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Low profile tires do offer better handling, but also depends on the brand of course, because those wheels look kind of cheap I'm sure the tires on them aren't that good either. They also look super heavy so it'll negatively affect your vehicles performance. I would get rid of them, if you're looking for best performance on an LS, I would stick with 18 or 19 wheels. Although with stock suspension, changing the wheel size for better performance will only result in marginal improvement, first thing would be to change springs or switch the suspension out for a complete coilover set.
What does it take to cause this? Direct impact in an accident?
imho manufacturing defects. But one isn't going to be able to purchase such rims from reputable eTailers, they're not going to carry them. For example, I bought ASA 18" rims for $79 each when I put snows on my BMW. I consider $79 to be cheap, but being made by ASA who was once licensed by BBS, I would not expect them to fail, and in 8 years, they have not. At the time, the rims were made in South Korea, today, in China. It still doesn't matter, they're made by ASA....wild guess is the rims pictured could be purchased on eBay, not from an eTailer....
I have had 3 cars that I upgraded/upsized wheels and tires on; a 2000 Escalade, from 16's to 18's, 2002 GS300 from 16's to 18's staggered and my current ride a 2005 LS430 from 18's with Michelin AS sports to Roderick 19's staggered with Continental DWS's. In all cases the handling got better without ruining the ride quality. On the LS430 my car tracks much better and is easier to drive, the Michelins seemed to want to stay in tracks on the freeway and had to be forced out of the grooves. When I first drove my Escalade, I test drove them with 16, 18, 19, and 20 inch rims and I found the 19 and the 20's just ruined the ride, so when I got my GS300 I only went to 18's. I like the ride in the LS430 and I bought it for long distance driving...before I knew about the poor cushioning in the drivers seat. I have even replaced the cushion with new factory foam and its not that comfortable. My family also likes the ride i
19 inch Staggered Roderick wheels with Continental DWS
n the car with the 19's.
I have had 3 cars that I upgraded/upsized wheels and tires on; a 2000 Escalade, from 16's to 18's, 2002 GS300 from 16's to 18's staggered and my current ride a 2005 LS430 from 18's with Michelin AS sports to Roderick 19's staggered with Continental DWS's. In all cases the handling got better without ruining the ride quality. On the LS430 my car tracks much better and is easier to drive, the Michelins seemed to want to stay in tracks on the freeway and had to be forced out of the grooves. When I first drove my Escalade, I test drove them with 16, 18, 19, and 20 inch rims and I found the 19 and the 20's just ruined the ride, so when I got my GS300 I only went to 18's. I like the ride in the LS430 and I bought it for long distance driving...before I knew about the poor cushioning in the drivers seat. I have even replaced the cushion with new factory foam and its not that comfortable. My family also likes the ride i19 inch Staggered Roderick wheels with Continental DWS
n the car with the 19's.
Staggered introduces understeer, so one could say that's detrimental to handling. When staggered comes from the factory, the factory claims it was engineered such that it's not introducing understeer, it's for grip. my .02
The wheels I have are 19 x 8.5 and 19 x 9.5 but the offset on the front wheels is considerably different than the back wheels which was not what I expected when I ordered them. You can see in the picture the back wheels are deeper but they both line up with the fenders in about the same place.They are not staggered like the TSW wheels below I had on my GS300 which pushed the back wheels out an inch more than the front wheels.
my 2002 GS300 with 18 x8's and 18 x9 TSW wheels. I replaced this car with my LS430 after someone totaled it by removing my week and a half old $3000 stereo by busting out the passenger windows and prying the trunk open to remove the subwoofer.
I just put the original tires back on (the low-profile tires on 20" Lorenzo wheels), and I can now report with complete certainty that they do indeed improve handling. The ride feels far more stable around curves. Of course, the downside, as predicted, is ride harshness and noise. I can feel road vibrations much more, and the ride is much noisier. These tires are inflated to 51 PSI, so it's no surprise that the ride is a bit noisier.
I'll use them through the summer (so I can look cool) and then put the stock tires back on for winter (where I'm much more concerned with a smooth ride than anything else).
For the most part the past trend to silly big wheels and super wide tires are form over function. But full disclosure - I hate the big wheel super wide low profile tire look, and lots of smart folks love that look, so I am definitely biased in my viewpoint.
Increasing tire width and lower profile tires results in a bigger contact patch and stiffer sidewalls that together tend to improve handling but at the cost of increased noise and a much harsher ride quality. Along with the wheels and tires that folks that love this look also lower the car sometimes with airbags or with shorter stiffer springs resulting in very limited suspension travel - great for a race track and absolutely terrible for driving on typical city streets.
Then there is the factor of unsprung weight - meaning how much the car's suspension, including wheels, tires, and brakes, weighs in total. Many folks don't understand that significantly increasing wheel size and tire width can drastically increase unsprung weight (bigger wheels and tires can weigh a lot more) which drastically degrades overall handling, suspension performance, braking, and acceleration.
01-03-17, 07:46 PM
