2KHarrier

With the warmer weather I'm taking a chance here, but decided to pull the winter tires off after work today and mount the summer set. I should be able to get one more summer out of the Yokohamas, but I'll need new tires next spring.
These wheels are Platinum Wraiths with a 35mm Offset. They fit nicely in the wheel well, and if I move forward with the Tannabe springs, it probably would look pretty good lowered slightly.

What do you guys think?

Gronemus

I like the look. Much better than the factory rims on some of those early models. What size wheels are those?

P.S. I hate to mention this but your bra is showing...

2KHarrier

Yeah, I omitted the wheel size. They're 17X7.5's. Thanks for the reminder about the undergarments...

Johnhav430

I think they look OK. My MSW's are 17x8 45mm for the snows.....

I wish more OEM 18's were available at a reasonable price....my RF is chewed up, but of course I don't dare take my mint spare out of the trunk, it still has the grease pencil number from the factory....

edit: opinion changed above

2KHarrier

Not sure I understand the logic here... You stated that you bought the car as a "beater" to drive every day to keep the miles off the Maxima, but you won't swap a spare wheel to the front because it's never been used? I know what I would do....

LS430inDE.

Going against the grain here but, personally, I'm not a big fan of 99% of aftermarket rims, unless the aftermarkets are knockoffs of the OEM look & style.

I LOL'd at Gron's bra remark. I was thinking the same thing. You know, I can take that bra off with 1 hand if you'd like!? I still do it to the gf when we give a hug every now and then, and she gets pissssssed. Not sure why!?

Gronemus

I agree with 2KHarrier.

John, after reading your posts here for awhile I have to say that you certainly march to the beat of a different drummer. Don't you think that you would get much more enjoyment out of having that pristine wheel actually being used on the car for the what the next 220k miles, or do you value that grease pencil smudge that much???

FWIW, when I first took out my spare tire about a month after I bought my car I noticed two things: First, that the original tire (mostly used up) was still mounted to the rim, and second, that there was a fairly significant road rash incident to the rim. Fortunately it appears that the previous owner(s) only had to learn their lesson once as the four mounted wheels are in very good shape for their age.

Another side note. When trying to decide on what type of rims to procure for the dedicated winter tires I was going to buy last fall I decided to pick up three 17" OEM rims from a junkyard that matched my existing set and then mounted the snow tires on those and the spare tire. It means that I end up using one of the summer tires as a spare tire during the time that the snow tires are mounted to the car and vice versa when the summer tires are on. It also means that I only have to store three tires in the garage at any given time instead of four...

2KHarrier

Hence my title of "The jury is still out. I like aftermarket rims, and appreciate the candor, but I thought these would have a little more Silver to their look, and not so much Black. Although, I did stop at Walmart just now on the way home from work and some guy rolls up next to me and says "Nice wheels"...

The bra is more of a necessity than a want. Putting 148 miles a day on the car started taking it's toll on the hood paint, so I installed the bra to protect the finish. The headlamp housings seem to be doing ok, as well as the bumper cover, but the hood was getting peppered with road debris.

Bob04

Not terrible, but I agree with the "stock looks better" comments. But it's a personal choice. The only right answer is the answer you come up with.

One thing I will say is that when I see non-OEM on a car like the LS, the first thing I think is that it has been wrecked. Maybe that a misconception, but it seems like a lot of the wrecked LSs I've seen have been fitted with aftermarket rims. I'm guessing that some of the repair shops do that to save money vs buying OEM parts.

2KHarrier

Well, fortunately here, no accidents..

Duck05

Unless there is an aftermarket body kit involved and lowering the car a bit, selecting wheels for the LS430 is a tough task....(when staying with the stock stance). I do like the stock wheels we have now but being 16 years old it is on the list to replace at some point.

2KHarrier

Yeah, these were cheap enough ($125/ea.) that if I want to move to 18s or different 17s it wont break the bank..

Johnhav430

I agree, they are NEVER the same quality as OEM. But, they are often lighter. Knock offs make great rims for the snow tires, cheap, and if scuffed, don't have to cry about it. But usually easily bent and they are no longer typically mfg'd in S Korea or Italy unless you're spending over $300 ea. This is why one often sees 3 rims at the curb for recycling, cousin got some beautiful OZ's that were sized for a GTI. After fruitlessly looking for a 4th, he tossed them (he could have gotten something in the city for them, but not that much, and too heavy to eBay, and didn't want to encounter weirdos on Craig's list).

But I suppose the OP's question was what do you think, and I took that to refer to the look. what's the point of responding if they look awful? lol

Johnhav430

I don't want to pick up the phone and ask, but it's true that almost all rims that one finds online, there is a warning about the offset and rubbing, so I would prefer not to get into that, rubbing is just stupid if you ask me. OEM doesn't rub, aftermarket rubs, what would be the purpose of that? My snow tire rims have a 45 mm offset and are 17's, so I didn't care as they are for snows....they do look puny on the car compared to the summers....

2KHarrier

The rims don't rub, John. And honestly if someone does their homework and uses a reputable dealer, they should be able to purchase aftermarket rims that don't rub. Oh, and as far as OEM not rubbing;
My 2001 GMC Sonoma with the ZQ8 package (Wider 8.5 inch rims and lowered suspension) originally came with 235/5516 tires which did rub on the wheel wells. I got so tired of it that I went with a taller/narrower tire.

Tirerack does a pretty good job of investigating what wheels will fit which vehicles, so I've purchased from them with success. Yes, someone could buy rims for their car that would cause problems, but that's true about any aftermarket part. However, I'm going to stay on topic with this thread...