaa wheels are high disk in the front already, however, it just so happened that it still hit the caliper VERY slightly. i think he said even a 3mm spacer will clear no problem

so what it means is that if he stays with the same high disk wheel, but instead of the offset he gets now, if he went with 3mm less offset, he would have a very high chance of clearing the brakes already. this is exactly when i said all these fitment thing is sooooo tough. high disk doesn't mean anything. lower offset doesn't mean anything. lip size doesn't mean anything (boy, nothing about the wheels mean anything at all, haha)

so to answer your question, using davegs4's example, i don't think the disk type would have much to do with where the center position of the wheel is regarding to the width. it's just how the spokes curve out.

another way to think about is, is use say the gs4 and the m3 as example (and sorry, but i will use hre again, haha). my front is high disk, 8.5 width, and 2 inch lip. my center is actually pretty far deep, and the spokes goes all the way out even a bit outside of the wheel if you look from the side) and then go all the way back in to clear the brakes. for my rear, it's 10, 3 inch lip, the center also starts very deep, but the spokes are almost like straight compared to the front, and thus the rather low / med disk setup

on the m3, let's say keep 8.5 front and 10 rear. for the front, even if you get a high disk, you can still get over 2 inch lip. the center starts very very deep (i tried to compared that with my hre), and again they curve all the way out and then go back in. same thing for the rear, they start out very deep but this time the spokes are pretty straight

i hope i didn't complicate things

 

Thanks Rom, the sad part is I understand exactly what you are saying LOL.

Wheel geeks unite

 

haha, good, at least i didn't waste the 10 mins there