....in Vista, CA - GREAT place with super-high quality wheels. Unfortunately, their wheels start at 17 or 18-inch diameter, but they are eyeing the Lotus market. The Chief of Engineering gave us the tour and avery good explainationabout what to look for in wheels. He stressed very strongly that the most common mistake people make is to buy super-heavy and giant wheels, totally killing acceleration, braking and ride characteristics. Most of their wheels go on Porsche 911s, but the parking lot had many Lambos, Ferraris, Vipers, and Corvettes.All wheels are forged (multi or single piece) and then machined on some impressive machines. One of their 21 or 22-inch wheels weighs just 25 lbs - incredible! We were shown an FEA program (Finite Element Analysis) that helps them to keepeach wheel strong enough, while cutting as much weight as possible.

Upsizing wheels and tires is always a balance of size, weight, and handling. The larger the wheel, the greater the weight, the poorer the braking and the better the steering response. For most Civics, I believe 16-inchers should be the maximum diameter, but light-weight 15s with 50 aspect ratios are great for less-than-smooth roads.

Dave

 

the 15's that are on my car (that were on when i bought them) weigh 25 lbs...[:'(]

 

Incredible! Now THAT'S a sure sign of non-existant engineering at the company that made such pooly-designed wheels! Any 15-incher that weighs more than 14 lbs is not worth buying, IMO.