First, loving my new to me 05 LS430 UL. It is the best car I have every owned. Wonderful combination of luxury and sport, and makes the miles melt away on Texas highways. The prices, if you look, are a steal, and it really does feel like a modern car. The goal is to get 500k on it (it has 180k now).

My particular example was maintained very well, but I noticed the tires have trouble keeping air. I have to add about once a week to keep them at pressure. Tire place couldn't find anything, then, when I had oil change done at ClearChoice in Houston (a wonderful independent lexus shop that we are luck to have in Houston, and I recommend to anyone needing service in the Houston area. They use Lexus parts, are all ex Dealership techs, and is close to half the cost of the dealership).
Well, clearchoice told me what a lot of you probably already know: those chome wheels have about a 10 year lifespan, then they can leak air.

The tires probably only have another 10k, but nobody is saying that new tires would "fix" the problem. It is the wheels.

The car has the chrome 18"'s on it.

I looked a little into:
-- getting new aftermarketwheels. I would probably reluctantly go with 17" for price and tire selection, but I like the look and handling of the 18"s. If someone has a compelling argument to go with the 17's, I would be open to it, but not my preference.
-- getting re-manufactered OEM wheels. Seems to run $350 a wheel for the 18's. I already have wheels...seems like an extra step?
-- getting my current wheels repaired. There doesn't seem to be "damage" or wheel rash on these... everything from local shops seemed to point toward powercoating, and, from a quick search, it seems as if Lexus has to send wheels to CA if I go the dealership route. Neither seem ideal to my goals.
-- Trying my luck with new tires on these wheels... perhaps with N2 instead of air...

Is there a easy recommendation I am missing here? Is this just the excuse I need to get new "rims", or, among those of us who like to keep things stock, another option?

Thanks everyone in advance for your time, and I look forward to being a part of the community.

 

Cheapest route is to take the tires off the wheels and grind the surface where the tire seals with the rim. Once this area is smooth, hit it with a good 2 coats of primer and problem solved, the wheels won't leak air.

 

Thanks for the quick and awesome response.

Is this something I could approach an independent shop about having done? Or is this more in the realm of "DIY"?
I do some work on the car, but don't really do "tires".

 

can you spray soapy water to the seal and locate the leak, then have the tire shop help reseal it? sometime they will clean the tire bead.

 

The Lexus repair shop did spend some time with it, trying to find the leak, as well as clean the tire beads and reseated all four tires. They came back with a shrug and the comment about how the Chrome wheels have a lifespan then will leak air.

I really like the shop, but, if it ain't in the Lexus repair manual, they won't do it.

I'll call some wheel shops in Houston and see if they do cleaning the mating surface between the wheel and tire, as well as some type of paint or sealer...e

Thanks to you both, and, if anyone has any other advice... I'm all ears.

 

Any shop that sells tires or can dismount your tires can do this .... easily. Once done the wheels can be properly resealed. No need to buy new rims, unless you want to.

Lexus dealers won't be willing to help you with this but it's simply done without the need of special equipment. Had it done years ago on chromed Supra wheels and never had a problem .

 

Stu:

AWESOME. Thank you!
Already, this forum might have saved me $1k. Money I can put into new tires, after reading the tire thread.

Will try to pay it back by my being active on the forum.

I'll let you know how things work out. I'll contact some local shops.

Thanks all for your responses.

 

Similar issue here, 2004, was going to try to have the wheels sand blasted and powder coated. Any pitfalls there?

 

Seems like the tire shop I went to was more interested in sell me something.

I'll call shops with this in mind and, again, will report back for others that have the same problem (which, on these chrome wheels) should be a lot of us if we are sticking with OEM.
I'm in love with my LS. I think it is one of the best designed cars every made. I plan on keeping mine as stock as make sense

 

I had mine rechromed 2 years ago by a local wheel shop. Was $150 per wheel back then, and only had to do 3 because I had a brand new spare in the trunk.

 

I've had 3 of my 5 chrome wheels repaired in the past year, expecting the other 2 to fail any year now. To repair, you need a drill, a set of various-shaped grinding stones drill attachments, sandable metal primer, and 180-220grit sandpaper. See following for the repair guide:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/whe...with-pics.html