'UnityEngine.Component' to 'UnityEngine.WheelCollider' error

Unity Engine
1

I have a cube object named car and four cylinders attached to the car object as wheels. The cylinders are children of the car. Each cylinder has a wheel collider attached to it. I want to access WheelCollider component of these cylinders for which I have the following code:

void Update()
    {
        steer = Input.GetAxis("Horizontal") * maxSteer;

        GetCollider(0).steerAngle = steer;
        GetCollider(1).steerAngle = steer;
    }
WheelCollider GetCollider(int n){
    return wheels[n].gameObject.GetComponent("WheelCollider") ;
    }

This throws the following error:
Cannot implicitly convert type ‘UnityEngine.Component’ to ‘UnityEngine.WheelCollider’. An explicit conversion exists (are you missing a cast?)
What am I missing here. Thanks in advance.

2

Use the generic version of GetComponent<M_Script>(); or explicitly cast it.

I could explain why you can’t directly use it (implicit cast) but it is a very basic “feature” (type safety) of the language (C#) which I would urge you to research about.

(subjective opinion) Overall it is worth it to learn the basics of the language before diving into Unity or follow a comprehensive guide (would suggest books) that teach C# or material that teach C# in the context of Unity for beginners.

Bonus point, in general from performance perspective it is better to cache references instead of using GetComponent in every frame.