Ok, I bought a 2000 GLE a few months ago. I didnt notice that the wheels looked funny till a few days later when I saw other GLEs. I don't know how I didn't notice. I was just happy I was getting such a good deal. My car has the ugly wheels that I think are standard on the GXE. Are those even an option on the GLE or did the dealer change the wheels before they sold it to me? The GLE package does include the 5 spoke wheels right? If so I think I paid more for the GLE package and didn't get the right wheels. Now I have to spend more money to get desent rims.
By the way - how the hell do you put pictures in threads???

 

I think the early 2000's did come with the the wheels your describing, as well as maybe 15" wheels, instead of the 5 spoke, 16" ones you were expecting. So I wouldn't automatically assume the dealer took you...

 

These are the wheels I have.

http://www.wheels-and-rims.com/cgi-b...10103044255.c4



These are the wheels I like and thought came on the GLE

http://www.wheels-and-rims.com/cgi-b...10103044255.c4

 

GLE's manufactured before Nov 99 have those wheels.. 5 spokes on 2000 GLE's was 'late availability'

 

Yes, you have a "1st Fleet" GLE.

 

I have the same wheels as you do and I'm the only owner. I use them for winter tires since I don't like steel wheels either.

 

those rims are sweet, go old school with them.

 

My 2K GXE came with 15 inch steel rims and hubcaps. I thought all the others had the 16 inch 5 spoke wheels. I upgraded mine to the 5 spoke wheels. You can usually find then 'new' on ebay for $300 per set of four.

I'll have to look for a set of those whitewalls

 

I did see a 3rd gen on whitewalls and my wife just busted out laughing because the car was in grat shape!

 

Max_5gen
what did you get for summer driving? Do you have pictures? I'm trying to decide if I want to buy the OEM rims (about $200 each) or something else.

 

I have the same 16" wheels on my 2k GXE. At first when I saw those wheels a few years ago when the 5th gen came out I thought they looked like bolt-ons on top of a steel wheel, kind of like on the Hyundai Elantra. But since I've bought my max they've grown on me :-) At least they don't get scratched and corroded as easy as my Accord's alloys did.

I think I'm going to skip the upgraded wheels step...I'd rather save the money for performance tires for the alloys and a set of 16" or 15" winter tires and steel wheels. This past winter I didn't have any accidents but more than a few times I could feel the car starting to get away from me on the highway. Before next winter I'm pretty sure I'm going for winter tires instead of sticking it out with all-seasons.

One question about the equipment on the earliest 5th gens...I believe I have one of the first as it was manufactured as the date is May 1999. I see there was an option in the owners manual for 15" steel wheels on the 2k Max...but I've never seen one. Were they not available in Canada?

 

I got 16x7 Enkei RP02 with Toyo T1S tires - I like "open" design. After long thoughts I decided that I'm too old and potholes around here are too big for those 17+ rims. Car doesn't handle as well as on low profile tires but these provide good traction and I'm happy with them so far. By any means they're much better than stock A05. Unforunately, I don't have picures from the last year and it is still too cold to put summer set on. I noticed that T1S don't perform too well when outside temperature falls below +5C. BTW, rims cost ~110-120 CAD from www.1010tires.com. IMHO, our stock rims/tires are way overpriced. One day my front stock tire blew and I was stupid enough (well, not informed) to replace it with the new stock one for almost the same price as I got T1S 3 months later .