hey guys i was looking through the forum and noticed most of u guys have 17's on ur civic
i have a 02 lx coupe currently with stock steelies
if i was to put 17's on it what modifications would i have to do to the car ?
and how is ur ride with 17's is it smoother then the steelies ?

I'd go with 16s. I woudnt even go 17s. If you like the way it looks, thats really the only reason for it. your not going to get performance out of it (probably less actually). especially with the bologna skin tires people usually pair them with. And the ride is not going to be as smooth as stock, let alone smoother. Id get 16s with a thicker tire. better performance and ride quality and still looks good IMO. Theres really no mods you need to do to just put them on the car. as long as they are the correct lug pattern they will go on. Mods you would want to do shortly after (have to do IMO) suspension drop, camber kit and get an alignment.

with 17s, the ride will be harsh, acceleration will be slower, greater chance of blowing a tire or bending a rim, among other things.

yea most of us hav 16" rims.... i think the only reason why you think "most" of us hav 17" is beause only most of the ricers post of this forum..hahhaha jk...

but on a serious note, 16" is the way to go because its still semi light and it does give you a bit more low profile look

some 17s look smaller than others. depends on the design. personally I think 16s or 17s will be alright

My 17" Volk performs much better than most 16" and 15" rims. But it rides like ****.

maybe u need bigger tires?
most people with 17s use 205 45 or 215 40
im on 215 45 - jus thave to sacrifice some camber and roll ur rear fender

im on 205/40 - with GC/Koni all the way down.

how light are ur rims?

alot of factors contribute to the performance of the car regularding weight.

if ur tires on ur rims (usually 17" are wider and the weight is further out) are wider, there is more weight on the outter diameter of the wheel, and therefore ur car will be more sluggish.

most 17" are up to 16-20lbs...which is ALOT for the immense p0wa our engine puts out.

my 13lb rims perform quite well.

I agree, 16's for performance, 17's for the look. I have 17's and love em, but there are times I wish I went with a light 16 for performance. I can sure as hell take some fun turns though when its dry.

I like my 17's. i have 215/45/17 tires(yokohama ats) and the ride is actually pretty smooth. Also i am dropped 1.75 front and 1.5 rear (neuspeed sport) 1 finger gap all around. So you would need to do no modifying.

Wut's the point of getting 16" when OEM's are 15"? I see no point of wasting money just for 1" difference plus getting new tires on it. U can keep the OEM Wheel size and just get new wheels to go with ur current tires.

17" is perfect size in my opinion, it does not make ur car look like it's riding on Donut lookin tires. I have 215/45-17 and I'm a heavy user on my car, I ride it rough on Hwys and I had been driving on OEM's for 2yrs but now with 17's I find the ride to be the same, perhaps even better.

My 17's weigh 15.6lbs per rim -heavier than your 13lb per rim. Wow thats light.

^ya, they're pretty ligiht...

when i had 205/45/16 tires on em, the car felt REALLY REALLY light n responsive...

i decided to go closer to OEM sizee (with wider width) and i got 215/50/16 and BOYYYYYYYYYYY what a difference i felt in the car.... A LOTTTT MORE sluggish...

for example with the 215's in 5th gear doing 60mph, and if i WOT the car, it deffinatly didnt feel as fast/torquey as the 205

only if you 17" knew how much more responsive ur car is with light rims...you'd defiantly reconsider. (with the exception of high end light weight 17" rims)

+1 is a big difference man. we arent try to roll dubs on a civic or something. i dont see why it would matter if its only +1 OEM. its like saying damn that civic is sick but its only +1 bigger than oem so thats wack. lol

at any rate... 16's ftw.

18++ Wud lead to that kind of look, especially if it's Chrome YUKK!!!

15"-17" are not DUB style. But I have seen many pple with 16" wheels and also 15", For 16" it's extremely hard to tell if they are +1 or OEM size. And yet it gives a look of DONUT Shape.

(Remember, this is just my Opinion)

Look into This Thread, Majority of the Civic owners prefer 17".

Are they all Stupid?

LOL nobody has answered his question yet.. if you were to put 17's on you're going to have to lower the car as well. it just looks incredibly goofy at stock height w/ rims of that size in my opinion. If you don't want to lower the car go with 16's definately

do you get a body shop to roll the rear fenders? How much does something like that cost?

^somewhere between 40-60 bucks....or do it urself....hahah for free

i dont reccomend that u roll ur own fender unless u have a fender roller.
and it all depends on the shop - our civics fenders are real loose and relatively easy to roll so it shant be that much.

But a body shop is the place to get it done?

arent the stock steelies 14 inch ??
this is what i want to do
A) get the Goodyear Assurance TripleTred tire size P185/70R14 for my stock steelies
or
B) i guess i would buy 16 inch rims and find nice tires

would my ride be better / smoother ride ? with stock or 16's ?

oh and im willing to spend around $1200
also the tires would have to be all season

just get some rota wheel, pretty cheap (3-400), some kuhmos (300 a set), and some sort of drop. i suggest you get 205/50/16. i have that on my car, perfect size IMHO. closest size to stock sized tire and it still gives you that low pro look.

What is the best 16" tire size for ride comfort?

45 or 50 mm. I like may 17's and from my experience they out perform 16's but,but,but, they ride like crap. Every little bump and it feels harsh because of the thinner tire and my car isn't that low. I had 16's on my last Civic and similar suspension set up (same drop, same shocks, dif. coilovers) and it's a big difference when it comes to comfort. I think I may get some 16's and lower the car more. Most "racers" use bigger wheels to put bigger tires for a wider contact patch but the extra 10 or 20 lbs doesn't matter in my opinion when you're pushing 500+ HP. In a 100HP Civic that 10 or 20 lbs matters.

so i am in the same catch, stuck btwn 16s or 17s. i do not plan to do anything engine wise, at most an intake. i have an 03 EX sedan. i just would like to keep it clean n nice. i drive my car everyday bc i commute to school, approx 15-20mi so performance is key for me. and from reading this thread it seems like 16s are the best bet? i found a set with 205/45/16 (Kumho AST).
rims

here they are. (i have a beige color)

^^ if you want your car to look good with a 45 sidewall on 16s you gotta SLAMMMMMM it. i am pretty slammed and i think its the perfect look with my 50 sidewall. so i suggest you get a 50 sidewall unless your gonna slam your car. lol. i have an 02 sedan...

here is my old look, still the same drop and tire though. https://www.civicforums.com/forums/4...k-warning.html

https://www.civicforums.com/forums/4...s2-reppin.html
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/4...sedan-ftw.html

k im done whoring this thread. lol

how much did u lower yours by? and how much would i need to lower mine by if i went with 45mm?
your look is nice.