I love the way the 5 spoke 18's look on the newer 430's.... anyone tried them with the air suspension on the ultra? Impresions/Thoughts? Thanks!

 

I have them on my 2004 Ultra. Mine was sitting in the showroom with the stock 17" wheels and I negotiated the 18" 2005 wheels into the deal. I bought their last 2004 so they were eager to deal. They look great with the Flint Mica color.

Bruce

 

I have a 2005 ultra that came standard with the 18" wheels.. The ride is very very smooth compared to my sc430

 

pm digitalb. he has the 18s on his '01 ultra. I have 18s as well, but no air suspension, sport tuned instead. great ride. much of an improvement over stock 17s. can recommend for handling improvement if that's a goal...and of course a better look.

 

and if you want to see how they look, here's my '01 LS with 18s.

 

Thanks for the pic - 18's just look right on this big car.... a little better handling is what I'm after, but the ride is so smooth now that I'm afraid of screwing it up. I think I might wait until the rubber on the 17's is used up and then switch to 18's.

thx, dave

 

You won't loose the smooth ride as much. You have air suspension, so it won't be as noticable. It will just feel more planted and stable. That's all. The only thing is the tires for 18s. 245/45/18 a/s tires all have a nice price tag. I ended up with ContiExtremeContact and don't regret the purchase. They are great. Plus they supposed to be great in snow too.

 

dude dont waste your time. get the 18s now. I chose not to get the lexus brand because they are expensive. the best price I was quoted was from lexus-parts.com . anyway the ride is 95% as good with the air suspension and much less floaty at highway speeds. since the air suspension automatically lowers the car at higher speeds it feels [but doesnt sound] like a freight train. so powerful and fast yet comfy and very quiet with the right tires. also the wheels I got [asa st-3 from tire rack 199 each] are 8 inches wide which look better to my eyes than the narrower 18 inch wheels from lexus.

 

another. by the way, I dont get why others dont see how shiny the wax job is on this car. I am not bragging or looking for compliments but to me you can see a lot of reflectivity in the paint. and yeah it would look better in pictures with silver center caps but they werent available and besides I lie to myself and say the black matches the interior. one more thing on price. go to sears and quote the tire rack price and sears policy is to beat it by 10%. they ended up costing me a little over 169 each but I also paid for the road hazard policy and the silver inflator plug thingamabobs.

 

Thanks for the info and pics - looks real good!

 

hey digitalb, the wax looks good man. is it still effective since the time you applied it?

 

yes but I have noticed that because I had only it done it for the 3rd time ever on a car I owned I left some residue near the door trim strips and a few other areas that I will have to toothbrush off. but yeah it still gives the water beading special effect sequence where they turn from mini beads to big globs and then rush off.

 

another advantage of Zaino car polish. It leaves no residue at all. Plus, if you touch the plastic or rubber trim while polishing with Zaino, it won't leave those white stains on black plastic trim. you can do entire car with Zaino and not worry about it.

 

thats something to consider once I find out if the NXT wax lives up to the hype.