I have a 2006 LS430 that I and the family absolutly love except for those darn low profile tires. Yes, I know they give the car a sporty look but don't ever get near a curb with them. The first thing to hit the curb is the wheel rim, not the tire so the beautiful rim gets marked. And don't tell me to be careful because if you drive one of those cars long enough you will eventually hit a curb sometime. Maybe while parking or maybe while paying the parking fees at the airport that has black curbs that you can not see at night as you get near the pay window.

 

On my current car, I ran with some 18" after market wheels for the better of four years. The rims had "fins" that would stick out past the tire and rim edge. One hit would have eaisly cracked it off.

If you make an effort to always acknoledge that it is an issue, you should be okay. Any time you see a pot hole or item in the rode, you avoid it. If you are near a curb, you pull/park futher away purposly. You tell people about the issue and let them know you will have to kill them if they do not follow the rules.

 

I like your advice!

 

If your 06 LS came with 245/45-18 tires on 18" wheels, you could go with 17" wheels with 225/55-17 tires. You could even go with 225/60-16 tires on 16" wheels which is what the original 01 LS430 came with.

My 00 Platinum Series LS400 came from the factory with the same 16" wheels that were standard on the 01 LS430. The tires stick out so far from the wheel rims that it would be difficult to damage the wheels unless I crashed into a curb really hard.

I am in my 4th year on a replacement set of 16" inch 01 LS wheels and the chrome is still perfect - no curb rash at all and I frequently (no, always) hug a curb on the right side when parking defensively.

 

"I frequently (no, always) hug a curb on the right side when parking defensively."

Me too, I try to get close to the curb because the streets here in our city are narrow and the police ticket those cars that are too far out from the curb. And of course they really look for the expensive cars to ticket.

 

I use the right side mirror to see how close I am to the curb. I always err on the side of caution as I really don't want to have to deal with the time and expense of wheel repair.

 

There is no mirror on my LS430 that will let me look at the front tires.