After watching Doug's review 

"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion) 02/02/2018 at 22:41 • Filed to: None

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I realized I’ll never be able to look at the new Navigator without feeling deep disgust. And I feel bad about that, because it seems like a great SUV. But Lincoln made one particular design choice that is worse than “floating” pillars, worse than angry headlights, worse even than fake vents.... And now I’m cursed to see it wherever I go.

Look at the pictures above and see if you can figure it out.

Okay

Did you get it?

No?

Keep trying.

Or just leave

I don’t want to have to do this

It’s too damn cruel

But I will if I must

Alright, last chance....

THEY SUPPLIED FOUR OF THE EXACT SAME DIRECTIONAL WHEELS WITH ROTATIONAL SYMMETRY, WHICH MEANS THE ONES ON THE DRIVER SIDE GO ONE WAY, AND THE ONES ON THE PASSENGER SIDE GO THE OTHER!!!

GAHHHHHH

It’s not that complicated Lincoln!

And yes, before you scroll down ready to mention the other brands that do this—like Honda—I know. But Lincoln just unveiled a car that can be spec’d over $100,000, and being compared to Honda’s multi-colored monstrosities (I’m told they’re still technically called wheels, no matter how ugly they may be) is the last thing they should be going for. Having two different directions of wheel for each directional wheel design would obviously be a bit more expensive, but I’d argue that it would be worth every penny. This is a terrible place to let the bean counters save a buck, and Lincoln... Shame. Shaaaaaaame.

The fact that the wheels are objectively ugly, and the rubberband tires look incredibly out-of-place on the gigantic SUV doesn’t mean we should let Lincoln get away with this. As such, I’m sorry. But I’m going to be unable to purchase a new Navigator. Again, I apologize. I happened to have exactly $100,000 burning a hole in my pocket, but because of this atrocity you committed I think I’ll just buy a Dodge Nitro, Nissan Juke, Jeep Commander, Pontiac Sunbird, first gen Chrysler 300, Cadillac Allanté, a few Calibers, and a brand new Avalon instead.

Maxima Speed > AestheticsInMotion 02/02/2018 at 22:48

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I was looking and looking, thinking “nothing wrong here, just a truck” the I scrolled down to the reveal and I shuddered in horror, scrolling back up to double check. In all seriousness though that’s horrendously lazy and distasteful.

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > AestheticsInMotion 02/02/2018 at 22:48

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Interior looks good, but the exterior looks like a mess. Also, that paint looks terrible.

AestheticsInMotion > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) 02/02/2018 at 22:53

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Basically my thoughts too. Regardless, still a huge step up for Lincoln

Dusty Ventures > AestheticsInMotion 02/02/2018 at 22:57

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But if they made the wheels so that they all go in the same direction then that would mean you could never rotate the tires or you’d have wheels going in opposite directions on the same side of the car. And that’s even worse

AestheticsInMotion > Dusty Ventures 02/02/2018 at 23:00

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Not being able to rotate would be mildy annoying, but acceptable. And yes opposite directions on either side would be awful, but also somewhat hilarious on a 6 figure luxury SUV.

Wait, you’d still be able to rotate front to back just fine.

Dusty Ventures > AestheticsInMotion 02/02/2018 at 23:04

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You could go front to back, but you can’t cross, and to me unless they’re directional tires which can’t be crossed anyway that’s unacceptable. It increases the odds of uneven wear and shorter tire life.

HammerheadFistpunch > AestheticsInMotion 02/02/2018 at 23:07

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I’m with Dusty, it’s a stupid design but better than not being able to rotate the tires

DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time > Dusty Ventures 02/02/2018 at 23:11

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I’m with AIM. On a top of the line luxury SUV, I don’t think having to replace your tires a little early do to not being able to rotate them cross wise would be a bit deal.

Plus, I’d imagine this thing has a very tame alignment. So I don’t think you’d get much uneven wear from toe or camber. So unless you running it on an oval track, I don’t think not being able to rotate tires side to side would be much of an issue.

AestheticsInMotion > Dusty Ventures 02/02/2018 at 23:12

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Fair enough. Unless I’m on snow tires (which only go on for adventures, so wear isn’t an issue) I’ve always got directional tires so it’s not something I think about

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > AestheticsInMotion 02/02/2018 at 23:12

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My Mazda is the same way, I figured they put the wrong wheels on and sold it like that and nobody ever noticed.

AestheticsInMotion > HammerheadFistpunch 02/02/2018 at 23:13

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Lesser of two evils I suppose. I guess tire wear would be a much bigger issue when you’re driving something that weighs almost three Miatas

AestheticsInMotion > Maxima Speed 02/02/2018 at 23:14

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Sorry. I couldn’t suffer alone

AestheticsInMotion > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 02/02/2018 at 23:14

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Do be fair I bet the vast majority of people would never notice this

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > AestheticsInMotion 02/02/2018 at 23:16

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Monkeepuzzle fixed it

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > AestheticsInMotion 02/02/2018 at 23:18

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But I refuse to be fair.

Shift24 > AestheticsInMotion 02/02/2018 at 23:23

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First thought nice extended explorer then holy fuck those rims are awful and the tires look face. No wonder no one buys a lincoln any more.

Also leave it to caddy to pull off 22s

AestheticsInMotion > Shift24 02/02/2018 at 23:25

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I’m so, so very glad I don’t have to buy tires for 22's

AestheticsInMotion > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 02/02/2018 at 23:27

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So much better. Steelies should make a comeback

Or better yet...

https://oppositelock.kinja.com/forged-wheel-that-looks-like-a-steelie-1794102856

for Michigan > AestheticsInMotion 02/02/2018 at 23:35

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This is why I hate directional wheels. They’re either backwards on one side of the car and forwards on the other, or some knucklehead installs them wrong and you have a backwards and forwards wheel on the same side of the car.

In fact, just the other day I saw a C4 Corvette on a local used car lot with front wheels installed on the wrong side. These people have bays with lifts and they can’t even be bothered to get the directional wheels installed properly.

Ash78, voting early and often > AestheticsInMotion 02/02/2018 at 23:40

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Coming here to say “ARGH THOSE WHEELS” and “looks like some shit Honda would do” and I see I was already beaten to these conclusions.

Have your star and carry on!

Ash78, voting early and often > AestheticsInMotion 02/02/2018 at 23:41

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Also, has anyone ever asked Doug to stop wearing cargo shorts? He looks like me when I was in college. That’s not a compliment.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > AestheticsInMotion 02/02/2018 at 23:43

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Wait is that 449.99 USD. Holy bananas

AestheticsInMotion > Ash78, voting early and often 02/02/2018 at 23:44

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I make it a point to notice and berate Honda for their godawful wheel designs over the last decade.

AestheticsInMotion > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 02/02/2018 at 23:46

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Yeeeeeep. But... It is slightly cheaper than Volk Te37's and other forged wheels in the same size. Not that that’s saying much...

As much as I love ‘em, I think it would take a very unique build for someone to pick these over Volks, or SSR’ s or whatever.

Shift24 > AestheticsInMotion 02/02/2018 at 23:50

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Pretty expensive but not as bad as I thought

Ash78, voting early and often > AestheticsInMotion 02/02/2018 at 23:53

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Our ‘15 Odyssey has pretty mainstream/plain wheels, but everything I’ve seen since then has been horrid, asymmetrical, two-tone, and cringeworthy.

Except the 19” Accord Sport wheels (split 5-spoke). I like those a lot, but so does everyone else. Used sets are $1,000+ on ebay.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > AestheticsInMotion 02/02/2018 at 23:55

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Outside of all that, it still looks like just another Ford you would see used by our WSP. Especially in that rather matte blue.

Wacko > Dusty Ventures 02/03/2018 at 00:01

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Not really, you just have to change tires not wheels to rotate.

Dusty Ventures > DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time 02/03/2018 at 00:06

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Wear wouldn’t be very uneven when the car’s new, but after it’s had a few miles under it’s belt and the alignment isn’t as true as it originally was it’ll become more of a problem. Then there’s the second, third, etc owners. Sure, you can say that anyone buying a $75,000+ suv doesn’t need to worry about the cost of tires needing to be replaced a few thousand miles sooner, but what about the people who pick it up used 5-10 years down the road or at a salvage auction or with a rebuilt title etc because that’s when they can finally afford it. Now they’re hosed too. And then there’s the livery companies that will have these as fleet vehicles. Shorter tire life and more money spent on rubber would absolutely matter to them.

Dusty Ventures > Wacko 02/03/2018 at 00:07

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That means either having your own tire machine/tire tools or taking it to a shop, which will surely charge a chunk and may potentially damage the bead in the process.

AestheticsInMotion > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 02/03/2018 at 00:09

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Agreed. I don’t see the exterior aging well.

The interior on the other hand... Oh mama

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > AestheticsInMotion 02/03/2018 at 00:12

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I always tell myself that nothing new — economical or luxurious — is designed for me. I am not the target audience. And if I even had $100,000 to blow on a car, I would buy a $25k used car and do other stuff with the remaining 75k.

What I’m saying is — and this helps in my line of work — I simply do not *think* like people who have absurd amounts of money to buy extravagant items, so I will simply never truly understand.

DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time > Dusty Ventures 02/03/2018 at 00:15

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If your the third or fourth owner you probably won’t care nearly as much about all the wheels being the same direction. I’m not saying the alignment won’t cause uneven wear. But if you have to replace tires at 40k miles instead of 50k, over 200k miles you would’ve only needed one extra set of tires.

interstate366, now In The Industry > Ash78, voting early and often 02/03/2018 at 00:19

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The thing is, Honda used to make proper directional wheels for the Prelude and the older Integras. The infamous GSR blades were the first time they made the directional wheels all face the same way.

G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3 > AestheticsInMotion 02/03/2018 at 00:25

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So does the facelifted S-Class Maybach with the new optional wheels. I don’t see a huge issue here.

Enginerrrrrrrrr > AestheticsInMotion 02/03/2018 at 00:28

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Now makes me appreciate the SLR’s wheels even more.

AestheticsInMotion > G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3 02/03/2018 at 01:52

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Oh god. Lincoln is one thing, they’re barely a luxury brand at this point, but Mercedes? That’s just sad. The issue is that just to save costs, they choose to ship 4 “left” wheels with each car instead of 2 “left” and 2 “right”. It’s ugly. It’s half-assing something, when as a luxury brand the whole idea is to put MORE thought into these little things. So the total car design is now non-symmetrical (but not in a cool, purposeful way, like an offset hood scoop), and I suppose technically it means one half of the car has better brake cooling than the other, and wind resistance is slightly different from the left side to the right side.

It’s like if BMW started selling M4’s with black wheels on one side, and grey on the other to clear out stock of a particular wheel style.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > AestheticsInMotion 02/03/2018 at 05:56

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The sad thing is that these are ugly wheels anyhow. They could have simply gone symmetrical and made the little shiny machined surface sections straight instead of curved and this wouldn’t have been a problem.

Making it easier to rotate tires isn’t a bad thing...

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > AestheticsInMotion 02/03/2018 at 05:59

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The best solution would have been to use a wheel design that is symmetrical.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > Dusty Ventures 02/03/2018 at 06:04

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This is the only case where you should ever use non-symmetrical wheels (2 of each direction)... Mine only rotate front to back, never crossed, because the tires are unidirectional. This means they could have used non-symmetrical wheels on my car.

Considering this is a huge SUV, I bet it is riding on some pretty pedestrian bidirectional no-season tires, so it should have a symmetrical wheel design.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > AestheticsInMotion 02/03/2018 at 06:19

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I’m a bit envious. The wheels for your Miata are so tiny and light. To just get the OEM 18” wheel size for mine (can’t go below 17” due to brakes), it’s both expensive and they’re all 18+ pounds each.

merged-5876237249235911857-hrw8uc > AestheticsInMotion 02/03/2018 at 07:12

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The issue with directional wheels on each side is lack of tire rotation for the owner. You’d have to keep each side on the same side while rotating the tires, so it’s a better idea to keep all 4 wheels the same pattern. I had a ‘87 vette with the directional wheels, and yeah I’d rather have 4 of the same wheel.

Ash78, voting early and often > interstate366, now In The Industry 02/03/2018 at 08:51

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I already know exactly the ones you mean on the Prelude. And if you keep your tire rotations to simple front-rear and don’t change sides, there’s never an issue with the aesthetics....(announce voice with echo and reverb)...IN MOTION!

Wacko > Dusty Ventures 02/03/2018 at 09:07

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More money for dealer so win for them....

interstate366, now In The Industry > Ash78, voting early and often 02/03/2018 at 09:13

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Yeah, when I had the blades on mine I limited them to front-back. Now I have a set of 00-02 Accord Euro-R wheels on it, which are non-directional and are one of my favorite factory Honda wheels of all time.

Most of the other 5th gens I see have one mismatched wheel on each side.

Ash78, voting early and often > interstate366, now In The Industry 02/03/2018 at 09:20

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Great choice. That thing still looks modern after 15+ years.

hike > AestheticsInMotion 02/03/2018 at 09:33

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Even the C4 Corvette Turbine wheels managed to get that right!

boxrocket > AestheticsInMotion 02/03/2018 at 11:18

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Other wheels are available for the model.

It uses the same wheels as the Expedition and F-150.

There are aftermarket options available.

That said, I agree that the wheels should he directional. However, this begs the question: Would you want them arcing forward, and looking like claws, or arcing backwards, looking like a pinwheel or windmill?

Which is better aerodynamically (probably windmill?).

Plus, you then risk some tire jockey doing a wheel+tire rotation or installing new tires, and having one right and one left wheel on each side of the car, or installing the right side on the left or vice-versa. That would especially be troublesome if they were directional tires (but I can’t think of many truck tires in this class that would be directional, unless buying summer or winter-specific tires).

boxrocket > Shift24 02/03/2018 at 12:22

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Those aren’t any better, though. They face the other way on the other side!

The current escalade looks like a final-generation Mercury Mountaineer and a Volvo 850 wagon had a really big baby who has to wear braces/headgear.

boxrocket > Enginerrrrrrrrr 02/03/2018 at 12:27

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Need to post both sides to prove your point but I know what you mean.

Problem is, what if you want your wheels to point the other way so they look more like claws, rather than a computer fan?

Enginerrrrrrrrr > boxrocket 02/03/2018 at 19:07

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Crap. Picture got kinja’d. I did have both there at some point...

I remember reading a Road and Track article where there was a 200mph test and their SLR couldn’t hit close to it’s top speed. They later realized the standard wheels (pictured) actually helped with the aero and it achieving its top speed. It sucks air out from under the car.