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I bought my 2001 Honda Civic EX sedan used off Craigslist. The previous owners informed me that the wheels it had are "too big". It has fancy chrome rims and Pirelli tires, size 225/45 R18...
Since I'm pretty sure the factory standard size is 185/65 R15, that's quite a difference.
​​​​​​While it's annoyingly noisy when driving, I don't think they are causing any problems but I know next to nothing about cars, especially tires.
Are these wheels gonna mess my car up in the long run?

 
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https://www.civicforums.com/forums/t...calculator.php

the tire OD is quite bigger than stock (people here normally uses 215 or 225/45R17
Speedo and distance traveled will be off, be careful of any radars.

I think the width maximum was 225 in the rear

 
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see MaxTierney's responses here, though

https://www.civicforums.com/forums/4...ml#post4515135

 
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Ok, so I have access to a full set of rims/tires off a different civic (I think a 1999). These are 185/65/R14 - would they fit my civic better than the massive ones it has now?

 
Rep Power: 512

The "too big" part just means your speedometer will be off by a bit and with that treadwidth, you'll be rubbing more than stock (or adequately plus sized tires)

for 18's you'd wanna look at 205/40-18 tires. 18's will be fine if you wanna stick with those, just get a proper tire size. 225 is a bit wide for the 7th gen civic.

If you wanted to drop down to 14's, you'd wanna go with what came stock on the DX/LX trims, 185/70-14. With 185/65-14, your speedometer will read about 4.2% slow (indicated 60mph, you'll actually be going 57.5mph) which would, in turn, make your odometer reading way off, too. It'll be marginally better than what you have right now, since the 225/45-18's are 6.2% off (indicated 60mph, you're actually going 63.7mph)

As far as the tire noise, could be the tire itself. If you're running pirellis, there's a chance they're performance oriented. instead of comfort oriented. They could be grippy as hell making lots of road noise.

And since you said you don't know anything about tires, in particular, here's how to read a tire size:
The first number (before the /) is the tire treadwidth in mm (e.g. 185/... is a 185mm wide tire)
The second number (after the /) is the sidewall height, as a percentage of the treadwidth (185/65 means the sidewall height is 65% of 185, or 120.25mm high)
The third number (could be preceded with and R or just a dash or another slash) is the rim diameter it fits on (185/65-14 or 185/65 R14 means it fits on a 14 inch rim)

here's the tire calculator I use to get all those % change numbers: https://www.wheel-size.com/calc/

 
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Wow...first: THANK YOU for all that great info, I really appreciate the help.

I think I'm gonna switch to the 14s - I do get an awful lot of road noise with what's on my car now.

 
Rep Power: 512

That's what we're here for. We got you covered.

Just make sure that when you go to replace the tires, you go with the aforementioned 185/70-14s. Any decent tire place would likely recommend that, anyways

 
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Will a 14 inch wheel even fit over the calipers? The EX trim came stock with 15s.

 
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Rotors and pads are the same for EX/DX/LX.
Did 3 front brake jobs between the 2 05s I had, only had one option for rotor size