windsnow

I got the 14" stock rim now and would like to change to 17" better looking rims. Any recommendation? Do I have to lower my car or other modification?
I know there's not much can be done on my car but any suggestions would be appreciated.

03civiclxcoupe

17s will look good....17s will give you rough ride, you dont have to lower your car and other modifications

windsnow

thanks for the input.
I read some post saying that if install 17" rims, then the body will be too much above the ground and thus need to be lowered. Not sure if that fits my situation or not.
How rough is it comparing to the stock 14" rim?
And what color will fit my civic if it is a silver one?

Muirsy

you will feel every bump on the road and people lower the car to get rid of the huge wheel gap between the body and the tire

03civiclxcoupe

i think the car stays the same height...its just 17s tire are thin and makes the car look high.

17s you can feel every bump on the road.

you can get any color rims...they have to be 4x100

03civiclxcoupe

i think the car stays the same height...its just 17s tire are thin and makes the car look high.

17s you can feel every bump on the road.

you can get any color rims...they have to be 4x100

03civiclxcoupe

Muirsy is right

Muirsy

yeah lol i had 17s on and just got rid of them for 16s... couldn't take the ride any more and yeah i didn't notice a change in height... the stock 14s with tires were the same diameter as the 17s with tires. and planning on lowering the car so i dont got the wheel gap anymore lol

windsnow

How much will it cost to lower the car?
Actually what needs to be changed? or nothing need to be replaced and I can used the stock suspension for lowering the car.
Sorry I am really new to this modification stuff.
If using 16" rims, then no need to lower the car?
Just wonder what color of rims will fit my silver civic?

thank you

unTuned

the height of your car does not really depend on specifically the 'rim size'. it depends on the total 'wheel size'. a wheel size consists of a rim size+ tire size.

if you are going to go with 17s, the closest wheel size you can get to stock is if you go with a 17" rim with 215/45/r17 tires on it. that gives a total wheel diameter to about a quarter inch of a stock wheel. if you go with a 17 with a smaller wheel (like a 205/35/r17) your entire wheel diameter will be smaller than stock. make sense?

if you want to keep your stock height and get nice rims, get 17s with 215/45/r17 tires. thats what i have and its comfortable. its only uncomfortable if you go with bigger rims and smaller tires around them. remember - the more tire around the rim - the more comfortable the ride.

unTuned

also, if you stick to a wheel size that stays close to stock, you wont have to worry about a big wheel well gap. my wheels are the same size as stock, so my wheel well gap is the same size as well, so i havent ever lowered my car.

windsnow

I see.
So basically you're saying that 17" rim with 215/45/R17 tires will give the same gap similar to the one that I am having with my stock rim (14" rim with 185/70/R14 tires), right?
I am assuming that I don't have to lower my car in this situation in order to avoid the gap as mentioned in the previous replies.

windsnow

I see.
So basically you're saying that 17" rim with 215/45/R17 tires will give the same gap similar to the one that I am having with my stock rim (14" rim with 185/70/R14 tires), right?
I am assuming that I don't have to lower my car in this situation in order to avoid the gap as mentioned in the previous replies.

unTuned

that is exactly correct.

some guys get 17s with very low profile rubber like 205/35 or 16s with 205/45, and that creates an entire wheel diameter (from one edge straight across to the other edge) smaller than stock, and since the tire bolts up in the same place no matter what size the tire is, a smaller tire size will have a smaller radius (from center to edge) that is smaller, therefore your wheel well gap will be bigger. its pretty straight forward. when the gap is bigger, it looks ugly so you have to lower your car to get rid of the gap.

most guys lower their car anyway, but where i live (in canada) we have a lot of snow during winter and i would just end up being a snow plow on the road, so i leave it where its at since it looks good as it is.

windsnow

yup I got your point.
At this moment I don't want to lower my car yet.
It's when I need to lower my car then I will need to get smaller tire and thus it will
create the "bump" feeling due to small tire.

Muirsy

i had 205/45/17 in the front and 215/45/17 in the back and the ride was really rough and had a massive wheel gap now i have a set 16s on cant remember the size of the top of my head tho and the ride is better but i still got a massive wheel gap

windsnow

I think it doesn't look good with 17" tire without lower the car is because the body of the car is too high above ground. Isn't it true that 17" rim will lift the car higher than a 14" rim? And thus make the gap feels very abrupt.

03civiclxcoupe

im guessing that 17s is bigger and with thinner tires will make the car look high...if you get the right size tire for 17s you will have the same diameter as the stock 14s

windsnow

yup, that's also true that it will increase the height from the ground and also reduce the gap when you get bigger tire.

I saw some rim with the following spec: 17x7 (4/100 - 40mm)
so it means that I must install tire with 215/40/R17? Or I can install 215/45/R17 as well?
is the 40mm gives how "fat" the tire is?

unTuned

no, 40 means its a +40mm offset. it just means where the rim itself is going to be sitting (inward/outward) on the vehicle. a +40 or +42 is pretty standard for what guys use on a civic like ours.

as you know a tire has 3 numbers. 215/45/r17 for example.

the width of the tire is shown by the first number like 225/215/205/195 etc etc. a 205 is 205 mm wide, and a 215 is 215mm wide.

the next number is the size of the tire sidewall as a percentage of the tire width. a tire that is a 45 is 45% of the width. a 35 is 35% of the width. so a 225/45 is not only wider than a 215/45, but the sidewall is also a bit bigger. (45% of 225 is more than 45% of 215).

the last number just shows the rim size. r16, r17, r18 etc.

unTuned

also, the specs of: 17x7 4x100 +40mm means: 17" rim,x 7" wide. will fit a car with 4 bolts with a 4x100 pattern, and its a +40 mm offset.

you can put pretty much anything between a 205 and 225 tire onto any 7" rim as long as its a tire that fits a 17. so something like 205/55/r17 or 215/35/r17 or 225/40/r17 etc etc will all work.

windsnow

sorry, for the tire with this spec: 215/45/r17,
215 is the width, which is the surface in contact with the ground?

And the ratio 45 is the sidewall, which is the length measure from the inner circle of the tire to the outer circle of the tire?
Am I getting it right?

Muirsy

215 is the width of the tread and 45 is the % of the 215 which is the thickness of the tire

unTuned

for 215/45/r17, 215 is the width in millimetres, which is the surface contacting the ground, yes.

and yes 45 is the % of millimetres (in relation to the 215) of the inner edge of the tire to the outer edge of the tire. you can also say its the size from the edge of the rim, to the outer edge of the entire wheel. so a 215/45/r17 is 215 mm wide, with a 96.75 mm sidewall.

windsnow

great helps!
so a smaller ratio tire (215/35 comparing to 215/45) gives a better looking wheel?
(assume that I will lower my car so the gap will be gone).
What other benefits other than that? Will it increase fuel efficiency?
I got warning from 1010tires.com when I select 215/35/17 wheels. It basically says something that the wheels is like 6% smaller than my stock wheel and thus it will have brake failure problem. And it says the acceptable difference is within 3% comparing to the stock.

Muirsy

if i was u i would go with 215/45... 215/35 is to thin IMO... and the ride will be really rough with 215/35... i wouldnt go thinner then 45

unTuned

going 215/35 as opposed to 215/45 only gives a better looking wheel if you think way thinner tires look better. personally, i dont. any low profile looks good whether its 50/45/40/35. and also, the less tire you have, the bumpier the ride is. 45 is the thinnest you should go if you want to remain comfortable.

i dont like the sight of tonnes of tire, but ive never liked the sight of all rim and barely any tire either. the amount of comfort you will have between a 35 and 45 outweighs how much nicer it would look.

windsnow

I see.
Will go 215/45 then, because it is still much smaller than my stock one:
215mm x 0.45 = 96.75mm
185mm x 0.7 = 129.5mm
So 96.75mm < 129.5mm, and thus it will look much better comparing to the stock one I assume. And in this case I hope I don't have to lower my car.

unTuned

well yes 96.75 is < 129.5, but that doesnt mean its going to be a big difference because you are using a bigger rim with the 96.75.

a 14 with 185/70 = 355.6 + 129.5 +129.5 = 614.6 mm
a 17 with 215/45 = 431.8 + 96.75 + 96.75 = 625.3 mm

the new wheel will be 10.6 mm or about 1/4" bigger in diameter which means you will reduce your wheel well gap by 1/8", and your car will also be 1/8" higher. its not really noticeable. its as close as you will get.

windsnow

I just did a quick math (to find out the height difference) for my stock tire and the one that I am going to buy. I am calculating the height of the wheel from the ground to the center of the wheel, which is the radius of the wheel.
for the stock 185/70/14 with 14" rim
185 x 0.7 + (2.54 x 14 x 10) / 2 = 307.3 cm
for the 215/45/17 tire with 17" rim
215 x 0.45 + (2.54 x 17 x 10) / 2= 312.65 cm
so basically they're almost the same, and they will give the same gap as my stock tire and the body of car will be almost the same height above the ground.