A Gallery of Attractive Factory Wheels
Just leave ’em alone.
Many (most?) efforts by a car’s owner to “improve” its styling end in (visual) disaster. Giving credence to the notion that yes, the car’s designers knew what they were doing, here’s an assortment of cars that came from the factory with wheels especially well-designed and matched to the lines of the cars’ sheetmetal.
E39 BMW 530i Sport. Many bodystyles of BMW of have been fitted with a variety of gorgeous wheels, but the Style 42s (the automaker’s internal designation) that came with the later E39 530i Sport take the top prize. Delicate, detailed, stunning, perfect.
C5 Audi RS6. Audi gave its range-topping early-2000s siege weapon these lovely shoes. Simple but imposing, the lack of a lip lightens the visual weight of the wheels’ design at the same time the turbine-inspired shape, together with the flared fenders, creates the impression of relentless thrust.
1995-1999 Nissan Maxima. I really like what Nissan did here. The spokes are thick and strong, but angled to reflect rotational movement, and they’re finished in natural brushed aluminum, always a good choice.
Porsche 993. Porsche equipped its last great air-cooled machine with these steamrollers. They’re awesomely wide, and the twisted-spoke design makes it look like the engine’s torque is about to wrench the hub clean off the rim. Love.
1961-1974 Jaguar E-Type. And since no list of hot factory wheels is complete without including classic British sports cars’ cleaning nightmares, here’s the most iconic car to wear them. No E-Type, Triumph, Austin-Healey or MG (among others) looks quite right without a set of wire wheels. Don’t touch.
Image credits: shiftmotors.com, edmunds.com, netcarshow.com
Audi has a lot of great looking wheels but I’ve gotta say the ones above are not one of my favorites. I do love those Porsche wheels though!
Dittos – those 993 wheels are so attractive.
Audi really knows how to give their S and RS a refined yet aggressive aesthetic – taut and muscular yet clean with (as you mentioned) lipless wheels, and the other key features being the subtly flared wheel arches and the flush wheel fitment.
WOW I did not know BMW supplied factory multispoke 2-piece wheels on a 5-Series. Gorgeous!
BMW fitted their E39 5-Series (among others) with a number of beautiful 2-piece wheels.
This is the BMW “wheel bible:”
http://felgenkatalog.auto-treff.com/
Style 19s, Style 42s and 17″ Style 5s are just a few.