Beautiful, nice spot!! And great to hear that it looks even better in person! Thanks for sharing

 

A nice evening with a pic of my Beauty and Beast!

 

She is gorgeous! I have an LE and I don’t know if I could have resisted if this color was available back when I got my LE. I think I would have left my LE and selected this trim.

 

I never get tired of seeing my 500...was walking from the store and was just all smitten over it, now i need to find sexier places to shoot pics to try and rival with DLPTony

 

LOL! You do just fine! We need to start a thread of our cars next to or near firehouses. I think that would be cool, especially if someone can include a Dalmatian!

 

Oh…and your car looks awesome!! Glad to see it stretch its legs.

 

Looks so good with the gun metal 350 wheels. Agggh, now you're making my decision harder. Keep the dark Enkeis or replace with these 350 wheels.

 

^^ you cant go wrong with either! But yeah, call me a tease lol

 

They are the perfect combination of Sport and Luxury.

The silver Enkeis (IMO) are very lux, but not too sporty. I personally gravitate towards the lux side, because I am driving a Lexus first and foremost. 😎 The blacked out wheels (Enkeis & BBS) give me big time sport and a little lux.

If you want a foot in each side, the 350 wheels are the way to go. 👍🏽

 

I am not sure why but to me these wheels (350) just look so amazing and just makes the car. I loved them on my RC, and IS 350 and one of the best OEM wheel design Lexus ever did (in my eyes). We all have our thing and preference so this is purely a personal thing and I know some people here think I am crazy to put 350 wheels on my 500 and I don't get offended by that. Some dislike GW, but I do....Some prefer the BBS wheels but personally I don't. If my 500 would have come with the darker Enkei, they may have stayed on based on the few pics I have seen but on my white car, the original Enkei wheels were just not dark enough. But on red, blue, black IS 500, the original Enkei wheels are/were perfect. I am not sure why Lexus changed wheels so early on in the 500 production, usually, they stick with wheels for a while but even the 350 came out with a whole whack of different package/combo, which is weird given how limited they are able to produce these cars given the shortage of parts. I would have thought they would have limited the options, not create new ones but maybe they know the IS is getting old and they need to spice it up a bit to keep it on people's radar?!

Regardless, I can't begin to tell you how much attention my 500 gets where I live. I know it is a small town (~85 000 people) but everywhere I go, the number of people that come and talk to me about it, stares when I go through intersections etc is ridiculous. Now it could be that it's because the car is also immaculate which also gets attention, or the personalized plates (lol). One thing for sure, after being put away all winter, this car simply makes me happier than words can express and Lexus couldn't have picked the best time to come out with this car. A few years ago, I may have not been ready to buy my "final car", in a few years from now, I may have not bought it on a retirement income, but in 2022, I was just 4 years away from retirement and was getting to ready to pick my "forever toy" and this couldn't have worked out better. A RWD luxury sedan with a naturally aspirated engine in a package that looks sexy as hell, I mean please take my money!! Keep in mind guys, in Canada, you can't buy an IS 350 or RC 350 in RWD....The RC F is about 15K more and not sure I wanted to retire with such a radical car, I don't want to be that guy that tries to look young when I won't be (lol)) so to me, the IS 500 is just a blessing.

 

Very nice summary. How bout I do this.

Option A. If I decide to drive the 500 in the winter, then I get silver Enkeis to go with the winter tires, and try to look more lux during the winter months. For the summer months, I retain the darker Enkeis with the OEM tires to portray a more sporty look.
Option B. If I decide to drive the 500 only in the summer and bit of the buffer months , then I get the gun metal 350 wheels to give me all around, more balanced portfolio ?

 

^^ Personally, either options are viable although I think option A will be a bit pricier and to find winter tires for the original size will be a bit on the pricy side and given that it is hard to keep a car clean/nice looking where we live in the winter, I am not sure its worth the money.

You and I have spoken about this before but for the benefit of those who weren't part of our conversation, if you have the ability to drive another vehicle from Dec-Mar, what I would do is put the 500 away, and not bother with a set of winter wheels/tires. I know that is an option that exist for you and that is the angle I would go.

Then:

Option 1: Keep the dark Enkei wheels (and replace the OEM tires with Michelin PS all season when the original wear out - and you can find an empty parking lot to accelerate the process (lol)) and drive these 9 months of the year
Option 2: Get the 350 OEM IS 350 wheels and get Michelin's AS tires now and find a buyer for your OEM 500 set up to offset the cost of the new wheels

Seeing the pics, your look really good with the darker Enkeis but I would have to see it in person but if your heart is really into the 350 wheels, I would say do it. I never once regretted going that route. Got them for ~450$ each and worth every penny. I haven't sold my 500 Enkei wheels yet. I was debating keeping them but I am ready to part with them now.

Keep us posted but again, if you don't can avoid driving the 500 in the Canadian crud, that is what I would do I know it is not practical for everyone and I get that, but it just preserve our vehicles in better change and that feeling after being apart for a few months makes the spring that much more special

 

@wthrman2 I really like your wheel setup. I loved the original bright Enkei's but only on certain colors, Iridium being my favorite. However, when Lexus decided to switch to dark Enkei's I was slightly disappointed. Until I saw them on the Ultra White and now I think they are perfect. The BBS never did it for me for some reason. Part of me wants to buy a set of 350s like yours because they really do look damn good. Wonder what the weight differences are between the two.

 

Can also swap the ‘23 black Enkies with someone who has the ‘22 silver Enkies or the 350 gunmetal wheels. Seems we’re in the minority for not preferring the ’23 Enkies (personally I don’t like dark rims on anything other than a lifted SUV/truck).

That or getting a solid repaint/powder coat from black to silver runs ~$1300 for the set. Might be cheaper or costlier in your neck of the woods.

 

IS500SM ... Thank for the compliment, i am with Jororo on not liking black wheels in general. I have to admit i never saw the dark Enkeis in person but they seem nice from the pics I have seen.

You cant go wrong with the 350 wheels and sure you can find someone who wants the Enkeis. I am gonna be dumping my silver Enkeis...i wasnt sure at first but i have no use for them and only take space