Black Rhino Rumble in bronze. Adding lightness... is it the best mod you can install?
Welcome to this week's #modmonday! This week we are looking at my newest upgrade to the daily driven Forester, @blackrhinowheels Rumble 15x7 Et15! These replace the very loved and enjoyed Method Mr502s of the same specs. Why a new wheel setup in the same specs...? Read on to find out why!
Details!
Specs for those searching! 15x7 5x100 et 15.
Time for a change and here it is. Simple design but sometimes that is all you need.
After purchasing a great set of aftermarket wheels and enjoying the new found performance and style.... Why would I go about changing them again? That is actually a really easy question to answer and it is weight. While my Methods look great and perform in all the areas I need them to, they also tip the scales at 20 pounds. Which for a smaller vehicle like my Forester is quite noticeable especially when you add much larger tires to complete your lifted look. So while I was looking through many wheels for a lighter option I just happened to stumble upon the Black Rhino Rumble wheels, but for some reason I was under the impression that they were just as heavy as my outgoing wheels but I was wrong as they weigh in at 14 pounds. Which is a huge improvement from the 20 pound Methods.
You will be missed Methods, it was a good run.
I almost went with gold but I think bronze was the right choice for the darker Regal Blue pearl.
Immediately after installing my old tire setup I noted just how much slower the car was off the line and how much stiffer the ride is... especially when I went back and forth from my oem wheels with factory sized snow tires installed. Obviously accelerating more weight takes more force, so heavier wheels take that much more power to turn. The easiest explanation to me is thinking of holding a hand 2 pound weight in an outstretched arm straight in front of you and how hard it is to keep level while jumping up and down. Now switch that to a five pound weight, you will see just how much further it drops and how much harder you work to keep it level. This force is more or less what your suspension and chassis is experiencing over bumps and uneven terrain, the more weight the the more force and the less controlled the ride quality is.
They look pretty fitting with a nice dab of snow on them!
The Black Rhino Rumble wheels dropped the weight noted above and gave me a new look for the Forester while keeping a few of the things I liked so much with the outgoing Methods. The size and offset are the same which gives the proper stance and look that I love so much on the Forester. Another feature I liked about the Methods were the small openings between the spokes which allow air to flow for cooling but aren't too large to allow large amounts of snow, ice, mud etc in that can cause tire imbalances when on or off the road. On the other end of the spectrum these wheels have two large differences, the first being the less typical bronze color versus the typical light silver and the other is the face design. The Methods face is also most inline with the side wall of the tread while the Rumbles have a recessed face that gives it a bit of depth and a little lip. I've never owned wheels with a face design like this or non monochrome coloring, so why not give it a try!
Getting throw the winter like a champ!
Nothing like new wheels to resuscitate your photography hobby.
With all this text, how do I like them now that they are installed? Quite a bit, I think it gives the Forester a new different look which is a fun change. I've noticed my build has certainly changed throughout the years and this is just a next evolution to it. The biggest win will still go to the lower weight, the Forester handles and rides so much better and that was my biggest end goal, that and tested these differences for you. My only complaint, if it can be a complaint, is the online images of the Rumbles in bronze give it a much lighter golden look that can be witnessed in the right light, which is likely due to the high amount of flake in the paint. I have noticed they like to change tones and colors when I photograph, but they could have done a better job of representing the color even if it needed to be photoshopped to look as it does to the human eye.