dazco

i'm totaly new to car mods and all that, so please excuse the stupid question. i have a 2001 civic LX coupe. i was considering buying some nice wheels. i was wondering.....if i buy some bigger wheels than stock so that i can use those low profile tires, will this cause my ride to be harder and louder? any increase in either noise or smooth ride is unacceptable, so i wanna make sure i don't throw away $600-1000.

thanks....

Racing rice

How big are you wanting to go.. 15's, 16's,17's..?

What size wheels come stock on a it? 14's?

spyder

as far as size goes, 16's or 17's give the best balance between weight and performance. I know the 17" people will flame me for even listing 16" and vice versa, but both are pretty good. Getting a larger wheel will shorten and stiffen your sidewall giving you better handling but a harsher ride.

As far as road noise, that will increase because you will be using a wider tire with more traction. I forget how wide the stock civic wheels are, but new ones will probably be 7" wide (maybe 8, but I would stay away from 8's until you get more power).

dazco

they're 14's with 185/70 R14 87S firestones. i want that low profile look, but not WAY low. just a little moreso than the stock look. so i suppose going to 15's should do that, tho i don't know. would that look much more low profile than stock? and by the way, i don't like that super low profile look. so i guess what i need to know is if i'll feel the harsher ride and get more road noise with 15's or 16's. chances are the 16's would be too low profile, but i need to look at both sizes and see which looks the way i want, and whether they'd cause the noise or ride changes i want to avoid.

-dale

dazco

ok...didn't see that last post before i posted last. so i suppose even 15's will be harsher and noiser to some extent too. guess i'll stick/w stock

GoLowDrew

If you made your decision not to mod, that's cool. If you are still thinking about it, here are my 2 cents.

- Be very very careful about offset of the wheel. The G7 Civic push the wheels out further than before. So there is little room for error. Because I don't have a G7, and don't know anyone personally (with mods) I can't say what the exact offset should be. Advise, don't trust guys are the wheel shop, because everything will fit. You have to see it for yourself. Go to a car show, and see.

- I run on 15" wheels and 195/55 and the tire noise is almost like it was stock. When I did run 195/50. I notice a it was louder on some road surface. Because the G7 overall wheel/tire gotten bigger, I would go with 16" with 205/50 (not sure if there is such as size).

- Are you planing to get your car lowered? I personally think custom wheels look best with mod suspension. It just looks incomplete with the stock set up.

I got more info on my not updated web site if you are interested.
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/T...8/Honda_Civic/

thermal

i agree with GoLowDrew. there are so much discussions on tire and rim sizes and peeps are talkin about dropping the car for looks or whatnot. the offset is the biggest issue that u need to consider. u may think that you're not gonna drop your car, but in this scene, it's all "addiction". you're gonna get hooked. regardless, even if you're not planning on dropping your car, i would still consider the offset, JUST IN CASE. i've seen 17's on 7G civics and it looked sweet to me. almost anytime u changed to a low profile tires, you'll increase tire noise and rough ride.

TITEB16

There's a girl accross the street from me with a silver 2001 Civic EX with some 17's on it. Looks pimp tiiite. :D

She's running 205/40/17's with about a 2 inch drop.

maxim

If you go up in the size of the wheel be prepared for the steering wheel to shake a bit, unless you have the wheels balanced correctly. Sometimes the shaking can't be fixed, because larger wheels don't always work with the civic.

GoLowDrew

I think wheels & tires basics should be be on a FAQ section.

But here goes again on the subject of wheel shake.

Agree on the balance of the wheel. Along with bigger wheels, lower profile tires also multiple the effects.

Case in point:

On my old wheels, I got 195/50, it shake at speeds above 75mph (more on wheels below). When I switch to 195/55, the vibes was gone.

Going back to shakes. Sometimes is the balance. But keep in mind the type of wheel aslo effect balance. My old wheel had "ceramic" center caps that were kind of heavy. So when I put the caps back on, it shkes. Took the caps off, no shake. Therefore make sure the guy who balance your wheel knows that and factor in the difference.

Anyways, I sold the wheels and got my current (lighter) set.

sol-man

Hey Dazco
If you want to see how different wheel sizes look on your car you can go to http://www.tirerack.com and select your car from there and check it out. Its a pretty nice site.

maxim

I forgot...I have Yoko Paradas and they make a lot of noise on the road. But you eventually get used to that annoying tire noise after a while.