the new wheels

It’s not easy to move around in an SLR without getting noticed. 

The new wheels have leaked and they have been controversial for the last couple of days. I warned you it’s going to be weird without having the turbines on, didn’t? I also mentioned the reason why Paris needed new wheels in a previous post - they’ve lost their structural integrity. Driving the most famous SLR McLaren on earth with inadequate wheels would be absolutely stupid. And stupid we are not. (This is also a very clear sign that Paris will be driven and to me this is the most important part. Almost anyone else would have stored her, hoping for some profit and the chances of being driven are very, very slim. But! She's with us, we love her, we take care of her. She's in a perfect shape and that's because we drive her. No other way to know about underlying issues, unless we drive her.) But what I’ve done is to overestimate a portion of the “car people”. A big percentage seems to be missing important car knowledge. Because what do you mean you can’t recognise where the new wheels are from? 

(photo by a random delivery guy, who abused cheap ass filters (as if he's posting his wife on social media) on a gorgeous car/ The car and the wheels don't look like this in person. The car is in front of me.)

This is what really got me. I don’t care if you hate the new wheels, I love them. I can assure you they’re not put on for you. I didn’t ask you before I ordered the new wheels, did I? No. So, I don’t give a fuck what you think. Now that we’ve established this, it’s time for the car history lesson some of you have skipped. And moving forward, I will treat you as newbies and I will explain to you that my decisions are backed by rich car history. 

Have you heard of Le Mans? Yeah, the legendary 24-hour endurance race? No? Seems so. 

The wheels are special McLaren-Le Mans edition and have been on McLarens for decades. The McLaren F1 GTR that won the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans with the iconic five-spoke wheels:

The famous F1 GTR with Harrods livery also sports the iconic wheels: 

And here’s an F1 LM:

Now that we’ve established that McLarens are sporting these wheels since the inception of the brand as we know it, I’m moving on to the OEM SLR wheel options. Yes, it came with 5 options. 

We all know the turbine wheels, we all love them. But did you know that they were a last minute change? The wheels the SLR was supposed to be sold with are the ones on the SLR Vision - the Alphard wheels. 

That never happened. The production SLR came with 5 wheel options and Alphards didn’t make the cut. 

As we can see the F1 Le Mans - inspired wheels were an option in the SLR parts catalogue. Why we don’t see SLRs with them? Because they’re now an MSO option (with a few variants of the five-spoke Le Mans-inspired wheels). If you’re not familiar with MSO - they’re the heritage and bespoke division of McLaren and MSO has been personalising McLarens since the F1. 

Here’s an SLR by MSO 

And here are other McLarens with the F1 Le Mans - inspired wheels. 

(the ones currently on Paris)

These wheels honour the past, the present and the future of McLaren. I’m a McLaren fan and I always wanted to put such wheels on an SLR. When we discovered that Paris’ OEM wheels are a safety hazard, I looked no further for the style inspiration. They’re so rich in history, yet let the rest of the details of the car shine. It’s a perfect balance of shapes. They replaced the retro touch of the turbine wheels with racing pedigree. Paris looks meaner, badder - FAFO vibes. Works for me. I can go further and say now Paris looks like she’s ready to be tracked. And this is something Paris Hilton would have done, if she kept the SLR. 

Now that you have the backstory of the wheels, still, feel free to hate them. But there are car people who didn’t skip this car history lesson and in their eyes - you’re all just stupid. 

Photoshoot with the new wheels is coming!

See you around (in the new wheels)!