275s or 255s in the rear
 

Hey there! I'm planning on getting some aftermarket wheels for my ES350, and I've decided to go with 20x9 inch wheels for the fronts and 20x10.5 inch wheels for the rears, as I've seen quite a few 7ES owners go with that staggered fitment. However, I'm not sure as to whether I should go for 255s or 275s for the rears, as 255s would result in a stretched look and I haven't heard of anyone fitting 275s on a 7ES. Offset for the rear wheels is +40, so let me know what y'all think?

y'all think those tires & wheels are way too big for the car

I'd go with fully stock.

I think no one who doesn’t know about cars will care, and everyone who is into cars will also know it’s front wheel drive and a staggered setup is not a FWD thing.

I think it might negatively impact the driving characteristics of the car. The cars suspension needs to be setup for this setup.

Right. In fact, from the standpoint of driving dynamics, the car actually might handle better if the fronts were wider than the rears. That's the setup Pontiac once used on the performance version of its FWD midsize sedan, the 2005 Grand Prix GXP V8 (twin of the Impala SS), and it was said to work surprisingly well. But OP sounds like he's going for looks more than function.

The stock ES screams beauty and elegance. Why ruin it with some street takeover vibes? The OP has the chance to think about this, retain great handling & great looks, and best of all save money.

Here's the best way to handle these tempting thoughts of such "upgrades":

"Whatever you're thinking... re-think it."
-Jason Statham

It's not a performance car by any means, so sacrificing a bit of function for looks seems like a fair trade to me. The stock 18x8 wheels are simply too small for this car.

> The stock 18x8 wheels are simply too small for this car.

I wish the huge wheel fad would just die personally. They ride like crap, waste fuel, make the car slower, require low profile tires that fail if you hit a pothole, and to my eyes just look silly especially on SUVs and family cars.

Porsches used to come with 16 inch wheels.

They might look good, but why not purchase RWD and get the real thing?

The extra unsprung mass at the front will slow your 0-60 acceleration times.
Extra unsprung mass will lengthen braking distances.
Your acceleration, braking and cornering will “skitter” over bumpy surfaces, because heavier wheel tire cannot oscillate with hi frequencies.
You will aquaplane in the wet.
The extra unsprung mass and ultra low profiles will diminish the smoothness of your ride.
Extra aerodynamic frontal surface area and wide tire friction will increase fuel consumption.

Yeah, honestly a base-model Genesis G80 might be a better match for what you want to do. It's fancier looking and has RWD.

With all due respect and not wanting to hurt anyone's feelings, but major modifications like this to a an ES begs the question of why get it in the first place? There are tons of cars out there, heck perhaps even most, that try to be sporty or brawny or whatever, from the factory. Changing the actual vehicle dynamics, perhaps even risking the safety of the car and its passengers, for things like oversize wheels/tires just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. People can do whatever with their own cars within the law, of course, but it seems easier to get the basic car right to begin with. LOL, it's like dating someone that doesn't really match what you're looking for so you try to "change them" - it rarely works out in the end.

Yep also as I always tell people on various forums, the stock wheels of most car, any car, particularly this car, and my car, are designed as part of the total front end energy absorbing crash package. Basically they absorb energy by engaging correctly with any impacts. If that aftermarket wheel is not designed correctly (news flash: it's not, they're almost always solid) it has a significantly higher chance at intruding into the cabin, basically chopping your legs off. don't do it. And in fact this is doubly so for the ES because remember that secret I am always talking about, it has to do with this.

Moral of the story: keep it stock in order to keep your legs!

And the muscle cars of the 60’s and 70’s managed to look bad ass with 14 inchers. Go figure.

To be fair to OP, what's changed on today's cars is the tall slab sides forced upon carmakers to meet crash regulations for cars getting T-boned by SUVs and pickup trucks. They've turned to giant wheel wells with blingy wheels to fill the visual void, because aesthetically they had no other choice.

Thats a contributing factor. Not the sole reason. Toyota has sold boatloads of Camrys and Corollas with 16 inch wheels.