SC fans:
My Run-Flats are now history and the difference in the ride is incredible!! Got Michelin Pilot Sports A/S ..bought five to have a spare in storage. Its a whole new driving experience, folks.
I intend to drive without the spare and take the consequences which in savings over the run-flat replacement tire costs, even if it ever means an overnight hotel stay somewhere and a flat bed truck tow is going to be a HUGE savings.. ...
NOW FOR SOME CONTROVERSY !!!
There is much talk in this forum about replacing wheels (from the original "pie" design). It was the original "pie" wheels that made this car look different and special from all the other ubiquitous and redundant 5 spoke wheel designs on the roadways. It was the wheels that put this buyer over the top and made me the owner i am today.
I cannot judge you as "wrong" just because you like something different in design from another's viewpoint? BUT !!!!!! When i showed some of my colleaques the Lexus wheel alternative to my pie wheels the vote was overwhelming... even angrily ecstatic... in favor of the original.
If it makes a difference to you, i am a widely known and respected architect and my friends are all in the "pure arts" as well.
5 spoked wheels belong on cheap cars and look like they do. They also have a tendency to make a car look like a "toy car" that a kid might have. Rare among expensive high end elegant automobiles, with some exceptions, are these fat spoked wheel designs. That is because, in general, auto stylists agree with the foregoing statement. BUT auto SELLERS pander to a public that is not all that "rich" in artistic sense. Lexus, by offering up spoked alternatives in wheel design for the SC430 begins to capture the eyeball of the less sophisticated. ...may we suggest.. the people who tend to buy red cars, get vanity plates and have a velvet painting of Elvis in their homes. ...the buyers who subconsciously gravitate toward the toy car in their mind or the drama of the more obvious wheel articulation. You can bet that the original designers are ANGRY.
This will anger some of you. But it may also cause you to ponder it a bit. I am weathered with this experience, because of my reputation, i tend to cause some to feel uneasy when i step into their home for the first time. Relax, ...convert if you like.. but if you are on the borderline.. take a second look at the original design. It is near PERFECT !!!
TRC
