I have a 94 accord LX 4door. Stock rims are really starting to look like garbage. In the spring I plan on doing rims, tires, suspension and fresh paint.

First question is, (since I'm a total newb to this car) what the stock rim size, and whats the best reasonable tire size...15? 16? 17? width? offset?

also, are there any special tuners or spedometer gears that I need to get to have the odometer read correctly if I changed the size from stock? I dont want to be running up the mileage on the car if I'm not actually going as far as it says i am lol

 

Assuming it's the same as the CB7, I believe the stock size is 5.5J (5.5" wide rim) X 15 (15" diameter). Rim width is important relative to the tyre section width (which isn't the tread width, but the nominal tyre case width measured at the widest part at the sidewall, but just to make this more complicated this will in reality vary on the same tyre when fitted to different width rims). I'll bet the stock tyre size is 195/60/15 (195 being the section width in millimetres, 60 being the aspect ratio, 15 being rim diameter in inches, I don't know why tyre manufacturers insist on mixing metric and imperial measurement units, an odd historical convention I expect), which is a very wide tyre for that rim width (gives a softer ride).

If the tyre is on the wide side of what's acceptable to fit on a given rim the sidewalls will act as if they were effectively softer, the ride will become softer, butthis will adversly affect steering response and handling (but probably won't affect grip as such). I would always select the tyre I wanted to use first, then look at the tyre manufacturer's recommended range of rim widths for that particular tyre I intend using, and pick a rim that is toward the wider end of tyre manufacurer's recommemnded rim width. A rule of thimb here is that the tread should be no wider than the rim width, and in most cases perhaps a little bit narrower than the rim width. On the other hand if you're not interested in sharp handlingand more interested in a cushy ride then a narrower rim on a wider tyre is the way to go.

If buying new rims and tyres to suit I'd be wanting to go to a bigger diameter and wider rim, and this would enable me to reduce the aspect ratio. The lower the aspect ratio the more harsh the tyre will tend to be, but it shouldn't be too bad unless you go mad with rim diameter. 17" seems to be a popular choice, but good tyres on 16s is probably a good all round choice.

A lot of people use 17 or even 19 inch rims mostly for looks, but I find such big wheels look very strange because you end up with the brake looking tiny and lost in a huge void. IMO for this to look OK you really need to fill the void by fitting larger discs, which looks very purposeful and is a good thing in itself so long as it's set up properly. I don't find smaller brakes on the rear to look quite so naff because for a performance application large brakes are simply not needed on the rear, whereas small brakes on the front lost insidehuge rims just look like a ****.

19 inch rims I would avoid because they will tend to be harsh (very short tyre sidewall, that will also tend to be much stiffer than a higher profile), and more prone to damage (less protection from impact because of the short sidewall and the sidewall being 'too' stiff). Keep in mind that a very short sidewall (as with 19" rims) will tend to sharpen up steering response, but won't necessarily create better handling because you do need some reasonable amount of sidewall compliance, especially on less than perfectly smooth surfaces. Having said this you want to avoid tyres with sidewalls that are too soft, a good compromise might be a 16" tyre with a fairly stiff sidewall. Very large rims will also weigh more because there is substantially more metal in the 'hoop' of the rim, and this adds to 'unsprung' weight which is a bad thing for handling. You want any mass that is not supported by the springs to be as small as reasonably possible, though on a road car it's probably no big deal unless the weight penalty is quite large.

I would avoid going to a substantially wider tread width on a front drive car, this can cause all sorts of problems with torque steer effects, especially on less than smooth roads (this is less of an issue with rear drive because you don't get torque steer affects with rear drive, though you do get a similar affect when braking). Personally I would be looking atideally a 205 section tyre on an appropriate rim width, and definitely no greater than 215 max (which may be fine if you only drive on smooth roads).

Wider tyres also weigh significantly more, and the wider you go the more likely you are to run into clearance problems, and perhaps the harder it will be to maintain a reasonable offset.You want to attempt to make no change to the offset when going to a wider tyre / rim as this will increase the scrub radius and may increase any torque steer effects and also may make the steering heavier (though with PS this isn't likely to be problematic), but a small change (say 10mm or so?) is probably OK. A good tyre retailer will be able to advise on specifics.

You shouldn't need to make any changes to the speedo etc because as you go up in rim diameter and width you can go to a lower profile, the aim (in this instance) being to maintain the same or very close to the same rolling circumference as the stock tyres. Your tyre retailer will be able to advise you, or there are some on-line calculators that will help you figure it out (try 'tyre / tire rim width calculator' in a search engine). You're current profile is probably 60 (sidewall height being 60% of tread width), and it is possible to go as low as 35, but this is getting a bit silly. A good all round aspect for a road car is likely to be closer to 55 or 50 (IMO).

 

Hi Member..your stock size wheels and tires should be as follows..Tires ...185/70/14 or 195/60/15 depending on which rims your Honda has on them..they came with both sizes..which size rim do you have [sm=smiley25.gif]

WheelBrokerAng

[IMG]local://upfiles/22/0BEE5C78691A4DE19F43B2BFA2D04FD1.jpg[/IMG]

 

Don't go any lower than a 42 offset...bigger than 17" wheel....or a tire with a tread width bigger than 225 and a sidewall lower than 45.

 

the LX has the 185 not the 195 i believe...