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Im in the process of buying new rims/tires, and a drop. Im thinking of keeping the stock wheel size of 15' with a 7inch wide tire, like 205/55/15 or so. Now my question is would the ride quality be better if i went with this setup or a size bigger like 205/50/16 or something. I plan to drop the car about 1.5inches all the way around, any info yall can provide will be appreiciated...

 
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the bigger the tire the more comfortable its gonna be. The only thing is the size...a 7" tire is pretty friggin huge and you dont wanna end up lookin like one of those 4x4's that have huge *** tires

 
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also keep in mind that any time you switch the springs, its never really gonna improve the ride as far as comfort is concerned. I just put on some Neuspeed Sport Springs (1.75" drop in front and 1.5" in back) with some Tokico Blues. The ride now is much stiffer, which is great if youre looking for that, but the comfort is also slightly decreased. Keep in mind I'm also riding on 205/40/17's so having a bigger tire size could help the comfort level a lot more.

 
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7" isnt a "huge" width...and a 205 width isnt that wide either. i had 225's on my 17X7's and they looked very good.

dnbguy, ride quality will depend on the middle number in the tire size. so if you go to a 50 for the 16" vs a 55 for the 15" you might feel a bit more bumps in the road. but honestly, you really wont be able to tell because both are pretty thick sidewalls. you really start feeling it when you get into the 40s, and you probably wont get there w/ a 15 or 16" rim.

now, the other thing you should be asking is what kind of handling characteristics you are looking for. because with a higher middle number, there is more likelihood that you will get more sidewall flex in hard cornering. might translate to sloppy/wobbly/uncertain feeling in your turns.

also, if you lower your car, put in aftermarket dampers, like koni yellows or KYB or tokico or something. it will improve your ride and handling.

 
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Well, this is my daily driver and i want something that will still handle decent but i in no way want to sacrifice ride quality. id perfer to put on some 205/50/16's if possible.but one thing i noticed is the stock spring/struts on my civic kinda suck. i can drive down the freeway and bounce quite often, id like to get rid of that. will going to this new setup help relieve that bouncing ?
Thanxs for the help ^^^^^, you got repped...!

 
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if youre bouncing w/ stock wheels/tires on stock suspension, you might have blown your shocks. the tires/wheels you get wont get rid of that. you will still bounce. although, i wouldnt panic yet either. if its a sedan, and a 2001 sedan, thats a common issue w/ it. the rear was poorly designed, so it bounces. if you are thinking of lowering your car anyway, do it and put in aftermarket shocks (there are reviews in the suspension forum). do it all at once, it will be less hassle. to change tires is really no big deal though, and it wont negatively affect the stress on your shocks if you dont lower your car.

if you are going w/ 16s you can go 215/50/16 and its gonna be a perfect match to stock diameter. and with a 50 the ride will be pretty smooth. that would be a perfect fit.

if you are sticking w/ 15x7s you can put some 215 or 225/55 tires on there no problem and you will probably feel very little loss in ride quality.

some might say 215 and 225 might be pushing it...but i dont think its too bad at all as far as width. the wider the tire, the more the contact patch, the better the grip, the better the handling.

play w/ the tire calculator to see what you like. http://www.7thgencivic.com/index.php?page=tirecalc&

 
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i hope your not riding over bumps when you say your car bounces on stock suspension... its no caddy.

if your looking for ride quality, i think the most important factor would be struts/shocks. some are stiff, some are soft/firm, some you can adjust (koni yellows?). then look into which springs your buying... i believe the higher the spring rate, the stiffer itd be.


as of those 2 tire sizes you provided, i think both will ride just fine, 50 series tires are thick enough to handle rough road conditions IMO. as pbfoot said, when you get into the 40 series tire mark, thats when you think about comfort of the tires.

 
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i was in the same boat as you and started with the wheels and tires.

a 205/50/16 BF Goodrich Traction T/A V wrapped around the 7-spoke (6.5" wide) Honda HFP rim. it was a nice handling improvement over stock, but still had the bounce thing going on over bridges and stuff.

so i installed some eibach pro-kit springs and kyb agx struts and it really solved the problem.

being an inch lower to the ground, handling is 100x better and i no longer have the up and down floaty bounce thing happening on the highway... but that handling increase comes with a slight decline in ride smoothness. it was a trade i was willing to make tho.

i've been told the tokico hp's mate very well with the pro-kit and even the stock springs if you're not willing to commit to the ~1" drop.

 
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I'm on Tein S-Techs, stock shocks and 205/55VR15 Traction T/A's with Si wheels. Rides like stock whem I'm alone, little bumpy in the rear with a full laod.