What’s the Best Cross-OEM Wheel Swap?
Changing out wheels for something from another make is a surefire way to make your car stand out. But which ones are the best-looking?
Wheel swaps go through phases. When a car’s new, buyers often can’t ditch the stock wheels fast enough for something aftermarket and either performance- or style-oriented. Then, as cars age, folks might swap newer wheels from the same manufacturer onto their older model, as exemplified by the current trend of Accord Sport wheels on first- and second-gen Honda CR-Vs.
Finally, once that has been played out, bold students of bolt patterns and offsets make the leap of fitting wheels from different OEMs in a bid to be unique. Sometimes it works brilliantly—like in the case of this Honda Odyssey on sixth-gen Camaro wheels shared in The Drive's Slack this morning, which I can’t stop staring at. What are your favorite cross-OEM wheel swaps?
There are several established classics in this space. Bentley, Audi, and Porsche wheels fit pretty well on 2000s Volkswagens because of their common architecture and 5x112 bolt pattern. Mercedes Alphards on VWs are also fairly common. Corvette wheels on ‘80s and ‘90s BMWs have been popular for a while, but I recently saw someone reverse the trend by throwing E65 7-series rims on a C5 Corvette. Points for creativity!
One I’ve noticed lately is first-generation Mini S-Lites on early-2000s Toyota Corollas and Honda Civics, owing to a common four-lug bolt pattern shared between many Japanese and European economy cars. As a Mini owner, I find this hilarious because the S-Lites are unbelievably heavy and brittle—I’m planning to replace mine as soon as I can get tires for the 16s I bought off a newer model Cooper.
But enough from me—what brand-agnostic wheel choices do you like? What stands out and makes you go "Damn! I wish I’d thought of that."
