It’s pretty amazing how much closer the Lexus UX is to what I’m looking for than anything else in the market. Part of that is I’m really fond of the Toyota and Lexus brands. But nonetheless, I’m really excited about the UX.

One thing I can’t seem to get over though is the unpainted cladding over the wheels. It’s like every time I’m looking at a picture or video of the UX, my eyes are drawn to that cladding and I’m just staring at it and not the rest of the car. It’s doesn’t look as bad with dark colors as it does with lighter colors. But I really like lighter color cars.

is it possible to paint that cladding the same color as the rest of the car? If I can get that done for $1,000 that’s probably what I’d want to do. But I don’t know if there are technical reason why it’s not a good idea to paint it.

In his UX review, Savage Geese on YouTube said the cladding was done like that to make the car look taller, more like an SUV. But I don’t care if it looks like an SUV or not. I think the car looks beautiful, except for that cladding.

Any chance they’ll paint the cladding for 2020?

is the cladding widely hated? Or are there a lot of people out there who like it?

 

My UX is silver ("lining"), and I wasn't in love with the cladding when I first saw it, but now every time I approach my car in a parking lot, I thiink "What a beautiful car!"

 

The reason why they are found on the UX and NX is due to their lower profile and rock chips are more prevalent on the setup compared to the RX, this comes from my family owning all three in the lineup.
I will admit, I never was a huge fan of the cladding, but I prefer their function over form and while it could be painted, I guess it just isn't my personal priority. I would imagine though it would look nice though, if done right.

 

You can always paint anything you'd like. Personally I'd paint gloss black in keeping with the intended design function. It's to give the car's belt-line a higher appearance and give the car an overall higher appearance. Many automakers with similar style small car-based crossovers are doing the same.

if you're savvy you can just DIY gloss black it. i wouldn't pay a shop to do those.

 

The black wheel well cladding on the fenders just exaggerate too much, and make the wheels look big or cheap...wished it was the same body color, we got the atomic silver, we only had our new UX for a couple days. Perhaps it takes time to get use to the look.