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-   -   Honda Civic : Tyre & wheel upgrade thread (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/tyre-alloy-wheel-section/26758-honda-civic-tyre-wheel-upgrade-thread-42.html)

Michelin has only two tyres for mainstream passenger cars. Michelin XM2 and the Primacy 3 ST. Both are available in different sizes and both are good.

hi, i recently bought a 2007 AT Civic and the previous owner, I guess has changed the tyres in 2012 as I can see from the date on all the 4 tyres. They are MRL ZV2K tyres. I can see surface cracks on both the front tyres and also can hear road noise. Are the surface cracks, 5 years old and road noise normal ? because the tyre is still left with descent amount of tread and they are otherwise in good shape.

If I want to change, i would like to upsize it to 205 65 r15 and a big dealer in Chennai is quoting an attractive price of Rs. 4500 per tire for Goodyear Assurance Duraplus 205 65 r15 and he assures a recently manufactured one. Is it required to change it now or better to pull on for some more time ?

Any other options for Civic at this price range ? since my running is low, i am not willing to plonk too much money, but i would like to have descent reliability in both wet and dry conditions, reduced road noise and durable. Kindly advise. thanks.

Swami

Guys, I am on the verge of finalizing a pre-owned Civic and will be buying a new set of tires soon after I get my hands on the car and have a dilemma of whether sticking with 15" or go for 16" ones, as I am quite worried about the longer wheelbase + soft suspension combo which might affect my long rides with full load and luggage.

I did some number crunching, thanks to the calculation given by kpzen in one of the old threads I have quoted and now I am confused. Have put the table I created capturing variances from the Overall Diameter (OD) from the stock set up and also putting across the change in the ground clearance from the stock set up. Please correct me if I have done it wrong.





Here are my points -

1. Simple solution is to just upgrade the tire to 205/65/R15 which most people have done on this thread too, which seems to increase GC by 6.5 mm, but it has a variance of 2.05% from stock OD. Is this ok?

2. For upgrading rim size to 16", I have read in this thread that 205/55/R16 is the perfect upgrade size since it has a minimal variance in OD - 0.41%, but it seems to reduce the GC by 1.3 mm from the stock set up. Here my question is why even though I am increasing the rim size by 1" which is 100 mm, the GC is reduced by 1.3 mm. I am totally in loss of understanding the logic here (pardon my ignorance).

My actual need is to increase the GC by a healthy margin without compromising much with the Overall Diameter, which I understand can cause speedo errors. What would you guys suggest?

In the comparison table I have just given various other sizes, just for theoretical purposes.

KK

Hi!

The main problem with the Civic is the soft suspension & long wheel base rather than just the ground clearance as a figure itself. Plus my personal opinion is that it is not an 'under-tired' car. What I suggest is that keep the tire sizes stock and rather go for ROGERAB or similar products which can address the soft suspension issue and it will sort out some handling issues as well.

Refer to this thread: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techn...uspension.html

One major disadvantage of going for 205s (or higher), Civic has a pretty average low end. Going with wider foot print shall aggravate the issue, more so in the city. Also, the hydraulic steering pump of Civic is a kind of known achilles heel. I wouldn't want to stress that part further with wider track.

Regards,
Saket

Wow, never knew of this. Thanks for sharing this thread, have read most of the pages over there and I understand there are two brands now which are generally bought, Indisuspension and Rogerab. Will look at both of them and decide which one to go and both costs similar sum. A sigh of relief now.

KK

You are increasing the wheel size by 1 inch which is 25.4 millimeter and not 100 mm. Problem is your aspect ratio which is the tire’s sidewall height as a percentage of the tire’s section width. The aspect ratio is 55% of 205 MM in case of 205/55R16 and 65% of 195 MM in case of 195/65R15.



Both 195/65R15 and 205/55R16 were stock sizes for Honda Civic. Only the entry-level DX model used to come with 195/65R15 tire size. Back in the day, I used to have a 2008 Civic (LX) that came with 205/55R16 size from the factory. The difference between the two sizes is 0.1 inches that is 2.54 millimeter which is negligible.



Your choice of tire size will not have much impact on the suspension/ride if you stick to the recommended load rating as that of the stock tire. The ground clearance will only be impacted if you opt for a larger size (larger than 205/55R16) but that may end up impacting your steering and suspension geometry.

There is hardly any difference in weight (1Lbs) between the 195/65R15 & 205/55R16 so don’t worry about it.

Both 205/60R16 and 205/65R16 will have a much larger OD with larger than 2.5% recommended variance.

My advice would be to stick to 205/55R16 that was the pretty much the stock size and came standard on 90% of Civics sold in North America. The largest recommended size will be 205/60R16 if you're really keen on increasing the ground clearance.

205/55R16 or the 205/60R16will have a slightly wider footprint and will be my recommendation.

Hope this helps. All the best!

Thanks for your detailed post Vikram Arya.

You are right, my bad :Frustrati Had considered 25.4 only for all my calculation but while writing I did mistake.


Hmm, that's why even an increase of 1" in rim size didn't help in increasing the GC.

So just to understand, does rim upgrade from 15" to 16" helps in any other way, leaving the GC aside.

I am now leaning towards not upgrading the tyre size or the rims and stick to the stock tyre size with installing the suspension buffers as mentioned by Saket77. Will ride for a couple of thousand with this set up and then decide based on what I feel.

KK

I’ve been using 205/55 R16 for more than a lakh kms now. I feel this to be right size for Civic. However you can stick to the 195 section as you feel. The only perceivable difference is in aesthetics. I haven’t seen any change in mileage or steering between the two sizes.

Also on the bump stop on your springs, I had them installed and removed it immediately after 2-3k kms, suggest you to ride your car stock for few thousand kms and decide. The ride without the bumpstop is great most of the times except when fully loaded.

I have a 2008 Civic and its time to replace my Michelin tyres. The Michelins were much better than the stock Bridgestones in terms of ride quality and have lasted roughly the same time and distance.

I have had some trouble with power steering, as the pump was near empty, however, havent seen it again after refilling. Not sure upsizing it to 205 will have an impact?

What tyres would give equivalent ride quality to the Michelins at cheaper prices esp. if i move to 205 from 195.

I've a 2008 Civic 1.8V too, and for the past 4 years or so, I've been using XM2 Energy 205/65 without a single problem.

Time to change tires for my 2008 Civic - I've been using XM2 Energy 205/65.

When I go to Tyre Plus (Whitefield) next week, should I choose XM2 Energy 205/65 once again, or, are there better alternatives now?

Thanks in advance :)

I thought the options are 195/65/15 or 205/55/16. Didnt know 205/65 is recommended without modifications?

If price isnt a concern, primacy is a much better tyre.

205 65 R15 is the proper upsize. I have used it for around 5 years (Turanza).

The immediate effect is as below

1. Better and comfortable ride.
2. Heavier steering.
3. Bit slower off the red lights/stops due to higher rolling resistance.
4. A tad lower fuel efficiency again due to above mentioned 3rd point.
5. Increase in a bit of ground clearance.
6. The car will look hotter with beefier tires.

I later went on to standard size as I did not wanted to tax the power steering and also for improved acceleration and better mileage.

1. Yes - the car holds the road like a tank.
2. Couldn't notice.
3. Again, I didn't see any lag - it just zooms away.
4. Maybe - did not measure.
5. Definitely yes - the car could easily manage Bangalore's worst speed breakers.
6. :D

This is good. Can you (or, someone) explain the advantages of Primacy over Energy XM2.

Since I plan to change the tires very soon, this information will be very useful.

Thanks. :)

Primacy is quieter and more comfortable ride. Energy has higher road noise but I think better fuel efficiency.

Btw I just checked with tyre empire and they are quoting 7k for Primacy 4.is that ok?