garnet92

The “old timers” of CL have heard all of this before, from others – but I’ll add my impressions anyway. I’ve only been on them for a week, but I’ve already formed some opinions. In general, everything that’s been covered here before is pretty close to right on.

LOOKS: The 19’s DO look better than my previous 17’s – 20’s would probably look better yet, but not for me. I don’t want to give up any more ride quality. A lot more heads turn when cruising through city streets than before. I also like the aggressive look of the wheels themselves.

HANDLING: This is no doubt that a combination of the larger wheel, the lower profile tire, and the new S-03 tires improved cornering. Overall, the handling has improved dramatically. It corners like on rails – feels very controlled, a confident feeling. There’s still a small amount of body roll (I don’t have sways) but not at all objectionable.

RIDE: The ride suffered, it’s noticeably more firm than your average Lexus – not too much for me personally – I can give up a certain amount of ride quality for the handling and look.

PERFORMANCE: The biggest negative - this bothers me the most – I’m hoping that the new SRT “race” ecu will bring back some of the jump. Maybe add the TM plugs (just missed the GB) or equivalent and hope that some low end returns. I suspect that the only real remedy will be a torque converter.

In the end … each of us has our own parameters – how much pure Lexus are you willing to give up to get more aggressive handling and looks?

I’ve taken my time to make my mods and I’ve benefited from a lot of other member’s opinions – my thanks to all of the you-know-who-you-are’s out there.

I like the result so far.

J.P.

are your 19's chrome?

garnet92

No, they're polished - see picture

J.P.

Wow even Pol 19's killed the car that much eh? I thought maybe they where chrome(Heavy?)

Hum. thought the Aststadt's had a REV lip.

garnet92

I'm told that the 18" does have reverse lip - larger wheels don't

Toog4me

how much time does it actually take off you 60 and qm time?

garnet92

Although I've got a G-Tech, I've got to find a good place to run it - gotta get out of the city. Never ran it on car previous to wheels so it won't be a good comparison anyway. All I've got to go on is the seat-of-the-pants feel and my jockey shorts can feel it. It's the takeoff - can barely spin the tires - I know, better traction, bigger contact patch, etc.

Looks to me like Dragon, Mo at SRT, etc. must be subsidizing the big wheel mfgs. cause I guess I'll have to have a TC to spin the wheels again.

alexus

iTrader: (1)

garnet92: thanks for review

rims looks very impressive.. i was thinkin the same thing that 19" is the perfect middle between losing and gaing some stuff.. if i ever decide to upgrade my 17" to higher .. 19" the only way to go maybe even 18" in NYC but i would still get 19".. heh

GS4Will

garnet,

i know exactly what you mean on the trade-off issue... :eek: ..to me , the v-8 has quite ample power, so handling was a bigger concern for me...just glad you like the wheels you told me as the first choice, and we actually went back to the Lubecs...

my cuz actually thought about getting a set for his ride here in LA after he came over and saw your wheels when they arrive from japan...

jpa, on this particular Alstadt(Lubecs), 18s are rev lip and 19s are normal lip

garnet92

You're talking blasphemy now Will – AMPLE power? You know that there’s (almost) no such thing as “ample” power! Damn shame that we GS4 people don’t have a $3-4K bolt-on turbo kit available – then we’d be approaching “ample” power!

Will – I’m trying to estimate the weight of these wheels. The UPS tracking detail shows a weight of 57 lbs for a package (of 2 wheels). That included the weight of the packaging itself and the wheel bolts. The packaging and bolts must be in the 3 lb range. That would leave 27 lbs for each wheel? That’s pretty heavy – though not unlike other multi-piece 19” wheels. I had them mounted at Sewell Lexus in Dallas and the parts manager hefted one and thinks that it is lighter than the 17” chrome oem that we took off of the car (I find that hard to believe). Do you know how close my estimate is or what the weight of the oem 17” chrome is?

BTW, thanks to gs4will who “procured” these Altstadts for me (bet that guy is pi$$ed!)

A1 - yeah, that's the way I was thinking - for me, the 19's were the best comprimise.

GS400_PUSHER

The OEM 17 is about the same 26 pounds (chrome)

GS4Will

garnet..lol..hehehe yeah we can always use more power..but 85-90% of time i am fine on the road...whether it be a necessary/friendly passing/merging, or taking on a challenge from some ricer boyz..i am fine...

on the wt for the wheels, please do not take the # from shipping to heart..i think the best thing is to weigh them on a scale..to a great extent, i think john(cannot remember) at sewell has some merit when he said that stock 17s are quite heavy.

as i said, you are quite welcome, and glad you like them..appreciate your patience..

btw, how much did sewell lex charged you for the install? just wondering..

garnet92

$66.00 including balancing on Hunter and without a scratch - ok by me. Apparently, once you get to 19", your options for mounting become limited. They can't mount 20's there - 19's are the upper limit.

GS4Will

wow...$66 only for a lex dealer using hunter...that is a great deal..most importantly the wheels came out perfect...
i have 18s presently, and my own 19s with tyres are coming from japan directly next month(after i saw how 19s would look on the GS) , not sure if they will be here mount and balanced....thanks for the review write-up..

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

I have staggered 18s and while the fatter tires are heavier than my old tires (esp. on the back of course) I don't think my rims are any significant amount heavier than the Lexus 17s if at all. But I can't spin my rear tires at all. I'm not into brake/torque launches though (not interested in trashing the transmission) so maybe I could if I did that. I don't think it's the weight that's preventing me from breaking loose, I think it's the BIG amount of added traction I have out back.

Besides, spinning tires won't gain you any speed at all!