walleyeman

I picked up an Mystic Gold 03 LS430 recently. The owner had the factory wheels on her with Blizzak snow tires. This was not a big deal to me as I normally run a winter tire about 3-4 months a year on all my cars, so rather than purchasing a set of winter tires and wheels, I will purchase summer tires and wheels.

In searching, and investigating, I narrowed it down to staying with the factory 17" size. I drive about 40,000 miles per year and tread life is very important to me. I also note that there are very few 18"+ with high tread wear. They also appear to be much more expensive.

I purchased a set of 17" GS430 wheels off CL to use for summer and intended to mount a set of Conti's on them. My local Discount Tire installer notified me that the calipers hit the wheels on these and we could not use them without spacers. I had not had good luck with spacers (from a long ago nightmare), so this meant the these would have to be sold and find a new set. NBD as I paid $375 for them but they looked horrible with curb rash on every one. I cleaned them up to almost perfect so I think I can at least get most of my money back.

The manager at DT told me that there are very few aftermarket wheels in 17" size that will clear these calipers. He suggested these : http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/fin...rw=&vid=008063 but they only had two in stock and ordered two more. On the downside-besides the appearance, I will need different lug nuts, and have to keep a special narrow socket in the car in case of a flat. Additionally, I will have to keep a set of factory lug nuts in the car-also in case of a flat.

Now, I found a set of factory LS430 wheels (painted) with Bridgestone tires. The owner claims that these were take offs and have almost no miles on them. He is asking $850. The pictures look very good.

So, should I go with aftermarket wheels and put up with idiosyncrasies, or stay with a factory wheel and know that they were designed for the car?

ancdmd

Those wheels are hideous. There are other options out there, you can start by checking tirerack.com and inputting your car and see the selection of wheels that come up. There's a clean five-spoke wheel that's very affordable and quite popular for the LS but I can't remember the brand, if you search on here it'll probably come up since this topic has been discussed quite a bit before.

LS430FL

I can offer a suggestion on the 430 wheels that you said are $850. I sold my set of OEM 18" five spoke alloys for $640 plus shipping. I think 850 might be a little much especially if you don't use them year round. But I do agree with ancdmd. I am not in favor of putting those wheels from discount tire on your car. There are so many other options. Yes the 430 does have huge calipers but try inputting the numbers in google and see what you come up with. I am sure you will find some more attractive options.

Lavrishevo

iTrader: (1)

Something like this is all you would need to make the GS wheels work. Hub centric spacers really should not give you any problems. I am not sure what you used in the past but I used spacers for my SC430 wheels and never had any issues. You just need them for the front. The rears should clear just fine. I mean if you like the GS wheels this would be the best way to go.

http://compare.ebay.com/like/271033326635?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar
They make cheaper ones but the Ichiba are worth the few extra dollars.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/OEM-HUB-CENTRIC-PNP-15MM-WHEEL-SPACER-ADAPTERS-5X114-3-CB-60-1MM-12X1-5-/130841031372?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Model%3ALS430&hash=item1e76bbb2cc&vxp=mtr