Hey guys, I have a choice I am faced with, I am purchasing some wheels/tire setup in the next week or two, and need to know what type of setup I can go with. I have a 94 civic cx hatch that hasn't been lowered or anything. So what is the largest wheels I can place on the car to fill out the wheel wells, without lowering it. I don't think I can lower it as it is also a winter car, so it would probally drag to much. I was thinking 16 inch wheels or 15, and wasnt sure what rubber to use? Right now stock I have 14 inch steelies with 185/65/14 rubber on, so what tire would i use with 16's to keep the stock diameter?

 

Dont cover gaps by buying bigger wheels or else your speedometer will read wrong. Only way is to lower the car.
Use a size calculator to find out which size tire you need to match your stock diameter. link below
http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCal...?action=submit

 

thanks dude, ill check that out, and im not sure if i can lower, do u think a 1 to 1.5" lower would hurt the car in the winter?

 

1" = no
anything more = probably if you get a lot of snow

 

Or get a coilover for height adjustment...

 

coilovers sound nice, plus ill get a nicer suspension system too! ill consiso my paln is to lower the hatch 1", (until i get a truck oranother older civic for winter) and I will replace my stock 14" with 15"? You guys think that will be ok with low profile performance tires?

 

Any lowering, either through suspension or a reduction in overall tire diameter, would conceivably hurt your chances of navigating deep snow successfully. If you have the $$,a height-adjustable coilover setup might work ok for you. 185/65-14s on stock steel 14x5.5 wheels are typically around 23.5"in diameter. You could swap in lightweight 15x6s with summer-tread or all-season195/55-15s or 16x6s with 205/45-16s and retain a similar overall tire diameter. If you never see snow up past your airdam, keep your stock steel 14s to mount 185/65-14 or 175/70-14 snow treads like a Blizzak WS-50 or X-Ice in the winter.

If you see really nasty snow in the winter, forget driving the Civic year-round. Get the best 15 or 16" summer tire/wheel package you can afford, sell your stock steel wheels, and put that towards the purchase of a mechanically-sound 4WD/AWD beater you can resale in the spring. Pick a smallvehicle that is common in your area (Subaru wagon, Chevy Tracker, Toyota pickup,Jeep Wrangler, etc.)andget a cheap set of 14-15" rims you can mount decent snow tires on. Then you just pick up the same type of 4WD every fall (check for the same wheel bolt-pattern), swap your snowtreads onto it, drive it on bad snow days, swap the treads it came with back on, and sell it or part it out every spring.
Jeep Wrangler may be a great deal because they have plenty of ground-clearance, are pretty common, have the same wheelbolt-pattern from '87-'06, are mechanically simple, and can retain their valuefrom fall to spring. You can also run super-aggressive, drift-bustingsiped treadsthatmilder vehicles can't (like a Trxus MT or Parnelli Jones Dirt Grip), since a 31x10.5/15 on a 15x7 with 4.5" backspacing will fit with little or no modifications. Treads like these, on a torquey 4WD, will drag you through drifts over 2-3ft high. If it gets much deeper than that where you live, you can always get awinch to swap on every fall.

 

Don't go lower than an inch. Less roll and with 17" rims it should ride well and feel good. Eibach makes some good suspension springs.

 

cool thanks, and i like that 4x4 idea!