Sittin' on Chrome
By Matt Wood in Miscellaneous on Sep 15, 2005 6:17PM
Anyone with even a passing interest in hip-hop secretly wishes they could roll on dubs. C'mon, admit it: you saw that Dr. Dre video with the low riders and their hundred spoke gold rims and you said, "Damn those would look sweet on my Corolla." But you probably talked yourself out of it because you thought they would be too expensive, or that you wouldn't know where to buy them, or more likely, you worried about what it would do to your social standing. But fear not. Chicagoist is here to do the research and accept the social ridicule for you.
Parking on the street in Chicago is no joke, and if you have to do it long term chances are everything not welded to your car will get stolen eventually. Chicagoist has already replaced license plates and radio antennae, but recently the neighborhood kleptos stole our wheel covers too. Seeing this as a grand opportunity to fulfill our fantasy of sittin' on chrome, we went shopping for a whole new set of wheels at Arandas Tires and Rims on 1511 N. Ashland, just south of North Avenue (that's the one with the neon palm trees, in case you're wondering). Arandas is a one-stop rim shop; their showroom sits on top of a garage where you can get your chrome on the same day. The showroom is every suburban teenage boy's wet dream, with racks of 20-inch SUV rims and hundred spoke spinners stacked six high. The most impressive sight was the 26-inch deep dish rims painted to look like a Wilson basketball. The wheels are surprisingly affordable, considering that we only see Snoop Dogg and NBA players roll like that. Some of the smaller ones are priced less than $200 each, including tires.
Chicagoist picked up a set of 17-inch Helo Strykers (sadly, dubs don't fit on our K-car) and had them installed the next day. The guys at the shop were even nice enough to paint the brake calipers and wheel assemblies that show through the spokes the same color as our car so we can floss in style. It was a conservative choice because we still have a feeble grasp on our self-respect, but we did it for you, Fair Reader. Now go forth, and pimp thy ride.