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What size of rims are best for 7th gen civic? I was told that 15" will accelerate faster for our civic. However, I was also told that our civic coupe should go for 17", since our car is much longer compare to all the other old civic, is that true??

Is it true that 15" for fast and 17" for show??

 
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I have 15X7s for my race wheels, & yes they do accelerate faster & handle better, but theyre 12lbs each, if you dont get light ones youll end up with no difference from stock. If your looking for a balence between performange & looks, you might check out some light 16s, like Rotas or something. They look best on our cars IMO, & the tires arent up the *** expensive like 17+ are.

If youre planning on autocrossing or something like that, then find a set of strong, light 15X7s w/ some good tires, or you'll be kicking yourself later.


Edit: i'm feeling nice, so heres a link to some killer deals on Rota wheels.
linky

 
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^ yep what he said was ture, 15 for speed and performance, 17 are more for looks

 
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16" 's with a decent drop would give you the best of both worlds.

 
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What about some LIGHT 17s?

12 lb 17s?

 
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If you don't want your car to become slower, stick with the 15 inch rims. Bigger will also make the speedo and odo slightly inaccurate, and the ride will be bumpier.

 
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Thats better then a Heavy 17, but still not as good as a 15, and probably not even as good as a Heavy 15. It deals with Rotational Inertia. I.e. The farther a weight is from the center of rotation the harder it is to get to spin.

The light weight 17 will help out with unsprugn weight though, being 12LBS and all. So handling may improve, but your accleration and Braking will suffer.

 
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But won't the 17 inch rims require heavier tires also?

 
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Kinda, The tire weights will be about the same. But with the 17, more of that tires weight will be farther away from the center...... Adding to the problem.

EDIT:

an example of this would be the Yokohama AVS Intermediate. In 205/60/13 the tire weighs about 21.66 lbs and that same tire in 205/45/16 weighed about 20.85 lbs

 
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I see what you mean, won't run your speedometer up like crazy though?

Not that it really matters..but still.

 
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Are Rotas casted or forged?

 
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thats a matter of tire size not wheels.

Example, I have a set of race tires in 205/50-15 and a set of street tires in 215/45-17

The 15s are smaller then stock, 5.47% smaller. So My speedo will read 5.47% faster then what I am actually going and I'll be 5.47% higher in RPMs for any given speed. But the 17s are only .64% Larger then stock.. So my 15s with those tires mess with my Speedo/odometer more then my Street 17s.

 
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Rotas are Cast. Thats why they are cheep.

 
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FIgured....the 17s I want are forged but I'm not sure it's worth it....

What are some good 15-16s ?

 
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anything over 17"s for civics are too big, imo.

 
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Ditto

 
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dude

can u guys tell me about the weight of Enkei RS5?

im lookin for buying that wheels....17" in diameter..

however, i don't plan to lower my car...

now, i saw in some sites that Enkei 17" RS5 weight 20lbs....DAMN, that's heavier than stock steelies!!

so, what do you guys think?

hm...
i calculated the prices...from discounttiredirect.om for wheels and vulcantire.com for tires...

Enkei 15" RS5 + 195/60/R15 Falken ziex 512 = $580
Enkei 17" RS5 + 215/45/R17 Falken zien 512 = $918

opinion??

 
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The Enkei RS5 17in weigh 20.15lbs according to 1010tires.com. The 15in tires weigh 16.35lbs.

I just bought Motegi FF6 17x7 (19lbs) and Falken ZE-512 (215/45/17). I can't wait to get them put on. I paid $804 for the set. Good luck on your purchase.

Cheers,

 
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No wayyy....is this true?? it's heavier than stock steelies!

yo, where did you buy ur new set of wheels+tires?

i think nobody can beat the price of Falken ziex 512 215/45/R17 from vulcantire.com

 
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Don't the lower profile tires on the 17" wheels at least provide quicker steering response and more ultimate grip (due to less rollover)?

Is the difference in acceleration (17" vs. 15") felt in day-to-day driving? Or is it only noticed during timed autox runs?

 
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Courtesy of Sport Compact Car
Rotational Inertia
The rotational inertia topic was so big, it took me two months (June and August '99) to get it sorted out. Here's the deal: There is this rule of thumb among racers that adding weight to something that rotates is far more detrimental to performance than if you add it to the body of the car. This is absolutely true, and by bumbling through some physics, and after slipping and falling on a radian, I managed to get a few formulas figured out that could tell you just how much worse.

Any moving object has kinetic energy, as does an object sitting in place and rotating. An object that is both rotating and moving (like a rolling wheel, for example), has kinetic energy from both, meaning that accelerating or decelerating that rolling object will take more power than one that is just sliding along. How much more power is the question.

The answer, it turns out, depends on how the weight is distributed on the wheel. An extra pound on the tread of a rolling tire has as much kinetic energy as 2 lbs on the floor of the car. As you move toward the center of the wheel, the rotational effect drops until, at the center, a pound is just a pound. The formula I derived to determine the exact relationship between weight on a wheel and weight in the car isn't worth repeating here for one simple reason. It requires that you know the moment of inertia of the wheel, and measuring that is virtually impossible. What you need to know is that changing to tires that are 1 lb heavier will effectively add 8 lbs to the car (four tires, remember) and that adding a pound to the wheels will effectively add somewhere around 6 lbs to the car.

That only considers acceleration and braking; handling is dramatically affected by unsprung weight as well, but no simple formula is going to tell you how big the effect is.



The one useful formula that did come out of my diatribe on inertia was the effect of a light flywheel. Because the flywheel's rotational kinetic energy is directly linked to the car's motion (through the gearbox), you can also calculate the effect of a lighter flywheel. Here's the formula: Next month, we will tell you all about the aluminum FocusSport flywheel we just put in our Project Focus. Until then, know this: The flywheel is 12.5 lbs lighter than stock and has a radius of 5.5-inches; the Focus' first gear is 3.667:1, the final drive is 3.82:1, and the tire radius is 12.1 inches. What's it all mean? In first gear, the car feels more than 250 lbs lighter!

 
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steering responce is dependant on the tire.. For the Average tire, yes you'll get a bit more responce out of them, but for something like the Falken Azenis... My 15s with the Azenis vs my 17s with an allseason tire.... the Azenis are Subtantually more responsive. (the Falken Azenis probably has the stiffest side wall of any Street tire, aside from Dot legal R compound tires)

I notice the difference, the car just feels heavy with my 17s on vs my 15s. Steering responce is quicker, Throttle responce is quicker, braking is better.. of course the tires I am using on my 15s are Designed Specifically for cornering, as they have more in common with a Full race tire then they do with a Street tire.