I have a 2000 civic si and Im looking for new tires. stock size is 195/55 and I am thinking of going with the es100 with the size of 205/50. My question is:

1) with the 205 size, the price of the tires increases a lot, is it worth it to go with 205 or just stick to stock size and save some money?

to my understanding, a wider tire will give me more grip, but is the extra grip worth the extra premium? I will be using my car in the summer only, and I'll probably autocross it once in a while, and maybe the drag strip once or twice.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by longuyen88 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">1) with the 205 size, the price of the tires increases a lot, is it worth it to go with 205 or just stick to stock size and save some money?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Stick to stock size and save some money. Your speedometer and odometer will also maintain their accuracy. (The 205 introduces an error of 1.6 percent.)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by longuyen88 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">to my understanding, a wider tire will give me more grip, but is the extra grip worth the extra premium?</TD></TR></TABLE>

No. The grip difference is virtually insignificant. (Remember, we're only talking about a difference in width of 10 mm.)

 

I agree. The small difference in width won't improve the handling significantly.