im about to buy a set of sunflowers. i want to know what sizes i can have the best performance with.

 

You need to get the best size for your car, not for your wheels.

195/50-15 is the best 15" size for '95 and older Civics and CRXs.

For most Integras and '96-00 Civics, 195/55-15 is the best 15" size (although 205/50-15 will also work).

What kind of car do you have (year, model, version)?

And how do you plan to use these tires? Daily driving? Track or autocross use? Winter/snow driving?

 

95 Civic Coupe

daily/weekend driver.

 

As long as you're not using it on snow in the winter, I would get the Toyo T1-R, which is on sale for $60 for 195/50-15 at onlinetires.com. Other good choices in that size are the Kumho Ecsta SPT ($54) or the Yokohama ES100 ($59), both from the Tire Rack. All are very good on dry pavement, excellent in rain, and last a long time.

If you're going to need to use the same tires in snow in winter as the rest of the year, then you'll need to get an all-season tire, in which case you can get the Falken ZE-512 ($47 from Vulcan) or the Toyo Proxes 4 ($56 from onlinetires.com). They won't perform as well as the first three tires the rest of the year, but they'll be a lot better in the winter.