Ten Best Rims in Autodom

Here we go Letterman style- Number 10........

10. 2008 Volkswagen GTI

Volkswagen needed to do something about the inherent cutesiness of the fifth-generation Rabbit if enthusiasts were going to take the GTI seriously, regardless of its mechanical and performance credentials. Making a car look tough is most easily accomplished by slamming it on a set of big wheels, and is the route VW chose. The GTI's rollers are not just large, at 17 inches in diameter, but large-looking, accomplished by glomming a bunch of metal on the wheel faces. The result is a tough-looking wheel that provides the cred to back up the GTI’s moves.

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9. 2008 Porsche 911 GT3 RS

Porsche could stick a set of wheels modeled on cow pies on a GT3 RS and they’d still be transformed into something sexy by context alone, but Stuttgart did it right with a set of spidery räder, available in black or bright orange. Porsche was one of the first manufacturers to understand the aesthetic possibilities of contrasting wheel colors, and used it to devastating effect on the black/orange and orange/black GT3 RS. Under the glossy paint are lightweight aluminum wheels wrapped in the kind of expensive, sticky rubber that helps generate 0.99 g on the skidpad.

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8. 2008 Infiniti G37

Infiniti and Nissan clawed their way back into the black with a blend of products as strong on style as they are on performance. The G37’s big, cast aluminum wheels feature spokes carefully contoured to showcase the four-piston brake calipers and large-diameter rotors. Infiniti succeeded in fitting a set of wheels that few customers, even enthusiasts, feel compelled to swap out for something more sporty looking.

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7. 2008 Lamborghini LP560-4

Lamborghini, being an exotic Italian carmaker, is allowed to do things like name its wheel styles. Sculpted from aluminum, the basket-weave Cordelia is one of three available wheels on the LP560-4. Lamborghini has a long history of outfitting their outrageous cars with love-’em-or-hate-’em wheels, but this fitment offends no one. Strong and light, this classic wheel style has been attached to racing and tuner cars for the last several decades. The glow of polished aluminum is a welcome alternative to the glare of chrome, and looks just as good standing still as it does at the LP560-4’s 202-mph top speed.

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6. 2008 Lotus Exige S

Mechanically optimal designs tend to be modest and beautiful, and this wheel is no exception; give a dozen engineers requirements for maximum strength and minimum weight and eleven of them will give you something like this. Hewn from aluminum, they are featherweight rims for a flyweight car. Apart from looking incredibly bitchin’, the matte-black finish does a fine job of masking matte-black brake dust, which aggressive brake pads shed like dandruff.

5. 2008 Audi A5

Saab and Porsche popularized the twisted-spoke aesthetic, and Audi makes it its own with the opposing push/pull propeller look. Cast in aluminum, these wheels provide the illusion of fairly thin spokes, visually lightening the stylish, solid-looking A5. Movement implied in the spokes is an echo of the A5’s fluid, dynamic lines. Each pair of fan blades actually comprises one solid, beefy spoke, allowing these none-too-light wheels to carry their share of the nearly two-ton A5.

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4. 2008 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1

The most exotic factory Corvette to ever scorch pavement rides on equally exotic wheels. The ZR1 wears aluminum rollers, 19 inches in diameter in the front and 20 inches in the rear; the latter are also a foot wide. Such giant wheels are necessary to house platter-sized carbon-ceramic rotors 15.5 inches in diameter in the front, very similar to those on the Bugatti Veyron; the rears were plucked from the front of a Ferrari Enzo. One of the few available options on the ZR1 is chrome plating for the wheels, a $2000 flag to be flown by weenies proving they’re undeserving of such a vehicle, as chrome plating adds weight.

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3. 2008 Audi R8

The R8’s nontraditional form took the design world by storm, and what fuels its popularity is honesty, not obfuscation and “flame-sculpting” rubbish. Functional simplicity defines the R8’s split-spoke aluminum wheels. Generous airspace between spokes highlights the R8’s huge, eight-piston calipers and cross-drilled rotors in the front and four-piston calipers in the rear. The bow of the spokes both adds strength and accentuates width, the measurement associated with fat tires, supercars, and other stuff that makes hearts of the automotively inclined go pitter patter.

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2. 2008 Alfa Romeo 8C

The 20-inch rotelle on Alfa Romeo’s jaw-dropping 8C are like bespoke cufflinks on a tailored shirt—they bring a little bling, and serve to highlight what they’re attached to. While the wheels may be heavy-looking, they are made from forged aluminum and so are decently light for their size. In a design age of hard lines and crisp transitions, the 8C is a sexy, curvy delight, and its wheels—essentially five “Cs” radiating out from the hub—expand on this philosophy.

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1. 2008 Ferrari 430 Scuderia

To make the F430, currently the “cheapest” sled from Maranello, capable of lapping Fiorano as fast as an Enzo, Ferrari transformed it into the 430 Scuderia. The power-to-weight ratio was shifted around by adding 20 ponies and pulling out pounds, around 220 of them. Unsprung weight was attacked by installing carbon-ceramic brake rotors and lightweight 19-inch wheels. There’s no fat to trim off this wheel style, very similar to the wheels on the Porsche GT3, and the gold color helps paint a realistic picture of the car’s quarter-million-dollar price tag.

All excellent choices except the VW GTI rims which I never liked. Not so sure on the 430 Scuderia either- somehow Subaru should own Gold rims- kind of their trademark. Anyway, the car itself is so great, maybe the rims get chosen just so people can talk about this incredible machine.

Chismillionaire can't quite comprehend some omissions and better alternative choices... First off, Chismillionaire would prefer Lamborghini's Callisto rim in Black over the Cordelia rim.




The BMW M5 rims & M3 19" rim also are excellent and should find their way onto any top 10.






Three cheers for the Corvette ZR1 rims, however Chismillionaire prefers the new Q44 spyder style on the Z06 for 2009 below




Audi's RS4/S8 rims are better than the R8 rims in my opinion.

Chismillionaire's favorite and a glaring omission in my opinion would be the Bentley Continental GT Speed rim- Simply stunning and elegant while needing to fit the mosntrous ceramic brakes.