my 97 civic has 14" stock rims..would 16 make my car look really high off of the ground, or would 15 be a better choice..i just don't want it to be ghetto'd out.ha

 

16's with 205/45's will be fine for your car and will not alter the ride height. 15's are also a great choice with either 195/55/R15's or 205/40/R15's depending on the rim width.

 

The main thing is sizing the tire correctly for the rim diameter. You can actually increase the rim diameter without changing the overall tire diameter. If your stock tire is a 185/65-14 on a 14x5.5 rim, your tires are 23.5" in diameter and about 7.25-7.33" (185mm) wide. To stay close to stock ride height while running a lower profile, you'd wantrims 6-7" wide and some:

14s = 195/60-14s or 205/55-14s
15s = 195/55-15s or 205/50-15s
16s = 195/50-16s or 205/45-16s
17s = 205/40-17s

Keep in mind that while your actual ride height will not really change, the visual effect with larger rims and lower-profile tires will often make your Civic appear higher. The 14" alloys I run on a stock'00 sedan look like donuts, but they're really inexpensive. I'd go with a moderately bigger rim (like 16s) if you're shooting for looks and cornering without compromising ride too much. 17s would be noticeably more harsh in the ride department.

Save your stock 14" rims to mount snowtreads on if you see blizzards in the winter.

 

Kommando......... perfectly put. YOU understand how to do it correctly.........