I recently purchased an '06 Civic LX, and I would like to replace the OEM steel wheels with alloys, and a bit lower profile, but not too radical. Any recommendations ? I am not sure what size options I have - is there a site that would have a list of wheels that would fit this model ?

thanks in advance,
-Jeff

 

I don't know which wheels would fit.

When it comes to tires, your stock ones are 205/55-16. There are a lot of tires that come in this size. What are your priorities? Are you looking for performance - dry traction and handling, wet traction and handling, etc? How much do you care about treadlife and price? Will you be using these tires in snow and frigid weather?

Tell us your priorities, and tell us what size wheels you're planning on getting, and we can make a suitable tire recommendation...

 

I was hoping to improve the handling - cornering performance. I have a long commute along winding country roads. I was considering keeping the stock steel wheels & tires and using them just in the winter, so that the "sport" alloys and tires would not be used in the snow.

On the TireRack web site, it lists lots of wheels that fit an '05 Honda Civix LX sedan, but none for the '06 model. Is this just because the '06 is so new that they have not updated the data yet ?

I know that the stock wheels for the '05 were 195/60-15, and the '06 is 205/55-16. I would like to get something slightly lower profile, but stay with a 16 inch wheel, in the $125 price range if possible.

thanks
-Jeff

 

I would suggest concentrating on the tire, not the size. Here's why.

The reason your car doesn't corner all that well is not so much because it has a 205/55-16 tire, but because of the make and model of tire that it comes equipped with, the Bridgestone Turanza EL400 ($102). This is a fairly low-performance all-season tire with a treadwear rating of 300, and those facts reflect what Honda assumes (probably rightfully so) the buyers of its Civic LX want from a tire - a somewhat inexpensive tire that can be used all year round (including winter) that lasts a reasonably long time. Compare this against the tire choice for the Civic Si Coupe - a 215/45-17 tire, with a choice between an all-season tire (Michelin Pilot HX MXM4, $179) or a fairly high performance summer tire (Michelin Pilot Exalto PE2, $156). Those are not just wider tires that go on bigger wheels, but they are better performing tires; Honda assumes that its Civic Si buyers are more interested in performance than its Civic LX buyers. Here's the bottom line: You are almost always going to improve performance a lot more by changing the make/model tire than you will by changing the size. If you wanted to get a different size to improve the handling, you will need to get bigger wheels with a shorter sidewall (e.g. 17" wheels for the "plus one" concept). Since you want to stick with your 16" wheels, then keep using the same size, but you can still improve your handling significantly by choosing a tire that emphasizes dry traction and handling more so than cost or treadlife or all-season capabilities. This is another way of saying that your priorities (nine months a year) are different from Honda's assumptions for most buyers of your car - and that's fine! That's why there are so many different tires on the market.

So what you want is a tire that's 205/55-16, but is a summer tire that is designed for performance. There are a lot of very good tires on the market in this size. My number one recommendation for you would be the Goodyear F1 GS-D3. This is their top-of-the-line general-application street tire. The Tire Rack website has a side-by-side comparison test and it is about as good as the Bridgestone S-03 and the Michelin Pilot Sport PS2, and these are perhaps the three best top-of-the-line street tires on the market today. You can also look at user reviews on the Tire Rack's website, and in the "max performance" category (top-of-the-line street tires), the F1 GS-D3 overall was rated the best (number 1) out of the 23 tires in that category. But wait, there's more! The rest of the good news is that the F1 GS-D3 is a great bargain. In your size, it's $132 per tire, but there's a $75 gas card offer through October 8, which lowers the effective cost of the tire to $113 per tire. That's a great deal! That compares with $160 for the S-03, and $149 for the Dunlop SP Sport Maxx. So for $113 you are getting one of the very best street tires around, in the size you need for your car. For all of these reasons, this is a very strong recommendation. Sure, there are other tires in this size that are less expensive: the Kumho Ecsta MX for $99, the Yokohama AVS ES100 for $83, the Kumho Ecsta SPT for $71. These are good tires as well, great tires for the money. But all of them are a step down in performance from the Goodyear F1 GS-D3. If you're willing to give up some of that cornering and handling and traction to save some money on the tires, then by all means consider one of these other tires. But it sounds like you would prefer to spend a little more for great cornering and handling and traction, and that's why I think the Goodyear F1 GS-D3 is more suitable for your needs.

HTH

I don't know, but that seems like a good guess to me, especially since the '06 is all new (just came out this week) and uses different sizes from the '05. All the other 2006 models (that they have wheels for) are basically carried over without significant change from 2005.

How do you like your new car? It's getting great reviews (like the one in the latest AutoWeek).



Modified by nsxtasy at 11:39 PM 9/18/2005

 

Thank you for your detailed reply, I will take your advice about the tires.
However, I would still like to buy a set of alloy wheels in addition to the stock the steel wheels, at least for 2 reasons: a) for aesthetics, and b) make it easier to change from summer to winter tires. I take it you would recommend that I stay with the same size wheels (for P205 / 55 R16 tires) that come standard on the EX or could I do better with an aftermarket wheel ? I found a web site advertising the Honda wheels for about $165 ea.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jlh444 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I take it you would recommend that I stay with the same size wheels (for P205 / 55 R16 tires) that come standard on the EX or could I do better with an aftermarket wheel ?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I am not necessarily recommending staying with 16" wheels, or getting Honda wheels vs aftermarket wheels. My comments about 16" wheels were based on your stated plans to use 16" wheels. But if you're going to buy another set of wheels anyway, there's no reason you can't get a different size. Heck, if I had a 2006 Civic, I would probably be considering 17" wheels (either the Honda ones that come on the Si, or aftermarket ones - I don't know if Honda offers any optional wheels).

Selecting wheels depends on a lot of things, including price, availability, size, and most of all, personal preference. I don't know a whole lot about wheel fitment (which ones will fit your car) other than that Honda wheels designed for your car should fit and aftermarket wheels probably haven't been tried yet (I bet a lot of wheel sellers don't yet know which wheels will fit and which ones don't).

If you DO get 17" wheels, pretty much all the tires I mentioned previously also come in the 215/45-17 size that's stock on the Civic Si Coupe and will fit your car fine. The Goodyear F1 GS-D3 in that size costs one dollar more per tire than for the 16" size, and the $75 gas card offer is available for that size too.