TOP 5 WHEELS ON PRODUCTION CARS

Car buyers don't think they buy a car for its wheels. Picture yourself walking into the Lexus dealership and seeing a new IS F on 16" drums without even a hubcap. Draw the second picture now. You're walking out of the dealership, attempting to forget the $56K V8 Lexus, never to return to Toyota's luxury division.

It's a good thing the IS F has decent wheels. Good enough to make it onto this most-subjective-ever list? Not a chance. Drama, relative simplicity, class, clearly OEM status - man, it's a hard set of ingredients to find. Once stirred properly; kneaded just right, the results are spectacular.

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#5 - HONDA CIVIC TYPE-R: White wheels are never cool, except when Honda/Acura finds a use for seven spokes on a preferably white car. So terrible 99.999% of the time, so perfect on a car like this - a car, you'll recall - is not served to the North American public.

#4 - AUDI RS6: On the verge of being too busy, these monsters from a monster car suit the RS6's personality too well. Placing this foursome on almost any other car would end in ruin. Removing this foursome from an RS6 would be heresy.

#3 - BMW X6: Shocking though it may be to find one of The Good Car Guy's most hated cars on a positive list, these wheels are deserving of our praise. Tall and broad vehicles usually look good with deep dish wheels. The X6 is not too tall or broad, so the deepness of the five-spoke dish isn't too severe. If only the vehicle could work together with the wheels, this #3 ranking could be adjusted.

#2 - VOLKSWAGEN GTI: Hatchbacks, being a simple two-box design, have little chance at being exciting. Modern European hatchbacks appear to be ever more minivan like, merging into a one-box design that is especially unflattering. These wheels help turn the Golf/Rabbit's staidness into the GTI's eye-catching mix of class and aggression.

#1 - ALFA ROMEO 8C SPIDER: Fittingly Italian, this Alfa's Lamborghiniesque wheels are indescribable. Curvy like the actual car body and exposing what lesser performance cars would never dare expose, the 8C Spider wears its wheels better than the overall better-looking 8C Competizione.