I got a 98 civic ex with greddy evo 2 cat back, max flow high flow cat, dc sports 4-2-1 header, and AEM cold air intake, and short shifter as my performance mods....My friend has the same car but instead he has a axle back exhaust of some sort and a AEM short ram intake and a short shifter...before i got my 17" tenzo r mean 6 gunmetal wheels we used to race and i would beat him easily everytime....i used to even give him a head start and i would eventually pass him and win...there was no question that my car was definatley faster...i got my rims a lil while ago and we raced yesterday for the first time in a while and this time we went next to each other pretty much the whole way he actually was ahead too, i couldnt beat him like i used tooo...i was soo pissed but my question is do u think the rims are making my car that much slower? and i know it aint my injectors or nething...thanks ps: he got the stock wheels on his

 

less rubber

 

More rotating mass and gives you taller gears. 17's are a big difference in low end compared to stockers. You would wear him out top end though.

 

My friend just got those tenzo gunmetal 17"s and they look tight! He said he hasn't noticed any loss of acceleration, but I don't think he's raced on them yet, and he said the handling felt a bit better. I'm still on my stock 15"s, but I'm not sure if I want to upgrade to bigger wheels.

 

well i took my rims off and put the stocks back on and raced my friend again and the rims
werent really slowing me down...my cars not pulling like it used too, ive lost a significant amount of power somehow.. were going even pretty much the whole way and hes only got axle back and short ram as compared to me having cat back , high flow cat, headers and cold airand i used to beat him easily even giving him a head start so if u get 17's they wont hurt ur power that much maybe a lil slight diff in ur pick up but thats all nothing big..

 

It doesn't matter what size wheel you have, as long as you keep the outside diameter of the tire the same size as your stock diameter, then it won't change your gear ratio or screw up your speedo.

 

Yea what Nego said.

 

i just keep reading it over and over trying to figure out what he is talking about shhh.....don't tell anyone i'm still lost in the sauce

 

Okay, break it down..........

If the outside diameter of the tire does not change, the only difference will be the physical looks and the handling performance.

 

May be a silly question but how do find out what your stock diameter is?