Yes

put the new works on today. absolutely zero wobble or vibration. and they reminded my why i hate run flats so much. the ride is much smoother than i remembered.

GammaLex

New Works=New Pics

KaiserSea1

The low profile tires are a big factor. For those of you who think your ride is smooth on 20" wheels that have 2" of rubber and air, you don't know what your missing with a taller michellin tire. The male equivalent of high heels. To each his own. I am happier with a ride that compares to my LS and better than my CTS-V. Lexus engineers designed the car to run on a certain tire wheel combo. If you think you can change the dynamics of a car with a narrow, stiffer tire, and oversized wheels, and keep the same riide you are kidding yourself.

Yes

i posted a couple in my "boxes" thread.

Yes

Lexus engineers also put runflats on my car. Having ridden on them for the past several months waiting for my new wheels, I can say with 100% certainty that the ride is infinitely smoother on 20" wheels with non-runflat tires. It's night and day better.

You're probably right to discourage people from buying inexpensive 20" wheels. But a good JDM wheel is an entirely different experience.

scdroptop

iTrader: (1)

Let's see your list of wheels that you recommend, Jason...JDM Japanese Domestic Market. So all expensive JDM wheels will not wobble in your opinion? You've been dissing inexpensive wheels for years, now let's hear your expertise on recommendations since you've owned a couple of brands on your current silver SC and maybe others. I'm curious as to what brands you recommend. Let's hear it...

Yes

I've had Works both times, so I can only recommend those from personal experience. From word of mouth, I'd say Autocouture, Rays and Wald are also high quality. I'm sure other members have experience with more brands. So they can probably chime in.

scdroptop

iTrader: (1)

How about Vossen or Cordon?

Giovanni? BBS? Enkei? Konig? iForged? Foose?

Lorinser? Petrol? TSW? Vertini? BBS?

On the JDM are they better for our cars because we have Japanese cars?

Yes

You'd have to ask members who have them. They're more of a mid-level wheel price wise. So you may not run into the vibration issues you have with less expensive wheels.

The reason JDM wheels are so good is that they have more precise (and expensive) machinery that most wheel manufacturers outside of Japan simply don't have. As a result, their wheels are much more precise. Whereas a wheel made in China is going to have small variations that cause vibrations.

grabber2

by looking at the picture, did you use 245/45/18 tire?

Brian@Vossen

Honestly with a Lexus the suspension work is so good and the cars in many cases already rides on low profile so the difference isn't as bad as you would think.

scdroptop

iTrader: (1)

Took my wobbling SC to Discount Tire yesterday to get a balance and air check (TPMS was on during first major temp drop here in Dallas) and spent a ton of time with their master technician and their road force balance machine.

I've bought about five sets of brand new wheels and tires that this one shop has faithfully put on for me and serviced on several cars over the past six years I've lived close to it. I usually buy the wheels on eBay or online and ship directly to them. Wheels are always 100% new and SUPPOSED to be true, non-altered, etc right out of the box. A very popular, long standing high 100% feedback seller on eBay has sold me these current and several of my older wheels. I have hub centric rings, wheels are center force and road force balanced with weight tape on the inside center of the wheel. Wheels have never been curbed and tires are brand new with less than 2k miles on them...going on two years now in Nov. Pressure (until today) was perfect. Steering wheel dances like Footloose.

History on me and my cars: I've been adding +1 or +2 aftermarket wheels on cars since the early 90's with appx 20 years of experience in wheels/tires on sports cars. It's not my first rodeo...I've owned about 30 cars in my life and most of them I have done wheel/tire swaps. I didn't START having wobblers until the 2000's when I graduated to 19" and 20" and 22"s on my SUV's. 18's and lower I never had this problem...had many "rougher" cars and older too like a 1988 rx-7 with 120k miles on it with 18" Konig wheels, etc etc. One of the most frustrating wobblers have been my two SC430's with 20" brand new wheels/tires and my 2003 FX35 with factory OEM 20" sport wheels that wobbled like crazy since day one. I never got those right in fact and sold that SUV with the wobblers!

Driving conditions...this may be key here: I travel over two sets of pretty rough railroad tracks (I believe Huy33 does as well) going 45mph (I slow down as much as I can but not every time) where I live and I have the past 4-5 cars that I've owned with wobbling problems.

I'm wobbling especially bad between 45-60mph especially first thing in the AM regardless of temp. Gets better and smoother above or below that mph and as the tires warm up. I've learned to just live with them as I have had wobblers before.

Some members on here have me thinking that the cost or MFG of the wheel is causing the wobbling. I set off to prove that theory wrong due to the fact that SO MANY other people buy wheels in this price range or lower and never have wobbling problems. What else could it be???? I sought out to find the answer....

Wheels off...1/2 an ounce off on one tire in the front, 3/4 on one in the rear. They immediately notce that several wheels have small dents on the inner side of the lip but tires/weights in balance check and shouldn't cause the vibration I am having. Test drive: immediate wobbling! Road force: No adjustment needed.

Rear tires: showing "cupping" bad enough to have the store replace a tire for free (this is why I love Discount Tire) and the tire is coming next week.

Both master tech and shop manager say that wheel design, hub centricity, weight and nature of the vehicle vs nature of the wheel/tire and purpose have a lot to do with it. I ask about the railroad tracks perhaps causing the dents (I had them notice dents on my last SC430's brand new wheels too) and they said a good jarring and RR tracks could certainly cause those dents with my low profile tires not giving much protection to them and causing also the tires to slip a little around the rim and easily get out of balance....but again I wasn't off a LOT.

They commented on my Megans and asked if I wobbled before-I said absolutely. I then asked about the price point of my wheels versus expensive rims and they told me they get expensive $4k-$5k and up rims in all the time that are bent, wobble, etc. Driving conditions and driver error cause most of those, but some expensive rims are not made as good as you think they are. Keep in mind I don't think Discount Tire sells too many expensive rims so I don't consider them an expert on the wheel quality side, but I do certainly for their experience in servicing, mounting and balancing them...the location bears customers with MBZ, BMW, RR, Lexus, Porsche etc all day long, so they do see some high end stuff quite a bit.

He suggested running a little lower PSI in the tires and perhaps trying another wheel. I asked about the JDM versus one size fits all wheel like I have with a hub centric ring and they said that could certainly have something to do with it and I also asked him about wheel weight and he agreed that could as well. Also mentioned that the larger the wheel (away from the hub) the more likely it will wobble based on center.

I learned a lot, but unfortunately I still live with the intermittent wobble from 45-60mph and on start up. I've lived with it on many cars, with many wheels and perhaps it's the RR tracks causing slight dents on the rims on the inside or jarring the tire off center or the "cheap wheels" not being a perfect fit...I don't know. All I know is there is a time that you have to either shut up and live with it, or consider ditching them and trying something else. I'm not there yet!

Any thoughts? I may try another hub centric ring from the MFG, ADR and see if that does anything.

Yes

You could also have your control arm bushings checked, along with tie in rods and ball joints.

scdroptop

iTrader: (1)

Do you think Lexus will say my mods have voided my CPO warranty because of the coilover, wheels, etc?

KaiserSea1

Sorry not an answer, just an opinion. I used to think about my wobble all the time. I test drove an 2009 with high end aftermarket wheels. No wobble but felt jumpy. I have 08 oems with michelins. So smooth, so good in rain, I love my car more than ever. Consider factory wheels.