I had nice 5 spoke 17"s with 205/40-17 tires.

I bought a set of used 14" steelies with 185/65-14 tires. They came off of a civic and just barely cleared the calipers.

MUCH smoother. I put up with those 17"s for 2 years, but I couldn't take it anymore. The tires needed replacing anyways so I bought the 14"s with around 50% tread life for only $100.

Now I am hoping to sell my 17"s to make some cash!


When I need new tires I think I will go with 185/70-14 for even more comfort!

 

Sidewall flex is your friend.....

 

You are going to save so much more money buying tire's for 14's v.s. 17's.

 

That was another reason I went back to a small wheel size.

2 years ago I traded my stock 15" steelies for someone who bought brand new 17"s and new tires. He told me they were 60,000 miles, but they didn't even last 2 years or 30,000 miles. I didn't realize at the time how expensive 17" tires are and how short they last in comparison to smaller tire sizes.

I was looking at $450 to put new tires on the 17"s and they wouldn't even last two years OR buy a set of 14" steelies with decent tread for only $100.

 

Got pictures yet? I want to see this.

 

Here are the pics. Don't judge me for my dirty car!

They have a little rust, but they work!


I think 185/70-14 will fill the wheel well out better... so that is what I will try when I need new tires.


You can see my old wheels/tires stacked up on the trailer.




Here is a picture of my old wheels (not very close up, sorry)

 

I am looking at doing the same, but with 15's, and a wider rim for wider tires. Have any ideas on a factory rim that is about an inch or two wider?
Thanks.

 

Hey dtpmike,
I'm looking to do the exact same thing with my Scion xA. The 14" rims you bought, are you having any issues? I was reading that the stock rims on a civic have a 56.X mm center bore and the scion has a 54.1 mm, did you have any problems with that? I don't know much about this stuff so don't get too technical please. What year Civic did you get the stock rims from?

 

they fit perfectly.... no issues. I don't know what year they came off of.

 

Well, more then likely they're from 92-00 year Civics. But, there are a few steel oddballs out there.

As for 14" wheel choices from Honda, there are plenty of alloy wheels that I would choose over the steelies. Reason being, you can save even more weight for your rotational mass and get even better fuel economy. ;) Plus, some of the alloys have some rather funky designs.

Example:

 

You mean lose some money (in that you bought the 17's in the first place, which are more $$ then a 14-15" wheel).

Beautiful.... just Beautiful. This is what I like to see happening. The death of the "big wheel syndrome". Too much bling-bling in the 1990's- 2006 or so , now its a reality check of sorts. Its a matter of "do I spend more money on wheels, tires, gasoline" , or do I go the other way and conserve some.