Oem Wheel Upgrade Question, Safe Or As Heavy As Aftermarket?

[pete rock]

hi troops i have a pretty simple question.when i bought my es300 the previous owner had big ugly bulky heavy chrome aftermarket rims on the car.i knew i had to get them off asap to avoid damage to my suspension,axles,tie rods. i put on 15 inch 97-01 es300 factory oem rims and i like them alot.my question is if i decided eventually to upgrade maybe to 16's or 17's oem like is300 rims.do they weigh more then my 15's??would they cause damage like heavy aftermarket rims would??or would they be safe and not cause any damage to my car.any and all help is much appreciated

[LALVLexus]

I purchased my '96 ES300 just this past April with the original 15" factory wheels on it. I wanted some better looking rims on it but wanted to keep things within original specs.

Solution: went to Discount Tire / America's Tire and got a great set of 17" x 7" wheels along with 215/50 - 17 tires. The offset is correct (can't recall exactly what it is but they checked the books to make sure). No rub or clearance issues. Took the car in for alignment afterwards (just to make sure everything was ok) and they had no issues setting it up and doing an alignment.

If you stick with alloy / aluminum wheels you shouldn't have any weight problems. I personally wouldn't go with 18's because the side profile would have to be so low it would degrade the ride.

The bigger wheels/tires provide really good stability (I drive between LA & Las Vegas a lot for work) the handling is tighter due to the lower sidewall height, and the ride is only a bit firmer (which is fine by me.)

Hope this helps.

[pete rock]

did you buy 17 inch oem lexus rims??or some type of aftermarket 17 inch rims?

[LALVLexus]

I purchased aftermarket for a couple of reasons:

1. OEM rims from the dealer are crazy expensive;

2. Used OEM rims seem to get a lot of money, even on Craigslist, and it's difficult to determine if they're straight--it doesn't take much to damage alloy/aluminum and I didn't want to pay for damaged goods.

3. I wanted my car to look different. I see more than enough '96 ES300 pearls rolling around--but haven't seen one with the 17s mine has.

Nothing wrong with aftermarket so long as you keep the offset correct, don't go overboard on tires (215/50-17 max) and get the suspension aligned afterwards for the wheel/tire that you use.

Best of luck!