Sometimes, I like to take upon myself the duty of protecting wheels lips with a few layers of plastic wrap and shipping tape before mounting tires to them. But the first time I saw it done by the source was when this brand new set of 18×10 (or 10.5) Nismo LMGT4 wheels was brought before me for work.
While it looks to be just one plastic layer, this protective wrap by Nismo is considerably thick — thicker than packing tape. Whether Nismo added this for shipping protection or to aid the mount & balance process is a mystery.
Nevertheless, I mounted the set of new 265/35/18 Toyo R888R tires with the plastic strip in place to protect the wheel lips until it was time to air up the tires.
Here’s the complete setup with the tires mounted, balanced, and ready to smash some records. I wonder if other manufacturers will ship their wheels with protective wraps around the lips. But until then, I’m happy to do it for you.
