17s or 18s

Ok I'm trying to decide between the two sizes. I wish someone could have a picture of a stock 96-00 civic with the same wheels on each car but one is 17s and one are 18s. I want a very clean looking car. I guess I will be going for style more than speed.

Check out www.tirerack.com (http://www.tirerack.com) to get an idea of what your car would like with different rims/sizes. Tire Rack also shows you what different drops will look for a few models, they should do it for all models. I think tires.com has something similar so you can see your make/model with different rims. Also www.whalentire.com (http://www.whalentire.com) will show you how different tire sizes will change your speedo, also give measurement so you can make sure it will fit. If you do measure you will need to do it through the whole suspension travel & steering lock(front) which is a complicated process. Make a template from carboard or something to make it a slight bit easier.

Down side with larger wheels . . . . . .
IMO no larger than 17's for a civic - if it were my car 14-16's, but I'm in for the performance. Don't forget larger wheels reduce tire sidewall height. The tire's sidewall is the first thing to absorb bumps & the thinner it is the more you feel inside the car no matter what your suspension set-up is. Adding 1lb to wheels/tires is equal to adding 8lbs so you will need to upgrade the brakes & suspension to control the larger stuff properly & safely.

I had to test drive a '02 civic with 19's, suspension, body kit, etc. - it was done up right, but the customer was complaining about a trans noise. So anyway the car looked bad ass on outside. Once I began driving it I started forgetting how good it looked as I felt how SHITTY the ride quality was. I don't see how the customer put 20,000 miles on it like that, 5 miles for me was bad enough.............The customer was sent home with NPF - no problem found. 2 weeks later the car came back on the hook, he broke a rod - oops:iceslolan. Honda voided is factory warranty, so he ended up paying $4600 or something like that.

IMO, nothing bigger than 17

i had 18's on my 4dr civic and i had big issues when i did a sharp turn.I got alot of rubbing on the side walls of the car, and when i swapped out the rims with 17's, i saw the rim had rubbed so hard, you could see the bare metal!....You should be happy with 17's....but i was thinking 17's in front, and 18's in back.....

biggest id probably go with is 15"s or 16"s. ive ridden on some cars with 17"s and the ride was shitty like jackasssi said.

am not sure if your gona destroy your suspension faster with bigger wheels...please correct me if am wrong. doesent your suspension work harder because the ride is bumpy with bigger rims?

Different sized wheels may cause ABS issues available.

Yes larger wheels will cause the suspension, engine, & brakes to work harder = quicker wear & tear.

The "bumpy" is due to the thin sidewall of the tire. The sidewall is the first thing to absord any bumps opr