Putting new wheels/tires on a leased car?

So I've been debating this for a long time now and just wanted to get some opinions. I really want to throw on a nice set of wheels/tires onto my Civic, but it is leased and that is pretty much the thing that's putting a roadblock in my mind of doing it.

Half of me says that I could just reuse/sell the wheels and tires once the lease is up and the other half is saying its a waste of money to put wheels and tires on a leased car. So anyone here got any ideas?

jred721 said:

Half of me says that I could just reuse/sell the wheels and tires once the lease is up and the other half is saying its a waste of money to put wheels and tires on a leased car. So anyone here got any ideas?

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Yup.

All the lease states is that the vehicle is to be returned in the condition it was bought.. So, feel free to change out items.. but know you need to return it to "stock" when the lease is up.

Its just money.. so if you have some you want to throw towards some replacement wheels, its up to you.

Listen to the side of yourself that says, “Hell no!”
Stupid idea to customize something you don’t own so you can sell items you bought for 30-50 cents on the dollar down the road...

racer said:

Yup.

All the lease states is that the vehicle is to be returned in the condition it was bought.. So, feel free to change out items.. but know you need to return it to "stock" when the lease is up.

Its just money.. so if you have some you want to throw towards some replacement wheels, its up to you.

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Yeah pretty much sums it up. I thought about it and I know that putting wheels on a leased car is something that I will lose money on obviously, but then again putting wheels on a car you own and selling it 3 years down the line is almost the same thing pretty much. But thinking about it more and more it feels more like a stupid decision rather than something worth it to me as I am not entirely sure I am going to buy this car out once the lease is up. The wheels aren't running away so I can just jump on them if I really want to, so maybe my mind will change later on and i'll swallow the pill and just go for it. But for now i'm holding off on em.

why not?...ive always leased and change wheels 7-8 times without any regrets!!!!
you can always sell the wheels and put back the stock ones before returning it

In many cases you need to replace tires or wear and tear items on a leased car anyways. So if you lease it and put new wheels and tires on the car right away, you can put the factory wheels back on the car and still have basically new tires for when you turn the vehicle back in. If it makes you happy to put other wheels on the car go ahead and do it.

jred721 said:

So I've been debating this for a long time now and just wanted to get some opinions. I really want to throw on a nice set of wheels/tires onto my Civic, but it is leased and that is pretty much the thing that's putting a roadblock in my mind of doing it.

Half of me says that I could just reuse/sell the wheels and tires once the lease is up and the other half is saying its a waste of money to put wheels and tires on a leased car. So anyone here got any ideas?

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Do it.

Wheels are the one thing I would put on a leased car. Keep the stock ones of course. When the lease is up put the stock ones back on with the near new tires still on them... take your after market wheels with you to your next car or sell them and recoup some of that money back. Wheels hold some value as long as you keep them nice.

You guys have me really thinking about this now haha. I've been sitting on this for a while and i'm currently now leaning towards just sending it and throwing some nice wheels onto my car since i'm going to be keeping it for at least 2 more years anyway. Not 100% sure yet though, but i'll update the thread if I do end up getting them

The ones saying no are acting like the wheels and tires are a one off for the Civic exclusively when really you can throw them on other cars (given the same clearance and bolt pattern, which is usually no problem if you go with a safe/conservative fitment) when the lease is up. It’s not like you’re buying bolt ons, wheels and tires are definitely one of the few things I’d do to a leased vehicle and is very easy to return to stock.

Just as an update to this thread, I finally gave in and purchased a set of new ESR SR12s 18x9.5 et40 with a set of 4 new tires from tire rack. Tires already came (TireRack's free shipping is awesome), but wheels are still preparing for shipment according to the site. Will be posting pics once its installed!

Good wheel choice... but I am sort of bias... lol

UPDATE: Installed the wheels as soon as they came off of the delivery truck last night. Took some pictures of the car today after a wash. Posted this to another thread too but thought I would update this thread as well.

these looks like its going to rub hard without a drop?

hfpdohc said:

these looks like its going to rub hard without a drop?

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Correct me if I'm wrong but the only drop that would help alleviate rubbing would involve stiffer springs, which seem to be only available on coilovers at the moment. I've only checked the spring rates on the Eibach springs and those are close to OEM spec. Someone is running 18x9 +25 255/35 square and has rubbing issues on stock suspension, but I'm lowered on coilovers and run the same diameter up front and seem to have less of a problem than he does.