Hey, I was wondering if anybody out there has put 225/50/15 tires on their lowered civics. And what offset the rims were. Or just let me know what tires you are running. Right now I have 205 and they fit just fine, but I want wider for auto-x. Any help appreciated.
Thanks!
Leo

Anything wider than 205 width, and you'll have rub problems. I have an '00 Civic coupe, lowered about "2 and rolling on a set of 205/50 15 Yokohama ES100 tires, and 15x6.5 size Rota C8 rims, and sometimes the edge of my fenders will rub the tires when I auto-X or even normal street drive. You can get away with 215 width, but then you'll get some possible tire rub on the inside edge of the tire from the inside of the wheel well if you turn wheel to full lock in either direction. It also depends on the size of wheel you are using. I know of guys running "13 13x9 size wheels (245 width I believe that is) but have a mean offset on the wheels and use spacers as well with them. Unless you use spacers, 215 is as absolutely wide as you can go.

i just bought a 93 4dr civic LX and it came with 205/50/15s, do you guys know if they are damaging my suspension and if so what i can do to fix it/upgrade, whatever, i dig the wheels and would rather not have to buy new ones........

those are the tires I originally had on my civic, never had a problem with them. Well actually I had those in the front and 195s in the rear so I dont know if that would rub in the rear but if I do get 225s on the car, I think I might go with 205 or maybe 215s, but if I get anything wider I will let you know what I see. I dont think you should have a problem, specially is you have stock suspension.

For 225's your probably gonna need to roll the fenders. You can get some pretty big meats on a civic though, motormatrix is running 255's on the front of their "Street" car.

I know guys who have 235/45x14" tires on their 13x8" wheels with no problems but that is because the profile is so small.

With 225 wide tires on a 15" rim you will rub unless you are not dropped much OR if you have really stiff springs. Plenty of guys in stock class run 225 width tires on 15x6" rims. But you would need 225/45x15" so it will not mess up your speedo and odometer. But it's not really worth it unless you are a die hard autocrosser.

I know guys who have 235/45x14" tires on their 13x8" wheels with no problems but that is because the profile is so small.


I know a couple guys rocking 13x9 and 13x10 on their 5th gen hatchbacks for auto-X! :eek: Ever heard of a guy named James Brett Howell, or JBHowell for short? He won the national championship last year in FSP class I believe it was, he rocks 13x9's. They look SOO funny, but do a world of good that's the differance between night and day.

no, I cant say Im a die hard autocrosser. I think Im just going to go with 205/50/15. Previously I had 205 in front and 195 rear. I needed two new tires in front so I went wider just because but I later learned that some people actually do this in order to compensate for understeer. Well, I wrecked the civic due to my back tires loosing traction on a turn, true it was a wet road but I was wondering if I had 205's in the rear if the same would have happened? I thought it felt good on the track when the rear kinda cut loose, I need all new rims and tires, I dont know if I should go 205 all around or 195 in the rear. I know Im changing around from what I previously had thought of but I decided to keep the civic a daily driver. Not so much a track car only like I had previously planned.

no, I cant say Im a die hard autocrosser. I think Im just going to go with 205/50/15. Previously I had 205 in front and 195 rear. I needed two new tires in front so I went wider just because but I later learned that some people actually do this in order to compensate for understeer. Well, I wrecked the civic due to my back tires loosing traction on a turn, true it was a wet road but I was wondering if I had 205's in the rear if the same would have happened? I thought it felt good on the track when the rear kinda cut loose, I need all new rims and tires, I dont know if I should go 205 all around or 195 in the rear. I know Im changing around from what I previously had thought of but I decided to keep the civic a daily driver. Not so much a track car only like I had previously planned.

Probably wouldn't have happened as easily with matching tires in the rear. But other factors could have arose: braking oversteering, or even turning too fast then getting on the brakes too hard.

plus the day before I was autocrossing and overinflated the tires to like 50psi to reduce wear... didnt reduce pressure afterwards... oops!!

plus the day before I was autocrossing and overinflated the tires to like 50psi to reduce wear... didnt reduce pressure afterwards... oops!!

Depends which tires you did that to. My last auto-X I put my Kumho 711 tires to 50PSI rear and like 47psi front and totally forgot to take some of that air out afterward. But I never had any problems till the day I replaced them with my current Yoko ES100 tires, so I'd venture to guess the over inflation wasn't as much of a factor as other things, but most likely had some sort of effect on things though. I'd go with turning too quick with too much braking force was the culprate. I've had the same happen to me, and esp. on wet roads, you're really just along for the ride there once the tires break loose and slide. I've had it happen to me at 20-25mph on a normal street left hand turn onto another street. I'm hopping my ES100's will hold up much better to that, but I'm not about to test them to find out however.

But matched tires (how Honda meant them to be) is always a wise idea.

That is why I love autocrossing in the rain. It's such a great equalizer and most people use DOT R tires whereas us guys with Azenis kill them. For instance at one autocross 3 Mitsubishi Evos, 1 ASP Porsche Carrera 4 and 3 WRXs showed up. It was pouring and there were 5 great drivers in all those cars. I beat the fastest car (an Evo8) by about 2 seconds :)

For 225's your probably gonna need to roll the fenders. You can get some pretty big meats on a civic though, motormatrix is running 255's on the front of their "Street" car.
whats this business about rolling fenders? sounds like something i could do, i've got a 95 hatchback with 17x7in. rims with a 40mm offset and 205/40r17 tires; but ive also got a problem with wheel rub, my tires are rubbing on my rear fenders, i'm willing to buy new wheels, but i'd like to keep the same width, is it just a matter of offset or do i need to get 6.5in wides anyways? i knew i shoulda done more research, please help! :banghead:

based on my experience
1. keep all 4 tires same size
2.205s are about the biggest you want to go without A rolling fenders
(best done with a louisville slugger and some body exp.) or B widebody kit
3. 50 psi seems awful high for a light car like a civic
4. keep on rockin the twisties

Hey hatchdx, is your civic dropped? i'm thinking of getting 17x7 rims without dropping it yet and if your having probs with your's rubbing i wont do so. thx for whatever help you can give me.

- BR -

FWIW i'm running 225/50/15 BFG DR's on my new car. Rolled the fender lips, it rubs a tiny bit when i'm at FULL lock on the steering wheel, other than that it is just fine.

Hey hatchdx, is your civic dropped? i'm thinking of getting 17x7 rims without dropping it yet and if your having probs with your's rubbing i wont do so. thx for whatever help you can give me.

- BR -
no, i'm not dropped yet and i have some rub probs. only when i turn hard or especially w/ 3 or more people in the car it gets really annoying. i have taken the weather seals out and even cut most of the wheel well lip out and it still isn't enough to clear them. it could just be a problem w/ my offset. i have 40mm of offset, so maybe a little more and fender rolling would have been enough. if nothing else, try some 16's. they are more "honda sized", i wish i would have. just my opinion, hopefully someone smarter than me can give you more exact help