I heard some rumors that 17" rims with low pro tires will ride rough? Is this true? Would I be better of with 16" rims do you think?

 

Lol its no rumor. with 17 inch tires you need a low profile tire, and you can "feel" every bump on the road a lot better. It is fine if you dont mind the bumpiness

 

Of course it will ride rough.
After having 17's, I wouldn't get anything smaller.
17's are pure sex.

 

honestly anything smaller than !6" or 17" looks dumb, and ik now thats just my opinion, most people around here really dig the smaller rims. Not me though. 17"s with the right size tire and a nice drop look AWESOME and 6th+ gens. 5th gens i think 16"s would be the max though. The ride will definitely suffer, depending on the what the middle number on your tire size is. For example, my 205/40/17 tires. The 205 is the overall, and thats just a few millimeters bigger than stock. The 40 is what perfect of the overall size of the wheel is tread or something, idk, but the lower the number the rougher the ride. Then 17 because htey fit 17" rims. I wouldnt want any smaller tires than that, especially with a drop. The ride suffers pretty bad, but i htnk the looks are worth it.

 

My 08 Si runs nice on the stock 17' with the low profiles.
Of course most people are extreme pickey about the ride, but takin courners like they aint **** scream class all on its own.

 

^ my friends 07 SI has black w/ polished lip 19" rims. The overall wheel actaully fit perfect and it didnt like he was going off-roading at all haha but now he's got an s2k and has 17"s on that. He says anything bigger would be ridiuclous on that car, and i agree. i say go 17" at the max, 16" preferably though. The ride comfort/looks balance isj ust about perfect with 16"s IMO

 

...And now for some coherent English.

This thread should really be in the Wheels/Suspension forum, but oh well.

Low-profile tires have less sidewall to absorb impacts, so they tend to ride rougher than tires with a larger profile. Ride can be improved with changes to springs and shocks though. Different generations of Civic can fit different sizes of tires, so while a 17" rim may seem large on a 5th gen, it isn't very large on a 7th gen.

In reading the sidewall numbers, a 205/40-17 will be 205mm wide, the sidewall will be 40% as tall as the width, and the tire will be for use on a 17" rim. 205 is the width in mm. 40 is the height of the sidewall, expressed as a percentage of the width.

 

thats what i was talking about, thanks for clearing that up.

 

I had 17s on my 98 when I had it... it wasnt bad. It really depends on if you live near a lot of sh1tty roads or not. I happen to be lucky and have few pot holes and even less speed bumps and such. So 17s for me with 205/40/17 tires wasnt a problem.

 

To the true auto enthusiast, its not about looks. Function>Form