Tire/rim trade/worth question
 

I am going to be purchasing a 1998 Honda Civic here in the next couple of weeks. The owner has 18" chrome rims and low profile tires on it. She says she paid $1500 for the rims, and $120/tire.

I don't know ANYTHING about cars besides that you put gas, oil, water, other fluids- get the oil changed every 3000 miles, timing belt every 90,000 miles.... I know how to change a tire... but basically I'm a girl and I'm oblivious.

She is selling me the car for a great deal (she's an old friend) and is also replacing the timing belt and the water pump for me.

My question is this: I don't need fancy tires. I need regular tires that are going to last me a long time, not pop easily- and if they do pop- I don't want to spend a grip of money replacing them. I know this guy who is way into racing and wants the rims. He said he knows a guy who just bought a brand new civic and would trade me straigh across, if not pay as well to trade brand new stock Civic tires/rims for the 18" chrome/low pro. tires/rims.

So how do I find out what a good price to ask for is? I'm not one to cheat someone. Honestly- I plan on giving whatever money I get for the tires to the owner for all the money she's putting into replacing the timing belt and water pump.... I just don't know what a fair price is- or how to go about figuring it out.

The guy really seems to 'know his stuff' about cars- and like I said- I'm not a BS artist, nor do I want to become one. I just need some honest opinions on what I should ask for the trade.

Thanks!!!

RE: Tire/rim trade/worth question
 

If you can find out the brand of wheels and tires, and the condition they are in, that would help us to determine they're worth. It suprises me that someone so "into racing" would want to get 18's, but to each their own. Keep us posted and we'll do what we can to help.

RE: Tire/rim trade/worth question
 

I just called my friend (the owner) and got some more detailed specs.

She said she paid a total of $2600 for the tires and the rims. The rims are 18" chrome focal rims with 35 series tires. The numbers on the tires are 215/18/35.

If I trade them for the new stock Civic tires/rims- what is a fair dollar amount to ask for to make it an even trade?

RE: Tire/rim trade/worth question
 

Sorry- I just read the last reply- I don't know the brand of the tire. But both the rims and the tires are brand new... probably have only been on the car about 1-2 months and the car only gets driven to and from work which is about a 10 mile round trip.

You guys rock! Thank you so much for your willingness to help!

RE: Tire/rim trade/worth question
 

Hey, thats what we're here for!

Click me, any of these look familiar?

RE: Tire/rim trade/worth question
 

Yes... they are the exact- if not very very similar as the silver R3's... oh... you're good! ;)

RE: Tire/rim trade/worth question
 

Not an excuse! :D

I don't know how much cash to ask for. But I do know that the stock tire size on an 05 civic (I'm assuming the new one is an 05) is going to be bigger than the stock tire size on the 98. I don't think they will be big enough to rub, but you should know that your speedometer and odometer are going to be a little inaccurate.

btw, welcome to the forum.

RE: Tire/rim trade/worth question
 

Thanks for the welcome! and thanks for the info- I wouldn't have known that.

How do I find out what size rim/tire I need? I could possibly just sell the guy the current rims/tires straight up and just go out and purchase regular economic tires/rims.

Forty: in my last post I had said they are the exact ones- and I was wrong. Close! but no cigar! I got the owner to send me photo's so I'll try to post them after this post.

Thanks again for the help and advice-

RE: Tire/rim trade/worth question
 

Okay- let's see if I did this right!... here is the car- one should be a close up of the tire/rim.

[IMG]local://upfiles/6214/BAEE85FE186140778044131FBFFBA8C3.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/6214/110369565C434570A31D3A58C784CB90.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/6214/8664BE5A650A4D068C9A74EB20DBCA31.jpg[/IMG]

RE: Tire/rim trade/worth question
 

The stock tire size for the '98 is 185/65R14. For the '05 it's 195/60R15. You can compare the sizes here: http://1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp
You'll see it's not a huge difference.

If you do want to look for new rims, you really have a ton of options, look for something with a 4x100 bolt pattern, somewhere in the 14"-16" range, with 45 offset. Might as well pick something you really like. :D

oh and those pics you posted are just thumbnails, they don't get any bigger when I click on them