What do you think of the wheels?

[The Lexus Enthusiast]

Hello members,

Almost a year ago I had these wheels put on my non facelift ls430 after my neighbour's one was involved in an accident and was going to be scrapped. In a week or two he is finally going to have it taken away and scrapped. I'm getting a bit sentimental now about the original wheels and cringe to think about an LS being crushed. Do you like the look of these new ones or consider the old ones to look better?

Ideally I would like my old ones back as well but I think that the insurers would be a bit upset if they came to take the car and it had no wheels at all

Alex

[Tinonline]

It wheely depends. Maybe a call to your insurer to sound out keeping the originals? Or replace them with another set which may just about do? The fitted replacements look nice. 

When your Lex is worth the same as a Ferrari in collectors' monthly you might kick yourself for the non originality! 😉

[The Lexus Enthusiast]

Hi there Tinonline. It is my neighbour's insurer as it was my neighbour's car which was crashed.He is really quite elderly and i think that he is a bit dazed by the whole process with the insurers. As yet they have not paid him for the car and it is still his car. Thus I think that i could remove my old wheels with his permission as it is not the insurers car yet. The only problem would be, that then his car would have no wheels at all and would make recovery very difficult. Also the insurers might have a problem as the car might then be deemed as "incomplete".

Any thoughts? 

[The-Acre]

I like them enough to want them myself!  The facelift wheels do look better in my opinion.  The problem is we're never satisfied.  When I had a MK4 I wanted LS430 wheels on it, now I've got a 430 I want facelift wheels, if I had facelift wheels I'd probably want something else.  For that reason I'm sticking with what I've got......for now...

Nice car, exactly the same as mine.... except you've got nicer wheels!!

[The Lexus Enthusiast]

Hello The- Acre, we meet again. Thanks for your kind words. You are spot on about being satisfied. I love the facelift wheels but greedily want the best of both worlds, and would like to take my old ones back and keep them in boxes just for the satisfaction. If any of my other friends crash their ls430's I'll let u know about wheels needing a new home

1 minute ago, The-Acre said:

I like them enough to want them myself!  The facelift wheels do look better in my opinion.  The problem is we're never satisfied.  When I had a MK4 I wanted LS430 wheels on it, now I've got a 430 I want facelift wheels, if I had facelift wheels I'd probably want something else.  For that reason I'm sticking with what I've got......for now...

Nice car, exactly the same as mine.... except you've got nicer wheels!!

 

[messi]

If he's going to scrap the car, then if I were you, I'd take the air suspension aswell, you never know when you might need it.

[cruisermark]

Hi

for me without a doubt they look better and suit the car well - after all the only main external difference between the modesl is the lights. bonnet and bumper. I would keep them.

by the way did you notice any difference in ride quality or steering feel?

[PJD]

The 18"s do look a little more imposing, especially in motion, - but again, I would be interested to hear how much difference they make to the ride compared with the 17s.  Tyres on the 18s will be more expensive also :)

[The Lexus Enthusiast]

6 hours ago, messi said:

If he's going to scrap the car, then if I were you, I'd take the air suspension aswell, you never know when you might need it.

Hello messi,

Unfortunately it is quite difficult to remove anything else from the car. I think that the only way I can also take back my originals is to find four random wheels to put on the ls to be scrapped so that it can be recovered by the insurers. I suggested this to the people at the auto care  place it is sitting, and he told me he would want £150!!!

Goodness knows how much he would want to charge me to remove the air suspension!!!!

He claims it would cost extra to remove anything because the car has been pushed forward and is now blocked by brambles on the right so it would be extra labour to get into it!!!!!!!!!???????.

I think he's giving me a run for my money, because there was no need to push the car further forward in the first place. 

2 hours ago, cruisermark said:

Hi

for me without a doubt they look better and suit the car well - after all the only main external difference between the modesl is the lights. bonnet and bumper. I would keep them.

by the way did you notice any difference in ride quality or steering feel?

Hi Cruisermark,

Thanks for the reply. It is my mother's car and she was a bit worried about the change in wheels but now that they are on the car, loves the look of them and the feel when driving. Overall, the odd humps and bumps are felt just a tiny bit more with the 18s. I can't really comment on steering feel as the car is only ever driven fairly slowly around the countryside and a bit on motorways. I Don't know if it is just me but the 18s seem to be more quiet on most roads??? Fuel consumption is as always- terrible. 

36 minutes ago, PJD said:

The 18"s do look a little more imposing, especially in motion, - but again, I would be interested to hear how much difference they make to the ride compared with the 17s.  Tyres on the 18s will be more expensive also :)

Hi PJD,

Yes, I love the look of the wheels as the car glides along. They look like a big rotating star!

[Tinonline]

Well when all things considered if the wheels are that good they should be recovered £s will be involved whatever you do...and time. If you feel the urge at a later date I'm sure it would be easier and same money to source. 

If it was cheap and easy...good opportunity.

[The Lexus Enthusiast]

 

6 minutes ago, Tinonline said:

Well when all things considered if the wheels are that good they should be recovered £s will be involved whatever you do...and time. If you feel the urge at a later date I'm sure it would be easier and same money to source. 

If it was cheap and easy...good opportunity.

Hi Tinonline,

Perhaps I will just have to sit down with my neighbour at some point and ask him nicely to phone his insurance company and ask them about keeping the wheels and returning them. The only problem is that as I think I mentioned earlier in the post, my neighbour is quite elderly and I feel he doesn't quite understand everything about what his insurers plan to do. I believe that they have to remove the wheels anyway in order to scrap the car, but perhaps after they pay out money for the car to him, they will sell the wheels, and therefore will not allow me to take them back?