Filed under: Aftermarket, Etc.
New York State moves to ban spinner wheels
Just as spinner wheels start to come off customized cars, the New York State Senate Transportation Committee has decided that it is time to ban them. It's difficult to understand why the bill is gaining traction with no known associated risks to drivers. It's not like cars are slamming into one another because awe-struck onlookers are failing to pay attention to intersections while the Escalade's 24's go round and round. This screams of hypocrisy. You can get hubcaps with advertisements on them. Talk about distracting! What about those naked lady mud flaps on all those big rigs? A couple of times I've seen pickup trucks with male body parts dangling from the rear bumper. I wonder how many people have rear-ended someone while trying to read the latest 'my kid beat up your honor roll student' bumper sticker. The list goes on.
SEMA is stepping up to defend the rights of customizers everywhere by lending its powerful voice in opposition to Bill 1640, which calls for fines of $750 for the the third violation and beyond. In the annals of automotive history, this bill could never be the reason for the demise of the spinner wheel. That decisive blow came when the first set of K-Mart spinner hubcaps when on sale.
[Source: Winding Road]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Evotec 8:02AM (2/17/2007)
oh no... all the bling bling is forbidden now.
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TURNERSVILLE 8:03AM (2/17/2007)
Living in CT you always get distracted looking at the Statue of Liberty on a NY plate. We we should ban everything that is not "safe" then we won't ever die. Thank God for government!!
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Howard Kerr 8:03AM (2/17/2007)
Of all the things auto-related that New York or any other state could/or should BAN...this is the lamest. I wonder if the politician(s) proposing this measure have any relatives in the tire/wheel business? This proposed ban, in typical American fashion, will cause a spike upward in sales of spinners.
How about REALLY cracking down on loud radios/car stereo sytems? Or just as important, how about a crackdown on car owners who seem to be the only ones deaf to the noise their alarm systems make at 2:45 in the morning. (If you sleep that soundly, get a remote chime for your car's alarm and put it in your bedroom.)
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Tina 8:05AM (2/17/2007)
I'm not surprised. New York State Socialism at its finest. If they could everyone would be forced to ride around in horse and buggy!
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Brent Schmidt 8:05AM (2/17/2007)
Aw man, don't go dissin my Victory Wheels Kevin Harvick Spinning Hubcaps like dat...
http://www.brentschmidt.com/gallery/albums/Scion/Edits/New-Rims.jpg
Gotsta Keep It Real.
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Ken 8:48AM (2/17/2007)
I swear I read about this bill being defeated in the SAN newsletter every year. Who keeps trying to put this ban on spinners forth and why does he or she hate them so much?
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Bill Hancock 8:58AM (2/17/2007)
$127 for the K mart spinner hubcaps...jeses i can get some cheaper ones for like $30 at meijer
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JC3 10:02AM (2/17/2007)
I suspect the "spinners" betray the actual speed of the car which makes it difficult for other motorists to gauge their own responses(Especially ones who are unfamiliar with spinners)in situations such as roundabouts etc.
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Rick Lyon 10:24AM (2/17/2007)
'went on sale' at Kmart, who edits these articles?
So no bling bling in the ghetto anymore? Are they going to ban chains, diamond rings and fur coats next? I mean really, this is actually quite ludicrous and slightly, if not racist, economical class prejudice.
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jgp 10:31AM (2/17/2007)
Spinners are annoying as hell, but banning them is wrong.
Then again, this is New York, where they ban everything. They've banned smoking, they've illegally banned trans fats, etc. Why don't they just get it over with and ban breathing?
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G 10:38AM (2/17/2007)
This sounds like racism perpetrated by the yankee rednecks up there. Maybe we can enlist those English car dudes to investigate.
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Roger 10:39AM (2/17/2007)
Could it be that just maybe the spinners are throwing off the radar guns and they don't want to tell us about it because then everyone in the country might just want to have a set????
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Guy 12:03PM (2/17/2007)
Test
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MikeW 12:34PM (2/17/2007)
What about the Rolls Royce Phantom?
Doesn't the center cap stay stationary when the wheel rotates?
What about trucks and buses that have that counter that tries to stay still (still points downward and counts revolutions)
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Joe 12:41PM (2/17/2007)
Is anyone suprised that this is coming from the state that is attempting to ban iPods and Cell phone use in crosswalks or that it involves the city that banned Trans-fats, cell phones while driving, smoking, etc. etc. I mean when did government become the protection of me FROM me?
Uphold the law, teach my kids, control foreign policy, tax us all non-exempt 15% tax. save us man hours for taxing and let us be as productive as possible. DON'T... DON'T tell me where i can eat, sleep, drink, listen to music, slowly die from poor habits, or how I can express myself....
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James 12:46PM (2/17/2007)
Racism what are you fuckin crazy? I see white guys with those things on their cars too so no it isn't racism. Nice try wannabe jesse jackson. In fact not long ago I saw some on a white guy's mustang while they were in the car in the mall parking lot looking for parking. First class white guys like me don't buy spinners or wear "bling". When you hit a dip in the road with those spinners on your wheels are gonna be fucked, maybe even your suspension too.
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Thomas Perry 1:01PM (2/17/2007)
Just to add a note, it may have something to do with the increasing of unsprung weight on the rims that confuses the car's computer systems.
In addition, cars do not have brake lights on the sides. You have no visible signs of a car is mobile or stopped unless you can watch motion for an extended time of several seconds. The moving rims betray that ability to detect motion by requiring additional time to determine other measures. Such as, is the car moving against the background. What happens when a bus is turning behind it to also betray those motions.
It is the best we can do right now outside of requiring brake lights on the sides of cars.
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Thomas Perry 1:06PM (2/17/2007)
Just to add a note, it may have something to do with the increasing of unsprung weight on the rims that confuses the car's computer systems.
In addition, cars do not have brake lights on the sides. You have no visible signs of a car is mobile or stopped unless you can watch motion for an extended time of several seconds. The moving rims betray that ability to detect motion by requiring additional time to determine other measures. Such as, is the car moving against the background. What happens when a bus is turning behind it to also betray those motions.
It is the best we can do right now outside of requiring brake lights on the sides of cars.
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Carguy 1:17PM (2/17/2007)
All of us at the NY police racial profiling unit oppose this measure as it is yet one more law that will make our job considerably more difficult. We at the RPU encourage all ethnic tagging such as spinners, dubs, metallic purple paint and all pimp-tasitic variations thereof. If this law passes the RPU will be asking for a significant budget increase to insure the continued effectiveness of our work.
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Ken 1:18PM (2/17/2007)
Do you honestly rely on the motion of the wheels to determine motion of a 1.5 ton vehicle? Do you find yourself throw off by the baby-moon hubcaps that were popular in the past? When I see a vehicle I look at how it's motion relates to the background. I'd like to believe I have better than average depth perception but the truth is I have common sense and tend to use it while I drive. A ban on spinners because they confuse some is just stupid. Maybe if there was an epedemic of people running off the road and getting in accidents because of them I could understand this but the truth is the spinning wheels tend to cause you to think a stopped vehicle is still moving so you become more cautious of them.
And there is no chance of a spinning wheel throwing off radar, if that were the case helicoptors would appear as supersonic jets on radar, that's just not how radar works.
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